[kde-guidelines] Styleguide: Tool-tips

[David Edmundson]

On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 12:43 PM, Heiko Tietze
<heiko.tietze at user-prompt.com>wrote:

> User Assistance > User-driven information
> * Provide Tool-tips for user driven information
>
> http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability/HIG/Tooltip
>
> Purpose
> A ''tool-tip'' is a small pop-up window that labels the unlabeled control
> being pointed to, such as toolbar controls without caption or command
> buttons.
> When providing more descriptive text the control is called ''info-tip''.
> Tips
> are a form of progressive disclosure, eliminating the need always to have
> descriptive text on the screen. This time-delay mechanism makes tips very
> convenient, but it also reduces their discoverability. When tips are used
> consistently they support user’s expectation and foster predictability.
>
> Guidelines
> * Use tips to label unlabeled controls and to provide additional
> information.
> * Don’t use tips for warnings.
> * Use user defined default timeouts for initialization, reshow, and
> removal.
> Don't disable auto hide feature.
> * Keep tips brief, typically five words or less for tool-tips; whenever
> appropriate, provide keyboard shortcuts and default values.
> * Format info-tips to make their content easier to read and scan by
> grouping
> and aligning the content. The information should be:
> ** concise: large, unformatted blocks of text are difficult to read and
> overwhelming
> ** helpful: it shouldn't be obvious or just repeat what is already on the
> screen)
> ** supplemental: important information should be communicated using self-
> explanatory control labels or in-place supplemental text)
> ** static: tips should not change from one instance to the next)
> * Consider to add small info buttons for use tips with a touch screen.
>
> Question: Can we made the distinction between tool- and info-tip?
>

Would you call the hovering over an icon in SystemSettings a "tooltip" ?
I think I might be asking the same question as you mean with the "tooltip
and infotip".

With regards to "static" I've heard one designer say "if a button is
disabled your tooltip should say why", which I think makes a lot of sense.

David



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