Spectrum
Tooltip
Tooltips show contextual help or information about specific components when a user hovers or focuses on them.
Table of contents#
Anatomy#
Options#
Label#
All tooltips have a label. The label communicates the contextual help or information about specific components when a user hovers over or focuses on them.
Neutral variant#
By default, tooltips are the neutral variant. These are the most common variant because most tooltips are used to only disclose additional information, without conveying a semantic meaning. The neutral variant never includes an icon.
Semantic variants#
Tooltips also come in semantic variants: informative (blue), positive (green), and negative (red). These use semantic colors to communicate the meaning.
Icon#
3 of the 4 tooltip variants (informative, positive, and negative) can include an icon to supplement the messaging. These icons are predefined and can not be customized. Unless it's being used to provide context about the exact same icon, a semantic tooltip should always show an icon. Doing this is essential for helping users with color vision deficiency to discern the message tone.
Maximum width#
By default, the maximum width of a tooltip is size-2000 (160 px on desktop, 200 px on mobile). This can be customized to better fit your context.
Placement#
A tooltip is positioned in relation to its target. Placement property values are at the: top, top left, top right, top start, top end, bottom, bottom left, bottom right, bottom start, bottom end, left, left top, left bottom, start, start top, start bottom, right, right top, right bottom, end, end top, end bottom. The default placement value is at the top.
Should flip#
This option determines whether or not a tooltip should be able to switch sides when constrained by space. A tooltip placed at the top would flip to be placed at the bottom (and vice versa), and a tooltip placed at the left would flip to be placed at the right (and vice versa). The default value is yes.
Offset#
The offset is the distance between the end of the tip and the target. The default value is 4 px on desktop and 5 px on mobile, but it should be adjusted depending on the nature of the target.
Container padding#
To make sure that the tooltip will stay within certain boundaries (e.g., a browser window) it’s possible to define a container and a container padding value to respect. The default value for this is 8 px.
Table of options#
From the design point of view, each component has a number of options. These options and their names are platform agnostic, and each implementation should adapt these to fit into their framework.
| Property | Values | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| label | text | – |
| variant | neutral / informative / positive / negative | neutral |
| has icon | yes / no If the neutral variant, there’s never an icon. | no |
| maximum width | number | size-2000 |
| placement | top / bottom / left / right | top |
| should flip | yes / no | yes |
| offset | number | size-50 |
| container padding | number | static-size-100 |
Behaviors#
Text overflow#
When the label is too long for the available horizontal space, it wraps to form another line.
Animation#
A tooltip fades in and out when showing and hiding, and slides a short distance from the source to indicate its origin. The direction of the slide (left, right, top, bottom) depends on the placement of the tooltip. The animation attributes (duration, easing, offset) are the same whether it’s showing or hiding.
Immediate or delayed appearance#
Tooltips attached to help icons appear immediately. For conventional UI elements where a tooltip appearing immediately would be intrusive, delay appearance with a warmup period.
Warmup and cooldown#
The warmup period is a global timer that requires the cursor to remain on a UI element for the allotted time before a tooltip appears. Once this period is complete, a tooltip appears instantly on any hovered-upon UI element until the cursor is in an area that does not trigger a tooltip for the duration of the cooldown period.
Usage guidelines#
Use tooltips to describe icons#
Icons are not always easy to identify on their own. When you use components that don’t have labels — for example, icon-only action buttons and tabs — make sure to use tooltips to provide context for the icons.
Don't use tooltips to communicate crucial information#
Show crucial information at all times, not just when a tooltip is displayed. A tooltip should only be used to provide supplementary context or hints to the message shown in help text.
For example, in a scenario where a user is entering their password into a field, the crucial information would be to state the password requirements. Supplementary context would be a message about how to get help if they have forgotten their password.
Be concise#
Tooltips should be as concise and clear as possible. Keep the text to 1 or 2 short sentences. If the information you need to communicate is longer than that, look into using a different design.
If a tooltip is written in a full sentence (or is 2 or more sentences), include a period at the end. If it's a short phrase or is only the name of a tool, action, or icon, don't add a period to the end.
Don't place actions inside a tooltip#
Tooltips appear only on hover or when in keyboard focus. They should not contain actions or links.
Internationalization#
RTL#
For RTL (right-to-left) languages, the layout of the tooltip is mirrored. The icon is placed on the right side of the text.
Keyboard interactions#
| Key | Interaction |
|---|---|
| Tab | Tabbing into an item that has a tooltip associated with it (e.g., an icon) shows the tooltip. |
| Esc | Hides the tooltip. |
Theming#
A theme is an intentional, systematic customization of Spectrum. It has unique visual attributes. For more information, view Theming.
Spectrum for Adobe Express#
Tooltips in Spectrum for Adobe Express have more rounding with a more prominent drop shadow. This theme also uses a different icon set.
Changelog#
| Date | Number | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 15, 2022 | 6.0.1 |
|
| Apr 06, 2022 | 6.0.0 |
|
| Dec 07, 2020 | 5.2.0 |
|
| Aug 22, 2019 | 5.1.0 |
|
| Apr 20, 2019 | 5.0.0 |
|
Design checklist#
All interactive states
Includes all interactive states that are applicable (hover, down, focus, keyboard focus, disabled).
All color themes
Works properly across all four color themes (lightest, light, dark, darkest).
All platform scales
Includes a desktop scale (UWP, macOS, web desktop) and a mobile scale (iOS, Android, web mobile).
Accessible use of color
Color is not used as the only visual means of conveying information (WCAG 2.0 1.4.1).
Accessible contrast for text
Text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for small text and at least 3:1 for large text (WCAG 2.0 1.4.3).
Accessible contrast for UI components
Visual information required to identify components and states (except inactive components) has a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 (WCAG 2.1 1.4.11).
Content design
UI language and information design considerations have been incorporated into component design.
Defined options
Includes relevant options (variant, style, size, orientation, optional iconography, decorations, selection, error state, etc.)
Defined behaviors
Includes guidelines for keyboard focus, layout (wrapping, truncation, overflow), animation, interactions, etc.
Usage guidelines
Includes a list of dos and don'ts that highlight best practices and common mistakes.
Writing guidelines
Includes content standards or usage guidelines for how to write or format in-product content for the component.
Internationalization guidelines
Works properly across various locales and includes guidelines for bi-directionality (RTL).
Keyboard interactions
Follows WCAG 2.0 standards for keyboard accessibility guidelines and includes a description of the keyboard interactions.
Design tokens
All design attributes (color, typography, layout, animation, etc.) are available as design tokens.
UI kit
Includes a downloadable XD file that shows multiple options, states, color themes, and platform scales.
Generated UI kit
Includes a downloadable XD file, generated by code using design tokens defined in Spectrum DNA, and shows multiple options, states, color themes, and platform scales.
In Spectrum for Adobe XD plugin
Component is included in the Spectrum for Adobe XD plugin.
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