reactjs / reactjs/react.dev

[Bug]: Sidebar dropdown does not close when the arrow is clicked again

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bug: unconfirmed
Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

Summary

In the left sidebar navigation, when a section with sub-items is expanded (for example, "Installation"), clicking its downward-facing arrow again does not collapse the section. Users naturally expect an expand/collapse toggle arrow to work in both directions — even if this is intentional (e.g., to keep the active page's context visible), it hurts the UX since users assume clicking again will close the dropdown.

Page

https://react.dev/learn/installation

Details

To Reproduce

  1. Go to any documentation page with an expanded sidebar section, such as https://react.dev/learn/installation.
  2. Locate the left sidebar navigation.
  3. Click on the downward-facing arrow next to the currently active/expanded section (e.g., "Installation").
  4. Notice that the section does not collapse as expected.

Expected behavior
Clicking the dropdown arrow of an already expanded section should toggle it back to a collapsed state.

Desktop:

  • OS: Windows
  • Browser: Chrome

Additional context
Observed on the main react.dev documentation site. Fixing this would make the navigation feel more intuitive and aligned with standard UI patterns for accordions/dropdowns.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the sidebar on https://react.dev/learn/installation and trace the click handler for the expanded section's arrow in the documentation site. Reproduce the behavior in Chrome, then verify that clicking the arrow again collapses the section while navigation and active-page context still work.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, react
Domain
documentation, frontend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
68/100

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