Tooltips
A tooltip is a short description about a UI element.
Guidelines
- Use a tooltip to provide more information about an UI element, for example, as a label for an icon button or for text that is truncated with an ellipsis (...).
- Don't use tooltips on dynamic controls, such as menus, where the tooltip might interfere with using the control.
- Don't put a tooltip on a text input box. Ensure that your label for the text box is informative and provide additional text below the text input box or in signpost help.
- When a tooltip describes the function of a control, use sentence-style capitalization. If a complete sentence, end with a period. Don't use ending punctuation for a sentence fragment.
- When a tooltip provides a label for a button-based action, treat the text as if it were a menu item. Use title-style capitalization and no ending punctuation.
- Limit a tooltip to one brief sentence or less. Tooltips obscure information in the UI, and should not use more words than necessary.
- Ensure that the entire tooltip is visible on the screen.
- Don't put a tooltip and signpost help on the same control.