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How to Inspect Tooltips in Chrome

Published in Tooltip Inspection 5 mins read

Inspecting tooltips in Chrome involves using the browser's Developer Tools to freeze the tooltip's state and examine its underlying HTML and CSS, which is crucial for debugging and styling.

Tooltips are vital UI elements that offer contextual information, enhancing user experience. For web developers, designers, and quality assurance testers, understanding how to inspect these elements in Chrome's Developer Tools (DevTools) is fundamental for ensuring their correct appearance, positioning, and functionality.

Step-by-Step Guide to Inspecting Tooltips

The process generally involves triggering the tooltip and then using DevTools to capture and analyze its properties.

1. Activate the Tooltip and Open DevTools

First, make the tooltip visible on your screen.

  • Hover and Inspect: Begin by hovering your mouse cursor over the specific element that triggers the tooltip. Once the tooltip appears, while keeping your mouse hovered over the element, right-click on the tooltip itself (if it allows interaction) or the triggering element and select "Inspect" from the context menu.
  • Keyboard Shortcut: Alternatively, you can open DevTools first by pressing F12 (on Windows/Linux) or Cmd + Opt + I (on macOS), and then hover over the element to make the tooltip appear.

2. Navigate to the Elements Panel

Once Chrome DevTools opens, you'll need to focus on the structure and styles.

  • Ensure you are in the Elements tab within the DevTools window. This panel displays the HTML structure of the page.

3. Locate the Tooltip Element

Finding the tooltip element within the HTML tree can be done in a couple of ways, depending on how transient the tooltip is.

  • Using the "Select Element" Tool: If the tooltip remains visible after opening DevTools, activate the "Select an element in the page to inspect it" tool. This is represented by a mouse pointer icon in the top-left corner of the DevTools window, or you can activate it by pressing Ctrl + Shift + C (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + Shift + C (macOS). Click directly on the visible tooltip. This action will automatically highlight its corresponding HTML in the Elements panel.
  • Manual DOM Navigation & Force State (For Fleeting Tooltips): Tooltips often disappear quickly if you move your mouse. For these dynamic tooltips:
    1. Hover over the element to make the tooltip appear.
    2. Quickly open DevTools (e.g., F12 or Cmd + Opt + I).
    3. In the Elements panel, manually navigate through the DOM tree. Tooltips are often located as children or siblings of the triggering element, or sometimes appended to the <body> tag. Look for elements with common tooltip-related class names like tooltip, popup, tip, or attributes like data-tooltip.
    4. Once you suspect you've found the tooltip element (even if it's currently hidden), right-click on it in the Elements panel, hover over Force state, and select :hover. This will force the tooltip to remain visible, allowing you to thoroughly inspect its CSS properties in the Styles panel.

Advanced Techniques for Inspecting Dynamic Tooltips

For more complex or very quickly disappearing tooltips, these methods can be highly effective:

  • Freezing JavaScript Execution

    Some tooltips are controlled by complex JavaScript that makes them disappear almost instantly.

    1. Trigger the tooltip to appear.
    2. Quickly switch to the Sources tab in DevTools.
    3. Press F8 (or click the "Pause script execution" button, which looks like a pause symbol) to halt all JavaScript execution on the page. The tooltip should then remain static.
    4. Switch back to the Elements tab and inspect the tooltip normally, using the "Select Element" tool or manual navigation.

  • Inspecting Event Listeners

    You can also examine the JavaScript events tied to the tooltip.

    1. Select the element that triggers the tooltip in the Elements panel.
    2. In the right-hand sidebar of DevTools, navigate to the Event Listeners tab.
    3. Here, you can see all events bound to the element (e.g., mouseover, mouseleave, focus). You might find the specific event handler responsible for showing or hiding the tooltip.

What to Look For When Inspecting Tooltips

Once you've isolated the tooltip element, DevTools provides comprehensive details:

  • HTML Structure: Identify the parent container, content elements, and any associated attributes (title, data-tooltip, aria-describedby).
  • CSS Styling: Examine properties in the Styles panel such as background-color, color, font-size, padding, border-radius, box-shadow, position (e.g., absolute, fixed), z-index, opacity, and transform for animations.
  • Layout & Positioning: Understand how CSS properties like top, left, right, bottom, transform, and margin influence its placement relative to the triggering element.
  • Accessibility Attributes: Check for aria-label, aria-describedby, or aria-labelledby attributes to ensure the tooltip is accessible to users with assistive technologies.

Chrome DevTools Shortcuts for Inspection

Action Windows/Linux macOS
Open DevTools F12 or Ctrl + Shift + I Cmd + Opt + I
Select Element Tool Ctrl + Shift + C Cmd + Shift + C
Pause/Resume Script Execution F8 F8 or Cmd + \
Force Element State (:hover) Right-click element > Force state Right-click element > Force state

For more in-depth information, refer to the official Chrome DevTools Documentation on inspecting and editing pages and styles.

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