A CSS tooltip is used to specify extra information about something when the user moves the mouse pointer over an element:
CSS Create a Basic Tooltip
Create a tooltip that appears when the user moves the mouse over an element:
Example
<style> /* Tooltip container */
.tooltip {
position: relative;
display: inline-block;
border-bottom: 1px dotted
black; /* Add dots under the hoverable text */
cursor: pointer;
}
/* Tooltip text
*/
.tooltiptext {
visibility: hidden; /* Hidden by default */
width: 130px;
background-color: black;
color: #ffffff;
text-align: center;
padding: 5px 0;
border-radius: 6px;
position: absolute;
z-index: 1; /* Ensure tooltip is displayed above
content */
}
/* Show
the tooltip text on hover */
.tooltip:hover .tooltiptext {
visibility: visible;
}
</style> <div class="tooltip"> Hover
over me
<span class="tooltiptext"> Some
tooltip
text
</span> </div>Live preview
Example Explained
HTML
- Use a container element (like <div>) and add the "tooltip" class to it. When the user mouse over this <div>, it will show the tooltip text.
- The tooltip text is placed inside an inline element (like <span>) with class="tooltiptext" .
CSS
- The tooltip class use position:relative , which is needed to position the tooltip text ( position:absolute ). Tip: See examples below on how to position the tooltip.
- The tooltiptext class holds the actual tooltip text. It is hidden by default, and will be visible on hover.
- The :hover selector is used to show the tooltip text when the user moves the mouse over the <div> with class="tooltip" .
Positioning the Tooltip
You can position the tooltip as you like. Here we will show how to position the tooltip to the left, right, top and bottom.
Right- and Left-aligned Tooltip
In this example, the tooltip is placed to the right ( left:105% ) of the "hoverable" text (<div>). Also note that top:-5px is used to place it in the middle of its container element. We use the number 5 because the tooltip text has a top and bottom padding of 5px. If you increase its padding, also increase the value of the top property to ensure that it stays in the middle (if this is something you want). The same applies if you want the tooltip placed to the left.
Example
.tooltiptext {
top: -5px;
left: 105%;
}Live preview
Expected output
Hover over me Tooltip text
Example
.tooltiptext {
top: -5px;
right: 105%;
}Live preview
Expected output
Hover over me Tooltip text
Top- and Bottom-aligned Tooltip
If you want the tooltip to appear on top or on the bottom, see examples below. Note that we use the margin-left property with a value of minus 65 pixels. This is to center the tooltip above/below the hoverable text. It is set to the half of the tooltip's width (130/2 = 65).
Example
.tooltiptext {
width: 130px;
bottom: 100%;
left: 65%;
margin-left: -65px; /* Use half of the width
(130/2 = 65), to center the tooltip */
}Live preview
Expected output
Hover over me Tooltip text
Example
.tooltiptext {
width: 130px;
top: 100%;
left: 50%;
margin-left: -65px; /* Use half of the width
(130/2 = 65), to center the tooltip */
}Live preview
Expected output
Hover over me Tooltip text
Fade-in Tooltip
If you want a tooltip that fades in, use the CSS transition property and the opacity property, and go from being completely invisible to 100% visible, in a number of specified seconds (2 second in our example):
Example
.tooltiptext {
opacity: 0;
transition: opacity 2s;
} .tooltip:hover .tooltiptext {
opacity: 1;
}Live preview