Better UX and Quick Analytics with the PDF Tooltip

PDF documents are popular in the business world, but despite the fact that they’ve been around for so long, they’re not perfect.

But is that set to change with the introduction of tooltips in PDF documents?

Tooltips is a powerful method of simplifying the user interface (UI), as it gives users a better understanding of any unfamiliar objects.

Before now, it wasn’t a good fit for PDF. However, PPCexpo has set about shaking things up with their interactive technology. This certainly promises a whole new user experience (UX) for PDF documents.

Tooltips are easy to use, operating through a small pop-up window, which users can use to label any command buttons or toolbar controls that are currently being pointed to by the mouse cursor.

After adding tooltips to specific objects, they will be displayed automatically whenever the user hovers the mouse cursor over an object. It vanishes after the cursor is clicked or moved away.

This provides users with key information when they need it, with minimal effort on their part. Also, it helps software developers be more efficient with their use of screen space.

In online mode, this functionality has a few good benefits, such as:

Certain labels, icons, or buttons may have little or no text. Adding a tooltip that offers a short explanation of the control function is useful for future use of the program or document.

Nobody wants to have excessive text on the screen, nor do they want to have to hunt around or research the functions of each control. By adding tooltips in PDF documents, you can add supplementary information directly into the UI.

For features that you don’t use too often, it’s easy to forget what they do. By adding a short tooltip that explains the features or functions of a control, you can quickly get reacquainted.

Overuse of tooltips in PDF documents runs the risk of cluttering the document with too much text. Done right, you can use this functionality to improve the visual appeal of your PDF documents. This will create a better UX for anyone working with the document.

Good tooltips designs cover the following bases:

One major problem with tooltips is the lack of any visual clues. You may expect the mouse cursor to change color or shape when you move over an object that has a tooltip. However, there is no visual clue to let you know the tip is there. It is only through working with the document that you will discover tips.

So, how can we improve this?

The best way to enhance the discoverability of your tooltips is by using them in a consistent manner. If you are providing tips for some objects, then maybe adding a tip for all the similar objects is a wise move.

This fosters a degree of predictability, which makes it easier for people using the document. The caveat with this is that you may find yourself spending time adding some very obvious “tips”.

A good tooltip will contain concise, helpful information. The pop-up window is intended for shorter sentences and small notes.

However, just because it is succinct, doesn’t mean the tip can’t be insightful. Don’t repeat information that is already displayed on the screen. Anything too obvious or similar to the existing label is just pointless.

Users aren’t expecting tooltips to change, so they probably won’t notice any edits to dynamic content. Aside from notification icons that communicate current status, there is no reason for your tooltips to be constantly changing.

Ideally, tooltips in PDF documents should be placed at the head or tail of the pointer. They should never be positioned anywhere that will obscure the object.

Before now, PDF documents were somewhat static reports, offering little in the way of customization or interaction.

PPCexpo has taken visualizations to the next level, however, through the use of interactive PDF (iPDF) documents. A key component in this evolution is the addition of tooltips functionality.

Visuals in PDF reports are typically inserted as an image object. For this reason, it is challenging to detect text or specific data points in the image file, which makes tooltips largely incompatible with images in PDF documents.

The iPDF technology from PPCexpo has the solution for this issue. PPCexpo can automatically identify visual coordinates of data points in image files (visualizations) and can bind tooltip onto that data point

There are some major benefits to using this technology and tooltips together.

With iPDF technology, you can create a better user experience in your PDF documents. The addition of custom tooltips is the perfect solution for any confusing or unknown elements in the document. Not only will the documents be easier to understand and analyze, but the visual aspects will have more of an impact with the supplementary information.

Some people may already understand the topic of the document in some depth, while others may need a little extra information. Tooltips offer this, enabling users to hover above various data points to get the additional info they need.

Between the additional information and the enhanced visualizations, iPDF documents with tooltips are a great combination to boost user engagement. People will understand more about the document and will be more inclined to continue working with it as a direct result of the improved UX.

The advantages of interactive PDF documents are abundant. By adding tooltips to this revolutionary technology, PPCexpo is in a league of their own. PPCexpo’s technology allows a tooltip to be shown on an object in a visualization. For example, a tooltip can be shown over a bar in a bar chart, and each bar can have a unique tooltip.

Whether it’s for everyday work by data analysts and novice marketers, or for vital pitches to c-suite members or prospective clients, iPDF technology brings an unparalleled experience to the table.

This type of PDF user interface and user experience is rivaled by none, which means you can truly stand out from the crowd with some clever tooltips in your PDF documents.