Human Interface Guidelines/Tooltips

= Tooltips =

Tooltips are little popups that give more information about the element under the mouse cursor.

General rules
Follow the general writing style guidelines.

What tooltips should contain:
 * The name of the item, not followed by a period.
 * A description of the item (see below).
 * A "disabled hint" for disabled buttons: If a button is disabled, this text will explain why. (TODO document how to set this!).
 * The shortcut, if any.
 * The library path, if any.
 * Additional useful information (expressions for drivers, BPY path, etc. - These fields may be automatically generated and may be disabled through a Preference option).

The Item Description
Tooltips should first and foremost be helpful. If more than a short sentence is needed to achieve that, by all means, use more than one. Yet, try to keep it short. In other words: Short and to the point.
 * It is recommended to start descriptions with verbs. Using the imperative conjugation generally works best.  Don't: "The factor determines how the geometry end factor is mapped to a spline" Do: "Determine how the geometry end factor is mapped to a spline"
 * Do not use more than a couple of lines, try to stick with two or three.
 * Use full sentences (periods and commas are allowed).
 * It's fine to mention examples of situations where you might use the tool.
 * Do not document default values; these can change and are hard to keep updated.
 * Do not use the described term to explained itself.
 * Limit Surface Don't: "Put vertices at the limit surface" Do: "Place vertices at the surface that would be produced with infinite levels of subdivision (smoothest possible object)".
 *  Proportional Editing Don't: "Enable Proportional Editing" Do: "Transform the neighbouring elements in a falloff from the selection" 
 * Explanations of how the result is affected by different values are fine. "Higher values reduce render time, lower values render with more detail."
 * Only describe the positive state of a toggle, not the negative  Don't: "Hide in Viewport" Do: "Show in Viewport"
 * Do not use redundant words such as "enables", "activates" etc.  Don't: "Enables snapping during transform" Do: "Snap during transform"