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Glossary Tool Tips

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From: David Ashleydale
Date: Apr 11, 2012 1:25PM

Hi,

I've received a design request to make "glossary tool tips" that open in a
layer above a link when a mouse user hovers over the link, but they don't
want a "close" link in the layer (like an "X" in the upper right corner).
They are saying that mouse users can just hover over the link, see the
glossary tool tip, and then move off the link to make it go away. There is
no need for a close link in that case.

I explained to them that non-mouse users will need to hit Enter on the link
in order to display the tool tip and that they will need a way to close it
again. But they are asking if non-mouse users could just hit Tab to move
away from the link, thereby closing the tool tip, or just hit Escape to
close it. They think it will look like "sloppy" design to mouse users to
see a close link on the tool tips, since all they need to do is move the
cursor away.

My concern is that, without an explicit close link, non-mouse users will
just have to guess how to close the glossary layer.

My question: Am I over-thinking the need for the close link? Will most
non-mouse users easily figure out how to close the layer if we code it to
close on Tab and Escape? We could even code it to close if the user hits
Enter again -- kind of like a toggle.

Thanks for your thoughts!

David