I'm putting the finishing touches on a GUIDE (MATLAB) developed GUI. I wanted to add tooltip strings to help the user but I don't want to overwhelm the user. Here are some examples of tootip strings that I have so far:
These are tooltip strings for 4 radio buttons that I have in a radio-group panel.
Apply annotation to highlighted region of the selected electrode pair
Apply annotation to entire data range of selected electrode pair
Apply annotation to entire data-set of selected lead (6 electrode pairs)
Apply annotation to entire data-set for both leads (12 electrode pairs)
This is the tooltip string for a toolbar push button
Press to start annotating. Depending on selected mode, a highlight tool or window will appear
Are these too long or are they an acceptable length? Currently they convey all the information that I need to convey to the user. If these are too long, what could I do to shorten them?
Bonus question: Is there a general short-hand that is used for these types of user "hints" or "tips"?
I find them a little too long and convoluted. I don't know all your buttons, but if you don't have a button to specify a subrange, I would not mention 'entire range' and just omit that. Same with 'apply annotation'.
Compare:
Apply annotation to highlighted region of the selected electrode pair.
to
Apply to highlighted region of selected pair.
Similarly:
Apply annotation to entire data-set of selected lead (6 electrode pairs)
to:
Apply to selected lead of 6 electrode pairs.
Also, if the button already says 'annotate', there is no need to repeat it.
Press to start annotating. Depending on selected mode, a highlight tool or window will appear
to:
Show highlight tool or window to annotate
What I do generally is to keep it to the main point and rather exclude info that make it too long. If a wall of text pops up, people quickly lose interest.
If your GUI has ways to undo what you did with a button press, a curious press to see what it does is also a good thing.