Perhaps I'm just an old grump, but I prefer the No Delay version in the example. I like predictable, consistent, and fast.
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Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
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Re: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
#32[flagged]
Re: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
#33Windows taskbar has done this forever and I never once noticed it consciously. Good catch.
Re: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
#34I think I would describe this as an example of hysteresis. Neat! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hysteresis
Interestingly, there are more use cases for hysteresis in UI design, e.g. it was famously used in nested menus in Windows: https://www.mackido.com/Interface/hysteresis.html I think there was also an article about it on The Old New Thing, but I can't seem to find it anymore.
Like the HN post we're commenting on, so too does this example also get regurgitated every few years.
Find modern examples by Googling "menu safe triangle." Here's one from 5 days ago https://www.framer.com/blog/cursor-trajectory/
> I asked the Framer Agent to fix it, and within minutes it had built and applied what I now call trajectory-based menu aim
Re: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
#35Basically, have a global temperature. When the pointer is in something that has a tooltip, the temperature rises. Otherwise it cools (possibly at a different rate). A tooltip is shown only when the pointer is in bounds, and the temperature is above a certain threshold.
Re: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
#36It will never cease to amaze to me that Apple (under Jef Raskin who also wrote about this in The Humane Interface) observed and fixed problems with interactions like this in SYSTEM 6 in like 1993 or something - only for the same problem to have to be re-descovered and re-fixed decades later.
Because every single application rebuilds their own operating system
Re: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
#37I greatly appreciate this attention to detail, and there isn't enough of this in the world. For example, in Visual Studio popups on hover happen so fast you can barely select anything, or you end up clicking on the popup instead of selecting a word.
My favorite is the info icons that show a tooltip on hover, but if you click them, they disappear the tip if it’s showing and never show it if it hasn’t appeared yet.
Re: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
#38I was disappointed to see the new web popover api doesn't have this basic usability feature built in
Re: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
#39Hilarious. Web devs discovering UX from Win95. What's next, 3d buttons?
MacOS had it even earlier. I think it's because there's not a mature UI framework out there. They come, have their moment in the spotlight, and are replaced. There's also a ton of them. And they are often written by a very small group of people without deeper understanding of ergonomics, and don't live long enough to get this level of attention. You should be glad if it still gets bug fixes after 2 years.
Re: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
#40I greatly appreciate this attention to detail, and there isn't enough of this in the world. For example, in Visual Studio popups on hover happen so fast you can barely select anything, or you end up clicking on the popup instead of selecting a word.
Years and years ago, there was an article about the way Amazon.com's menu dropdown worked. It had the same spark (of careful attention to user behavior and needs): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5330998 / https://bjk5.com/post/44698559168/breaking-down-amazons-mega...