Table of Contents
Why should you use tooltips?
Tooltips can affect user experience on websites and applications by presenting brief descriptions of complicated functionalities, highlighting relevant but frequently hidden choices, and streamlining navigational steps for diverse individual users.
How do tooltips work?
Most commonly, you activate a tooltip by hovering your mouse over some element. On a touch screen, you might do a tap instead. When you hover your mouse over an element, a tooltip displays the box with the information, and moving the mouse away will make the tooltip disappear.
Where should tooltips be placed?
The position of the tooltip should be easily noticeable without obstructing any other page components; it typically appears over, under, or to the sides of the hovered-on element.
What are the best practices for designing tooltips?
Best practices for designing tooltips usually cover the following topics:
- Keep your responses concise: Avoid exceeding a reasonable length.
- Employ straightforward language: Avoid using jargon or overly technical terms.
- Make it relevant for your user: Align the message to the button the user is hovering over.
- Universal Usability: Ensure your tooltips can be accessible to people with disabilities.
- Legibility: Design the tooltip with a clear background and text contrast to ensure easy reading.
Can a tooltip be a button?
Sometimes! In standard use, tooltips are only for information purposes, although there can be links or buttons within them as well. This enables one to perform actions from within the tooltip but don’t get carried away with the buttons either – too many of them can be overwhelming.
Are there any accessibility considerations for tooltips?
Yes! Tooltips are within the principles of web accessibility and if you plan to create them, here are some key points to bear in mind:
- Keyboard Accessibility: Tooltips should be enabled, navigated, and closed through keyboard input, ensuring accessibility for users with limited mouse functionality.
- Optimize for Screen Readers: It’s recommended that tooltip content can be read out by a screen reader and be comprehensible to visually impaired users. This usually entails the use of quite several ARIA attributes and or labels.
- Contrast: The text on the tooltip and the background must have enough color differentiation for people with low vision to comfortably look at such content.
- Management of Focusing: Upon a given tooltip being activated, it must be possible to put the focus on that tooltip so that users using a keyboard can browse its contents which may have interactive features.
Remember: design is more effective when it considers the needs of all users, including those with disabilities. It is equally important to note that access to information that has been provided via tooltips should be inclusive to all, regardless of one’s abilities.
Conclusion
Tooltips are additional information that assist users in understanding and defining the purpose better. The design, position, and reach of the tooltips must be appropriate. The incorporation of effective tool tips can enhance the interaction and navigation of the user in a digital product.
