Tooltips

Part of the Practical Frontend section of Coddy's HTML journey — lesson 23 of 35.

Tooltips are small, informative pop-up elements that appear when a user hovers over or focuses on an interface element. They provide additional context without cluttering the main UI.

Let's create a basic tooltip using HTML and CSS:

First, create the HTML structure:

<div class="tooltip-container">
  <button>Hover over me</button>
  <span class="tooltip">This is a tooltip!</span>
</div>

Next, add the CSS to position and show/hide the tooltip:

.tooltip-container {
  position: relative;
  display: inline-block;
}

.tooltip {
  visibility: hidden; 
  /* Position the tooltip */
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 125%;
  left: 50%;
  transform: translateX(-50%);
  
  /* Add a slight delay before showing */
  opacity: 0;
  transition: opacity 0.3s;
}

/* Show the tooltip when hovering over the container */
.tooltip-container:hover .tooltip {
  visibility: visible;
  opacity: 1;
}

With this code, when you hover over the button, a tooltip will appear above it.

Challenge

Easy

You are given an HTML button with a tooltip that appears when the user hovers over the "Help" button. Your task:

Hide the tooltip by default.
Add a background color and text color so it stands out.
Center the text inside the tooltip.
Add some padding so the tooltip looks nicer.
Round the corners with border-radius.

Cheat sheet

Tooltips are small, informative pop-up elements that appear when hovering over interface elements.

Basic HTML structure:

<div class="tooltip-container">
  <button>Hover over me</button>
  <span class="tooltip">This is a tooltip!</span>
</div>

CSS for positioning and showing/hiding tooltips:

.tooltip-container {
  position: relative;
  display: inline-block;
}

.tooltip {
  visibility: hidden; 
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 125%;
  left: 50%;
  transform: translateX(-50%);
  opacity: 0;
  transition: opacity 0.3s;
}

.tooltip-container:hover .tooltip {
  visibility: visible;
  opacity: 1;
}

Try it yourself

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Tooltips</title>
  <style>
    .tooltip-container {
      position: relative;
      display: inline-block;
      margin: 50px;
    }
    
    button {
      padding: 8px 16px;
      cursor: pointer;
    }
    
    .tooltip {
      
      /* Animation properties */
      opacity: 0;
      transition: opacity 0.3s;
    }
    
    /* Show the tooltip when hovering over the container */
    .tooltip-container:hover .tooltip {
      visibility: visible;
      opacity: 1;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <div class="tooltip-container">
    <button>Help</button>
    <span class="tooltip">Click for assistance</span>
  </div>
</body>
</html>