Details

Tooltips add significant value to a program, but they can be misused. The most common misuse that I have seen is to provide tooltip text that isn't helpful. Your tooltip text should avoid stating the obvious. For example, don't give a toolbar button with a printer icon a tooltip that says Print. Please tell me something I don't necessarily know. For example, on my computer, the tooltip text that Microsoft Word 97 gives is Print (HP DeskJet 820C Series Printer). I find this useful—now I don't have to view the Print Options dialog box to know where my document will be printed. Of course, your tooltip text can provide much simpler types of useful information. Note that Visual C++ gives shortcut keys in tooltips—for example, Go (F5) instead of Go, and Stop Debugging (Shift+F5) instead of Stop. You can also indicate that further input is required to perform a command with an ellipsis, such as Find… (Ctrl+F). By simply adding a word or two, you can often make your tooltip text much more helpful.

On the other hand, try to keep the tooltip text brief. Note that the text in the previous examples is short and easy to read. One of the main reasons tooltips are so effective is that the text is brief, which invites the user to actually read the text. Presenting a paragraph or even a sentence is less effective because the user is less likely to read it.

TIP
Make your tooltip text informative yet brief. Avoid stating the obvious.

If you are using tooltips to provide help, aim the level of the help at intermediate and advanced users. Tooltip help aimed at beginning users grows tiresome quickly. And, again, don't overdo it. Provide tooltips only when they are really helpful. I would just as soon not have every dialog box control have a tooltip. Using tooltips for screen elements like status icons is welcome when their meaning isn't especially obvious, but you don't have to have tooltips for every screen element. Windows 98, I believe, has taken tooltips too far in this respect. Tooltips aren't necessary for the Minimize Window, Restore Window, and Close Window boxes, for example. These kinds of tooltips are too much in your face; no doubt many users would appreciate a way to turn them off.

TIP
Aim tooltip text at intermediate to advanced users.

Finally, don't use tooltips as an excuse to make your software less visible. While tooltips help clarify the meaning of your toolbar icons, tooltips don't mean that you don't have to create good icons. Likewise, MFC makes it easy to add tooltips, but this doesn't mean you can stop thinking.



Developing User Interfaces for Microsoft Windows
Developing User Interfaces for Microsoft Windows
ISBN: 0735605866
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 334

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