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{{Definition}} and
{{Explain}}.
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Wikipedia uses two separate templates to generate tooltips. The {{abbr}} template is used to write an abbreviation (including an acronym or initialism) with its expanded meaning. It is a wrapper for the HTML element <abbr>...</abbr>
. The {{tooltip}} template uses the <span>...</span>
element to provide generic notes.
Only use {{abbr}}
or <abbr>
to mark up abbreviations (including acronyms and initialisms). Using it to generate tooltips elsewhere is a misuse of the underlying HTML and causes accessibility problems. For general-purpose tooltips, use {{tooltip}}
instead.
Readers on mobile devices typically do not have a mouse to hover with, and so generally cannot see tooltip contents. As of 2023, more English Wikipedia page views occur on mobile than on desktop browsers.
Usage
{{Tooltip|text to display inline in the article|pop-up tip}}
Parameters
Two unnamed (positional) parameters (required) and three named parameters (optional):
|1=
– the term to be explained; displays as text. Wiki markup is allowed but works more consistently when wrapping the template, see below for linking examples.
|2=
– the tooltip/pop-up (no wiki or doc markup allowed). The popup is created by an HTML title=
attribute, so it cannot contain HTML (or markup that resolves to HTML when rendered). This includes simple things like ''italics''
.
|class=
– one or more CSS classes (space-separated if more than one)
|id=
– an HTML id must be unique on the entire page.
|style=
– CSS to apply to the displayed text (no effect on tooltip/popup). Any style values with embedded blanks must be single-quoted, e.g. |style=font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;
Examples
More information Markup, Renders as ...
Markup | Renders as |
{{abbr|LSD|Louisiana School for the Deaf}}
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When hovering over the text "LSD", something like Louisiana School for the Deaf will appear as a tooltip in desktop browsers. Mobile devices may display a dotted line or other visual indicator of abbreviation, but will not provide the tooltip. No screen readers for the visually impaired will read the expansion by default; some provide an optional setting to read the expansion aloud.
Abbr examples
More information Markup, Renders as ...
Accessible when used in addition to inline expansion
Markup | Renders as |
High school students staying overnight on the Louisiana School for the Deaf (LSD) campus can phone their parents using an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. Although fluent in {{abbr|ASL|American Sign Language}}, most students at {{abbr|LSD|Louisiana School for the Deaf}} prefer texting their parents directly.
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High school students staying overnight on the Louisiana School for the Deaf (LSD) campus can phone their parents using an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. Although fluent in ASL, most students at LSD prefer texting their parents directly.
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Close
In the above example, each abbreviation is first expanded in the body text within parentheses. The template provides an additional way for some users to access the meaning later in the text. See MOS:ABBR for more information.
More information Markup, Renders as ...
Less accessible when used in place of inline expansion
Markup | Renders as |
High school students staying overnight on the {{abbr|LSD|Louisiana School for the Deaf}} campus can phone their parents using an {{abbr|ASL|American Sign Language}} interpreter. Although fluent in {{abbr|ASL|American Sign Language}}, most students at {{abbr|LSD|Louisiana School for the Deaf}} prefer texting their parents directly.
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High school students staying overnight on the LSD campus can phone their parents using an ASL interpreter. Although fluent in ASL, most students at LSD prefer texting their parents directly.
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In the above example, all abbreviations are expanded via the template. This is discouraged because it is the only way for users to access the meaning. Users reading on a mobile device, reading a printout, or listening to a screen reader will likely not have access to the full meaning.
More information Markup, Renders as ...
Least accessible when misused to create tooltip notes
Markup | Renders as |
High school students staying overnight on the {{abbr|LSD|Louisiana School for the Deaf}} campus can phone their parents using an {{abbr|ASL|American Sign Language}} {{abbr|interpreter|Although fluent in ASL, most students at LSD prefer texting their parents directly.}}.
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High school students staying overnight on the LSD campus can phone their parents using an ASL interpreter.
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In the above example, all abbreviations are expanded via the template, and an entire sentence is embedded via the template. It is the only way for users to access the meaning. A user reading on a mobile device, reading a printout, or listening to a screen reader will likely not have access to the full meaning of the abbreviation and will have no clear indication that the embedded footnote exists.
More information Markup, Renders as ...
Markup | Renders as |
[[WP:COI|{{tooltip|conflict of interest|in the specific sense employed in Wikipedia policy}}]] |
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Tooltips should not be used within the body text of an article if possible (see MOS:NOTOOLTIPS). Generic tooltip notes are not a substitute for footnotes and are intended to be used for navigational and other secondary features where space is limited. See Template:Glossary link or Template:Cite book/doc for practical examples.
Linking
To wiki-link the abbreviation being marked up by this template, wrap the template in the link, or the tooltip will not appear in some browsers.
More information Compatibility, Markup ...
Compatibility |
Markup |
Renders as |
Compatible |
<nowiki>[[Knockout#Technical knockout|{{abbr|TKO|technical knockout}}]]</nowiki> |
TKO |
Less compatible |
<nowiki>{{abbr|[[Knockout#Technical knockout|TKO]]|technical knockout}}</nowiki> |
TKO |
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Redirects
The following template names will redirect to {{Abbr}}:
{{Tooltip}} is a separate template sharing the same documentation.
Template data
More information Parameter, Description ...
Template parameters
Parameter | Description | Type | Status |
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Term | 1 | Shows as text
| Line | required |
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Tooltip | 2 | Shows as a mouse-over tooltip; do not use markup
| String | required |
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CSS | style | applies the specified CSS directives to the content of parameter 1
| String | optional |
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Class | class | Adds a one or more CSS classes
| String | optional |
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ID | id | Adds an HTML id (must be unique in the page)
| String | optional |
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See also
- {{Abbrlink}}, a variant of this template that includes automatic wikilinking of the term (abbreviation).
- {{dfn}}