A mobile menu can pass one check and fail the next. If you maintain an existing site, test the path from the menu control to a service page as four separate interactions: the control is visible, a tap opens the intended menu, the relevant link is available, and that link reaches the intended page.
That sequence is more useful than a single “mobile navigation works” verdict. It also keeps the first debugging step close to what you can observe, before you decide which code to inspect.
Start with the observable result
Use a phone and write down what happens at each step. Keep the observations separate from any proposed cause.
- Visibility: Is the menu control present on the phone screen? Record the page and screen size you tested. A successful desktop check does not answer this question.
- Tap behavior: If the control is visible, what appears after one tap? Record whether you see menu options, a different page, or no visible change.
- Option availability: If the menu opens, can you see and select the link you need? If it is nested, test whether you can reach it rather than assuming the parent item is sufficient.
- Destination: Tap the link and check the page that loads. A menu that opens is not, by itself, a completed path to the service page.
Run the sequence from the actual page a visitor might land on, not just the homepage. If you change anything while testing, note the change and run the same sequence again. That gives you a narrower comparison than trying several adjustments and then asking whether the menu feels better.
Keep three reported symptoms distinct
An individual Squarespace forum report described a menu that appeared on desktop but was absent on phones. A responder identified custom CSS as the cause in that discussion. For a comparable symptom on your own site, the first question is whether the control is rendered and visible at the phone size you are testing. There is no tap behavior to debug until you can see and use the control. The forum exchange is one case, not evidence that CSS is the cause whenever a mobile menu is missing.
A separate Squarespace report described a different result: tapping the mobile menu opened a Connect page instead of showing menu options. That site owner attributed the issue to custom code. In that case, the control was visible enough to tap, so treating the problem as a missing-menu issue would skip the most useful observation: where did the tap take the visitor? Record the destination before changing anything. The reported attribution to custom code belongs to that particular case; it is not a diagnosis for another site.
A WordPress support discussion adds a third distinction. The site owner reported that submenu items did not expand on a phone despite working on desktop. A responder said the items worked in their test. That disagreement matters. If you cannot reproduce a reported failure, document the phone, browser, page, and exact sequence used for each test rather than declaring either observation wrong. The report identifies a symptom to investigate, not a confirmed cause or a universal WordPress behavior.
These accounts come from individual site owners. They do not establish how often these problems occur, and they do not establish a pattern among service-business websites. Their practical value is narrower: they show why “the mobile menu is broken” is not a precise enough starting point.
Match the investigation to the failed step
When the control is absent, check the phone-sized view before examining link destinations. Compare the same page on phone and desktop, and note whether the absence occurs on every page you test or only one. If the site has custom CSS, consider it a candidate to inspect, not a confirmed explanation. Change one relevant rule at a time in a controlled test, then repeat the visibility check.
When a tap goes to a page instead of opening options, capture the destination and identify the element you tapped. Inspect the configured behavior and any custom code associated with that control before you start rearranging menu items. A link to the wrong page and a menu that never opens may look similar to a visitor, but they lead to different questions for the person debugging.
When a submenu does not expand, test the parent item and the submenu separately. Note whether a tap navigates, expands the submenu, or appears to do nothing. Try to reproduce the behavior under a documented set of conditions before assigning a cause, particularly if another tester gets a different result.
When the menu opens but the service link is not available, inspect the options actually shown on the phone. Finding a service page through desktop navigation does not establish that a phone visitor can find it through the mobile menu. If the link is present, complete the test by selecting it and checking its destination.
This is a diagnostic sequence, not a claim that any particular site has a navigation defect. The useful output is a small, reproducible description: the page tested, the device conditions, the interaction attempted, and the result at the first step that did not behave as intended. That description gives you a better basis for investigating your own implementation than a broad label such as “mobile menu issue.”
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