Tooltip
A tooltip is a transient interface label that displays brief contextual information near an associated element during interaction.
D3.js in Action, Third Edition
A tooltip is a transient annotation that appears in response to interaction to reveal information associated with a visual element without permanently occupying chart space.
- How it is used
- Reveals exact or complementary chart information on hover without overcrowding visual marks.
- How deep it goes
- Builds SVG and HTML tooltip variants through event handlers, positioning, formatting, transitions, and pointer-based updates.
- Examples
- Demonstrates temperatures on line-chart points, music-format sales in a streamgraph, language-node details, and Nobel-laureate counts on a map.
- What you can do after
- Build it from scratch with SVG or HTML, hover listeners, dynamic text, positioning, and show-hide transitions.
Everyday Data Visualization
A tooltip is a transient interface label or information panel that appears when a user hovers over or activates a visual element.
- How it is used
- Uses tooltips to reveal secondary visualization context while keeping the main message visible in labels.
- How deep it goes
- Provides practical placement and mobile-interaction guidance, rather than implementation details for tooltip components.
- Examples
- Uses a survey bar chart with counts, respondent totals, and percentages, plus stacked mobile charts with synchronized tooltips.
- What you can do after
- Operate/configure tooltips as on-demand context while keeping essential information directly visible.
Related concepts
- recorduses · A record is a structured data unit or type that groups related values into fields or properties, typically to represent one item, entity, or observation.
- SVG textpart of · SVG text is textual content represented by a <text> element positioned within an SVG graphic.
- composite tooltipincludes · A composite tooltip is a tooltip that combines multiple related values or details into one contextual annotation.
- encoding channeluses · An encoding channel is a visual dimension that represents data values through a graphical property such as position, length, color, or shape.
- data labelcontrasts with · A data label is text attached to a visual element or data representation that identifies or explains a represented value, category, measure, or element.
- user interactionused by · User interaction is an exchange in which a person acts on or provides input to a software system and the system responds.
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