Re: [Usability] Disable Tooltips, what is that about?

[John Levon <levon movementarian org>]

On Thu, Jul 24, 2003 at 08:04:29PM +0100, Alan Horkan wrote:

> "Tooltips pop up when they are not wanted".
> "Tooltips obscure other information"

One of the factors I think plays a large part in people not liking
tooltips is over-sized (even paragraph-sized !) tooltips. This
completely subverts the non-obtrusive nature of tooltips.

I had some excellent links on tooltip design, but I appear to have lost
them.

A good tooltip should not be large enough to obscure any significant
real estate. A rule of thumb I use is "if you feel you need punctuation,
you don't want a tooltip". Other methods such as What's This or a
re-design, etc. should be seriously considered.

I do not believe there is any reasonable argument for disabling tooltips
when the tooltip system is working satisfactorily.

regards
john