Tooltips in diagram at small zoom sizes

JonAxtell · Post by **JonAxtell** » 01 Sep 2009 09:50

Sometimes it necessary to zoom out of the diagram to get a better overall picture of family branch. When zooming out to the extent that the text is unreadable there is the danger of losing track of the locations of individuals. This hampers the use of the diagram at very small scale zoom factors. One thing that would make it easier is if a 'tooltip'+ appeared if the cursor hovered over a box for a certain amount of time showing the individual's name and record ID at a minimum. This will help the user navigate the diagram successfully even at low scale factors. The aim of the tooltip is not to display all the information in the box but to act as a reminder. The amount of time and the zoom factor before the tip is displayed should be configurable.

+ A tooltip is a little window that typically displays a bit of help or explanation for a feature of the UI. Hovering the mouse over the buttons in the property dialog's fact tab will display tooltips.

http://www.fhug.org.uk/wishlist/wldispl ... lwlref=434

ID:3963

RogerF · Post by **RogerF** » 08 Sep 2009 14:56

This sounds an excellent suggestion.

ChrisBowyer · Post by **ChrisBowyer** » 22 Sep 2009 06:05

I agree, but I'd prefer name & life dates to name and record ID. I don't use record IDs for anything meaningful, and have removed them from the interface where ever possible. Perhaps the best answer is to display the box text as defined by the text scheme.

And I don't think you need a configurable time displayed... Why not stay there until I move the mouse away. Pop-ups that disapear while you're trying to read them are infuriating.

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 22 Sep 2009 08:04

Seems a good idea. Couldn't they be made configurable so that they can display whatever you want? For example, the tool tip could show additional information about a person. You would probably want to be able to switch tool-tips off when not needed.

Gerry

JonAxtell · Post by **JonAxtell** » 24 Sep 2009 22:18

Chris, yep life dates are probably better bet than the ID.

The reason for the time limit on displaying the tooltip is because I was thinking that having them displayed all the time forces you to move your mouse just to clear the display. And I was having some initial thoughts about the idea. Thinking about it more, it would be simpler to just keep a tooltip displayed whilst the mouse is on the box.

Gerry, I was thinking of the tooltip more as an aide memoire so that you can find your way around a diagram in which the boxes are nothing more than blobs. This is so that you can quickly find a person and zoom back into them, or navigate further around the diagram. I don't see the need to have them configurable to display loads of stuff which is already available from the property box which is just a double click away.

It's just a simple tooltip, not a whole feature set in itself. Hopefully that makes it easier to program and therefore more likely to appear than a fully configurable multi-setting option. That can come later!

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 25 Sep 2009 08:32

JonAxtell said:
Gerry, I was thinking of the tooltip more as an aide memoire so that you can find your way around a diagram in which the boxes are nothing more than blobs.

Jon,

I was thinking that you could display the minimum of information on the diagram so that you could see more of the overall picture. The tool tips would allow you to see (customisable) details about individuals without having to display the property box or enlarge the diagram.

I'd vote for it anyway.

Gerry

Family Historian User Group