Marcelo Paiva

All criteriaPresent as slides

A bearded man in glasses opens his mouth wide, holding food at a computer monitor and keyboard.Meant to show: A man with a trembling hand and heavy-framed glasses

Success criterion 1.4.13

Content on Hover or Focus

Extra content that appears on hover or focus can be dismissed, can be hovered over, and stays visible until the user dismisses it.

  • Level AA
  • Principle 1: Perceivable
  • Guideline 1.4: Distinguishable

In a user’s words

“Your tooltip pops up over the thing I'm reading and runs away the moment I move toward it.”

Who this helps: Low Vision, Motor Impairments

What each role can do

Product manager
Review every tooltip, popover and hover menu against the dismissible, hoverable, persistent rules.
Designer
Design tooltips that do not cover their trigger and that stay open while pointed at.
Developer
Make hover and focus content dismissible with Escape, hoverable, and persistent until dismissed.
Tester
Test tooltips with keyboard, mouse and magnification; confirm Escape closes them without moving focus.

Once it is fixed

“The tooltip stays put while I read it and leaves when I say so. Polite at last!”

The quotes are written to illustrate the criterion. They are not testimonials from real people. For the official wording, find 1.4.13 in the W3C quick reference for WCAG 2.2 (opens in a new tab).

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