CSS Tooltip Master Class: Create an HTML Tooltip and Style It

Creating Tooltips With CSS

It is possible to create a pure CSS tooltip for an element. However, the first step is making an HTML tooltip by assigning a class to the element that will have the tooltip.

Then, you use the styling properties of CSS. The tooltip presented in the following example has the position, color, and display properties.

.tooltip { /* Container for our tooltip */
    position: relative;   
    display: inline-block;
}

.tooltip .tooltiptext { /* This is for the tooltip text */
    visibility: hidden;
    width: 100px;
    background-color: #8512d5;
   color: white;
   text-align: center;
   padding: 10px;
   border-radius: 10px;  /* This defines tooltip text position */
   position: absolute;
   z-index: 1;
} 

.tooltip:hover .tooltiptext { /* Makes tooltip text visible when text is hovered on */
   visibility: visible;
}

The text of the tooltip is inside a <span> element with a tooltiptext class.

Note: tooltips are for setting additional information about a topic when users hover the mouse pointer over styled elements.

Steps to Follow to Create a Pure CSS Tooltip

With HTML, we only add the elements with text. CSS sets the position, color and other properties for the tooltip.

• We set the position to relative to the element with the tooltip class.
• We position the text inside the tooltip with position: absolute.
• The element with the tooltiptext class has the text inside the tooltip. It is hidden until :hover triggers.
• CSS styles the HTML tooltip by indicating its width, and background-color.
• The text inside the tooltip is centered and has specific padding settings.
• The border-radius rounds the corners of the HTML tooltip.

Positioning

You can position a CSS tooltip on one of the four sides of an HTML element.

Right Tooltip

The example below places the tooltip to the right side of the hoverable text by using the left property with the position: relative (to move it right).

.tooltip-ex-right {
    top: -5px;
    left: 125%;
}

Tip: we use top: -5px to move the CSS tooltip to the same height as the container.

By increasing the padding, you might need to increase the value of the top property to ensure it stays centered vertically.

Left Tooltip

The creation of the HTML tooltip on the left side involves the use of right with the position: relative.

.tooltip .tooltiptext {
    top: -10px;
    right: 110%; 
}

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Top Tooltip

The following example adds the HTML tooltip at the top of the element:

.tooltip .tooltiptext {
    width: 100px;
    bottom: 100%;    
    left: 50%;
    margin-left: -50px; /* This makes the margin half of the width to the center */
}

Note: we use the margin-left property with -60 to center the tooltip.

Bottom Tooltip

Here is an example of a bottom CSS tooltip:

.tooltip .tooltiptext {
    width: 100px;
    top: 100%;
    left: 50%;
    margin-left: -50px; /* This makes the margin half of the width to the center */
}

Tip: do not forget to include the margin-left and set its value to -60 to center the tooltip.

Creating an Arrow

You can create arrows for your tooltips in CSS by combining the ::after pseudo-element with an empty content property. As a result, the tooltip resembles a speech bubble.

.tooltip .tooltiptext::after {
    content: " ";
    position: absolute;
    top: 100%; /* This will position the arrow at the bottom of the tooltip */
    left: 50%;
    margin-left: -10px;
    border-width: 10px;
    border-style: solid;
    border-color: black transparent transparent transparent; /* This will make the top border black*/
}

The example above follows these steps to create an arrow for a tooltip positioned on the bottom:

• There are no unique properties for creating arrows for tooltips. Therefore, we will use the border property.
• We need to position the arrow at the bottom by setting top: 100%.
• The left:50% part of code centers the tooltip.
• The border-width sets the size of the arrow. If you change the size, you also need to modify the margin-left to keep the arrow centered.
• The border-color sets the color of the arrow. You should only define the top border and leave other borders transparent.
• You must set the border-style to define the way the border looks. The example uses the solid value.

The following example shows how you create an arrow for the tooltip positioned at the top:

.tooltip .tooltiptext::after {
    content: " ";
    position: absolute;
    bottom: 100%;  /* This will position the arrow at the top of the tooltip */
    left: 50%;
    margin-left: -10px;    
    border-width: 10px;
    border-style: solid; 
    border-color: transparent transparent black transparent; /* This will make the top border black */
}

The below example demonstrates how you can add an arrow to the tooltip on the left side:

.tooltip .tooltiptext::after {
    content: " ";
    position: absolute;
    top: 50%;
    right: 100%; /* This will position the arrow on the left of the tooltip */
    margin-top: -10px;
    border-width: 10px;
    border-style: solid;
    border-color: transparent black transparent transparent; /* This will make the right border black*/
}

The below example shows how you can add an arrow to the tooltip on the right side:

.tooltip .tooltiptext::after {
    content: " ";
    position: absolute;
    top: 50%;
    left: 100%; /* This will position the arrow on the right of the tooltip */
    margin-top: -10px;
    border-width: 10px;
    border-style: solid;
    border-color: transparent transparent transparent black; /* This will make the left border black*/
}

Fade In Animation

Without additional properties, a tooltip box appears suddenly. However, the transition and opacity styling properties make the tooltip fade in gradually.

In the example, we create a smooth fade-in effect:

.tooltip .tooltiptext {
    opacity: 0; /* This will make the tooltip text invisible when it's not being hovered on */
    transition: opacity 3s;
}
.tooltip:hover .tooltiptext {
    opacity: 1;
} /* This will make it fade in when it's hovered on */

• We need to set opacity: 0 for when the tooltip is hidden.
• The transition property should indicate the duration of the animation.
• We need to add opacity: 1 to the tooltip for when :hover triggers.

CSS Tooltip: Useful Tips

• One of the concerns of the use of tooltips is that users of mobile devices might be unable to use this feature.
• You can create tooltips by using the resources of Bootstrap.