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Last updated onDec 11, 2024
Last updated onDec 11, 2024
Tooltips play a pivotal role in User Interface (UI) design, offering concise descriptions when users hover or tap, and empowering them to navigate your app with ease. In the world of Flutter—a versatile UI toolkit—adding tooltips is not only simple but also a game-changer for enhancing accessibility and user experience.
With endless customization possibilities, tooltips in Flutter enable you to elevate your app’s design and functionality effortlessly. Let’s explore how you can leverage this essential feature to take your UI to the next level!
Flutter Tooltip is a Material Design class that provides a textual representation of widgets obscured by other user interface actions, or even an additional explanation of the function. Tooltips come into play when a user long presses an object or hovers over it, displaying a floating label in the vicinity of the widget.
The primary attribute to provide a Tooltip is the 'message'. This Tooltip message supplied to the Tooltip's widget is usually a string denoting the information to be displayed. The other essential attribute of the Tooltip widget is the 'child'. The child widget is the element over which the Tooltip is displayed, upon a particular user interface action.
Tooltip also has a plethora of attributes for customization. For instance, you can vary the vertical gap between the tooltip and its activating widget, change the tooltip background color, modify the text font size, or even tweak the border radius for a more rounded tooltip.
Firstly, to add a basic Flutter Tooltip to your application, you'll typically use the Tooltip widget. This wraps your desired widget, such as an icon or button, to provide additional information when the user performs a long press or other user interface action.
To define a Tooltip, you'll specify a tooltip message. Here's a simple piece of code debuting a Tooltip when a user long-presses an IconButton:
1 class MyHomePage extends StatelessWidget { 2 @override 3 Widget build(BuildContext context) { 4 return Scaffold( 5 body: Center( 6 child: Tooltip( 7 message: 'This is an IconButton', 8 child: IconButton( 9 icon: Icon(Icons.ac_unit), 10 onPressed: () {}, 11 ), 12 ), 13 ), 14 ); 15 } 16 } 17
With the Material Design Tooltip, we can custom-design the tooltip property to fit our preferred looks. For instance, we might want to add some empty space around the Tooltip by tweaking the height and padding.
1 Tooltip( 2 message: 'This is a detailed Tooltip', 3 height: 60.0, 4 padding: EdgeInsets.all(10.0), 5 verticalOffset: 48, 6 preferBelow: false, 7 child: Container( 8 child: Text('Hover Over Me'), 9 ), 10 ) 11
In this snippet, the verticalOffset and preferBelow parameters adjust the vertical gap between the Tooltip and its child widget. padding adds some empty space for a more comfortable look, while height adds to the Tooltip's size.
While Flutter doesn't offer out-of-the-box options for Flutter Tooltip with an arrow, you can get creative and design your own. You could build a custom widget that includes an arrow, use a package for example super_tooltip, or even leverage a Popup with TriangleArrowClipper, ensuring your Tooltip stands out.
The Flutter Tooltip on tap can be essential for certain applications where a long press is not desirable or applicable. Unfortunately, Flutter Tooltip is activated on long-press by design, and currently, the Flutter SDK doesn't allow changing this behavior. However, there are workarounds. You can create a custom Tooltip widget wrapped with GestureDetector to display Tooltip on tap.
1 GestureDetector( 2 onTap: () { 3 final dynamic tooltip = _key.currentState; 4 tooltip.ensureTooltipVisible(); 5 }, 6 child: Tooltip( 7 key: _key, 8 message: 'This is Tappable', 9 child: Icon( 10 Icons.info, 11 ), 12 ), 13 ) 14
The Flutter Tooltip on hover functionality is particularly applicable if you're creating Flutter web applications. Flutter's Tooltip widget automatically handles hover events and displays the Tooltip message appropriately. This ensures that even without a long press, users can still access critical information.
1 class MyHomePage extends StatelessWidget { 2 @override 3 Widget build(BuildContext context) { 4 return Tooltip( 5 message: 'Hover To view Tooltip', 6 child: ElevatedButton( 7 child: Text('Hover Over Me'), 8 onPressed: () {}, 9 ), 10 ); 11 } 12 } 13
Working with Flutter Tooltip, developers can encounter various issues. For instance, Tooltips might cover essential objects or not be adequately displayed to users—especially problematic if the Tooltip is integral to the application's functionality.
Flutter offers ways to mitigate these pitfalls. The preferBelow parameter ensures the Tooltip message doesn't obscure its child widget, by ideally displaying the Tooltip above the child. If an adjacent empty space isn't available for the Tooltip, you might want to rethink your UI layout or reconsider whether a Tooltip is necessary there.
Tooltips are the hidden gems of intuitive Flutter UI design. By thoughtfully customizing their behavior, utilizing tap and hover features, and strategically placing them where users need extra clarity, you can significantly enhance your app’s usability and engagement.
Ask yourself, “Does this feature need added context or explanation?” If so, that’s where a Tooltip can shine. These concise, informative labels resolve complexity and create a smoother user journey, making your app stand out in the crowd.
Great UI design isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about meaningful interaction. With well-placed Tooltips, your app can achieve both. So, start exploring their potential and take your Flutter UI to new heights!
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