Faq

faq — answers users find and believe

Stage: Phase 6 — Build - Reads: design/SYSTEM.md, design/SITEMAP.md, design/BRIEF.md - Writes: components/sections/faq.tsx (+ exported Q/A data consumed by ultraweb:seo)

Standard

An FAQ exists to kill the last objection before conversion, not to warehouse content. The bar:

• Questions phrased as users actually ask them ("Can I cancel anytime?"), never topic labels ("Cancellation policy").
• Answers 1–4 sentences, direct, first sentence answers the question; link out where the deep answer lives.
• 5–8 questions per section; more than 8 → group under subheads or move to a dedicated page.
• Answers exist in the server-rendered HTML — findable by search engines and Ctrl+F, not blank until hydration.
• Q/A strings live in ONE typed array exported from the component; the section renders it and ultraweb:seo builds JSON-LD from it. Never duplicate the strings.

Process

1. Harvest questions from BRIEF.md: what would stop THIS audience from converting? Sales objections, pricing doubts, technical fears. Write real questions, not category names.
2. Rank by objection severity; cap the section at 8, route overflow to a Categorized page or the Objection Row variant.
3. Decide native vs client with the decision rule below — default native.
4. Build with SYSTEM tokens; export the typed Q/A array alongside the component.
5. Hand the array to ultraweb:seo for FAQPage JSON-LD; verify open/close by keyboard and Ctrl+F finds closed answers.

The native-vs-client decision

Default: native <details>/<summary>. Zero JS, RSC-safe, works before hydration, keyboard support built in. Style it: list-none + [&::-webkit-details-marker]:hidden on summary, custom icon rotated via group-open: state. Exclusive one-open-at-a-time: give all items the same name attribute. Open/close is instant by default — acceptable. Animating the reveal height (interpolate-size / ::details-content) is not universally supported: verify against current docs first, and treat instant-open as the fallback, not a defect.

Escalate to a client accordion (npx shadcn@latest add accordion, "use client") only when one of these is true:

1. DIRECTION.md demands animated, choreographed collapse (spring, stagger).
2. Open state must be controlled — deep link (?q=refunds opens an item), analytics on open, open-all/close-all.
3. Exclusive behavior AND animated collapse together (native name closes siblings instantly).

If none apply and you reach for the client accordion anyway, you're shipping JS for nothing.

Variants

• Single Column — one 65–75ch column, questions in objection-priority order (most conversion-blocking first). Default for most sections.
• Two-Column Split — sticky left column with heading + "still stuck?" contact link, stacked items right. Use on marketing pages where the section needs presence; counts as one of the page's deliberate asymmetries.
• Categorized — 2–4 groups under subheads, each group ≤6 questions. Use for a dedicated /faq page or when BRIEF.md yields >8 questions.
• Objection Row — 3–4 questions inline directly under the pricing section, answering exactly the doubts pricing raises (refunds, cancellation, hidden fees). Use with ultraweb:pricing; pull these OUT of the main FAQ, don't duplicate.

Typography

• Question: body size to 1.125em, medium/semibold — never display size; the section heading does the display work.
• Answer: muted-foreground token, body size, generous leading per SYSTEM §type.
• Icon: one chevron (rotate 180°) or plus (rotate 45° to ×), 150–250ms, stroke width per ultraweb:icons, right-aligned.
• Rhythm: 1px border token between items, py-4 to py-6 per item, consistent throughout.

JSON-LD

Export the Q/A array; ultraweb:seo owns the FAQPage JSON-LD injection pattern and placement. Mark up only Q/A pairs visible on the page. Ship the markup for semantic correctness — do not promise rich-result display; search engines restrict FAQ rich-result eligibility.

States

• hover: question row background or text-color shift from tokens, 150ms.
• focus-visible: ring from palette tokens on the summary/trigger — native summary is focusable; replace the browser default ring, never remove it.
• open: icon rotated, answer revealed; the open item's question may step up one weight.
• reduced-motion: no height animation, instant toggle, icon may still swap without rotation.

A11y

• Native details/summary carries disclosure semantics for free. Client accordions use the shadcn/Radix primitive which manages aria-expanded/aria-controls — never hand-roll div + onClick.
• The entire question row is the target, min 44px tall — not just the icon.
• Heading order stays sane: one section h2; if questions are headings, the h3 goes inside the summary.
• Answers stay in the DOM when closed (native details guarantees this) — unmounting closed answers breaks find-in-page and indexing.

Anti-patterns

Greppable: onClick={() => setOpen, useState(false) next to a question list (hand-rolled accordion), href="#" in answers, Frequently Asked Questions as the sole unconsidered heading.

• Questions as topic labels instead of questions.
• Marketing copy wearing an answer costume — answers answer.
• First item auto-opened with an entrance animation on page load.
• 15+ questions in one flat list.
• All items open by default — that's a text page pretending to be an accordion; if everything should be visible, don't use disclosure at all.
• Client accordion for a static marketing FAQ with none of the three escalation triggers.

Worked example — Casa Verde, bilingual reservations FAQ below the menu

Moved to references/example.md — read only when this build's case is genuinely ambiguous; the sections above are the decision material.

Composes with

Moved to references/composes.md — the handoff map; load it when orchestrating this skill against its neighbors.