[v2] Option to toggle docs category open by default

🚀 Feature

Add a new property on the @docusaurus/plugin-content-docs SidebarItemCategory to set the default state as opened. This should affect only to that one category, no all the categories on the docs.

Have you read the Contributing Guidelines on issues?

Yes.

Motivation

Improve UX.

Pitch

Imagine docs with just two root elements:

• Introduction
• Reference v

Where Reference is a category with few other documents inside. This would allow to have this Reference category open by default which would be easier for the user to navigate/explore.

[lex111]

@jsjoeio in short, this line of code does not need to be changed. I would add an additional condition under which item must be expanded.

https://github.com/facebook/docusaurus/blob/510bec65325dcada1c14627910087d29749b16d5/packages/docusaurus-theme-classic/src/theme/DocSidebar/index.js#L109

Please see the docs https://v2.docusaurus.io/docs/next/docs#collapsible-categories

I recommend checking the changes directly on the v2 website, rather than creating a new one.

Other than that, you don’t need to use Verdaccio for such changes at all, it only takes more effort from you. The workflow is described here https://github.com/facebook/docusaurus/blob/master/admin/testing-changes-on-Docusaurus-itself.md#testing It is very simple.

[amimas]

Not sure if this really improves ux.

If I’m a new user to the site and by default the references section is open, I’d probably find it confusing because I need to know the introduction docs first before getting into other details.

The scenario mentioned in the original post is probably an example but it feels more like content organization issue rather than needing a feature from the ssg tool.

Docusaurus also lets you create multiple sidebars that contains different navigation. That could also be an option depending the actual use case.