Re: Tooltip Guidelines?

[Nancy McDonald <nmcdonald -at- OTECH -dot- COM>]

Danna Cardwell wrote:
>
>  We are adding tooltips to our products. We are struggling with wording. How
>  much is too much? How exact does the tooltip have to be?
>
>  For example, clicking an icon opens a dialog box from where the user can add,
>  update, delete, view, and print database records about people.
>
>  So, what should we call the tooltip? Some suggestions include:
>
>         Open the People dialog box
>         Maintain People
>         Edit People
>         Modify People
>         Open People
>
>  Does anyone have any recommendations or know of any reference matierals
>  specific to tooltips?
>
>  Thanks,
>
>  Danna

Danna, this sounds like you're talking about two kinds of "objects"  In
my user guide, ToolTips (as Microsoft Manual of Style terms it) are
simply the labels that depict the names of the toolbar buttons when your
mouse pauses over the button.
It looks, instead, that you're talking about a shortcut menu. The
shortcut menu or context menu, which results from right-clicking an
object, (among other things) is a different concept from tooltip.
Hope this helps,
Nancy McDonald
contract tech writer,
Columbus, OH
nmcdonald -at- otech -dot- com

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