I am currently working on a site, and the old site has sub menu headings in a sidebar, and the open, or collapse info as text. Now, any of us would understand a "+" or "-" means open or close, however I dont think many non techy people understand these small details.

 

I would much rather just have plus and minus signs, but I also want the end user to know that these open or collapse. How would you get that point across?

 

Really cant seem to settle on having it as text, or just as plus and minus signs..

 

What would you do?

 

Cheers for any useful feedback.

Stick to + and - they're standard conventions and the more they are used the more people will understand them.

Could you keep the + and - and add a tooltip bubble that pops up with some explanation if the user hovers around that div for a certain amount of time (i.e they don't know what the hell they're doing)?

I would suggest the same as Fran said. However i think you may expect users to know what the + and - signs are for. Nowadays it is used everywhere. IOS, Windows, websites, programs, ...