Tooltips, also known as contextual help are an unobtrusive way to add more information or instruction to an interface.
For example, it might become apparent during user testing that many people ask the same question at the same spot in the interface. Consider adding a tooltip at that location to answer the question. This prevents users from leaving the task at hand to go find the answer elsewhere.
Depending on the system, tooltips can be identified by an info icon or a help icon so users know they can hover over or click for helpful hints or more details.
Use a tooltip to:
- Provide a small explanation to help a user understand an action or an icon
- Show the full-length of a message or string that’s been truncated (shortened, often with an ellipsis)
- Provide additional context or necessary information that’s too long to put directly on the screen
- Prevent drop-off at friction points by reassuring or alleviating doubt
- On some occasions it’s best not to use tooltips:
- Do not overuse tooltips across the UI. Add them only when you know they are needed. If they’re everywhere, users might stop seeing them or using them at all.
- Don’t use a tooltip to keep instruction text off the screen. That just makes using the product more difficult because users will have to click or tap to see instructions that should be easy to find.
If you are creating a tooltip, have a look at the checklist below to ensure you write a good one:
- Is the sentence as short as it can be? Maybe there are extra words that actually don’t add anything to the tooltip, for example, ‘in order to’ (just remove) or ‘on a daily basis’ (just ‘daily)
- Try and limit the tip to one sentence.
- If you are using numbers, make sure you use the numeral and not the spelt out word, so ‘3’ rather than ‘three’
- Use sentence style capitalisation.
- If it is a complete sentence, end with a period but don't if it is only a fragment. (If you are unsure about the difference between a fragment and a sentence, just read it and if it carries a complete thought, then it is a sentence.)
- Write in the present tense and active voice where possible.