Tooltip Skip Delay

A fixed 300ms hover delay on every icon in a toolbar feels sluggish. Skip the delay once the first tooltip is open.

Tooltips need a brief delay before appearing so they don't pop up accidentally when your cursor sweeps across the screen.

However, once a user hovers over a toolbar icon long enough to trigger a tooltip, they are actively inspecting the controls. Requiring them to wait another 300ms for every adjacent button feels sticky and slow.

The Warm Toolbar Pattern

  1. –Initial Hover: Require a 300ms delay to confirm intent.
  2. –Warm State: Once open, mark the toolbar group as warm. Moving the cursor to adjacent icons shows tooltips with 0ms delay.
  3. –Cooldown: When the cursor leaves the group, hold the warm state for 400ms before resetting back to idle.

Hover back and forth across both toolbars in the preview above to feel the speed difference.