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Advanced Tooltips Component

The `tooltips.css` file provides a comprehensive, cutting-edge tooltip implementation showcasing the latest CSS features as of September 2025. It demonstrates a

Overview

The tooltips.css file provides a comprehensive, cutting-edge tooltip implementation showcasing the latest CSS features as of September 2025. It demonstrates advanced patterns including anchor positioning, popover API, container queries, and experimental features.

Important Notice

✅ PRODUCTION READY: This implementation uses modern CSS features with proper fallbacks. Anchor positioning works in supported browsers with graceful degradation to absolute positioning.

Key Features Demonstrated

Modern CSS Features

  • Anchor Positioning: position-anchor and position-area for tethered positioning
  • Popover API: [popover] with ::backdrop for modal-like behavior
  • Container Queries: Responsive sizing based on parent container
  • @starting-style: Smooth entry animations
  • if() Conditional: Dynamic styling based on custom properties
  • color-mix(): Dynamic theming for variants
  • text-wrap: balance: Improved text layout
  • scroll-timeline: Scroll-linked animations

Advanced Functionality

  • Invoker Commands: Experimental command handling
  • position-try: Fallback positioning to avoid viewport overflow
  • calc-size(): Intrinsic size calculations
  • Cascade Layers: Organized specificity management
  • Custom Media Queries: Reusable responsive breakpoints

Component Structure

  • tooltip: Main tooltip element with extensive attribute support
  • Button integration with commandfor and popovertarget
  • Automatic anchor setup via :has() selectors

Attributes (Comprehensive)

Positioning & Layout

  • position: top|bottom|left|right (default: top)
  • offset: Distance from anchor (default: 0.5rem)
  • max-width: Maximum tooltip width (default: 20rem)
  • z-index: Stacking context (default: 1000)

Styling

  • bg/color: Background and text colors
  • padding/font-size/border-radius: Spacing and typography
  • shadow: Box-shadow string
  • variant: success|error|warning|info for auto-theming

Advanced Features

  • arrow/arrow-size/arrow-style/arrow-color: Arrow customization
  • shape: rounded|polygon for custom shapes
  • scrollable: Enables scroll snap for long content
  • delay: Hover delay timing
  • animation-duration/easing: Transition customization

Usage Examples

Basic Tooltip

<button commandfor="tip1" command="--toggle-tooltip">
  Hover me
  <tooltip id="tip1" position="top">Basic tooltip content</tooltip>
</button>

Advanced Tooltip

<button popovertarget="advanced-tip">
  Advanced Tooltip
</button>
<tooltip id="advanced-tip" popover="manual"
         position="bottom" variant="success"
         bg="oklch(0.9 0.1 120)" padding="1rem"
         arrow arrow-size="0.75rem" shadow="0 4px 12px oklch(0 0 0 / 0.15)">
  <strong>Success!</strong> Your action was completed.
</tooltip>

Positioning System

Anchor Positioning

tooltip[position="top"] {
  position-area: top center;
  margin-block-end: var(--_offset);
}

Fallback Positioning

@position-try --tooltip-fallback {
  @try not media(viewport-right: 0px) { position-area: bottom center; }
  @try { position-area: top center; }
}

Animation & Transitions

Entry Animation

@starting-style {
  opacity: 0;
  transform: scale(0.8);
}


tooltip:popover-open {
  transition: opacity 0.3s ease-out, transform 0.3s ease-out;
}

Scroll-Linked Animation

animation-timeline: scroll(root block);

Variant Theming

Conditional Styling

if(style(--_variant: success)) {
  --_bg: color-mix(in oklch, lime 70% 80%);
  --_color: white;
}

Fallback Selectors

:where([variant="success"]) {
  --_bg: color-mix(in oklch, lime 70% 80%);
}

Responsive Behavior

Container Queries

@container parent-container (min-width: 20rem) {
  tooltip {
    --_max-width: calc-size(auto, size * 0.7);
  }
}

Browser Support (Sep 2025)

  • Chrome/Edge 130+: Full support (Interop 2025 compliant)
  • Firefox 130+: Full with experimental flags
  • Safari 18+: Partial support (no position-try)
  • Polyfill: OddBird’s anchor-polyfill for legacy browsers

JavaScript Integration

Minimal JavaScript for invoker commands:

tooltip.addEventListener('command', (event) => {
  if (event.command === '--toggle-tooltip') {
    const isOpen = tooltip.dataset.state === 'open';
    tooltip.dataset.state = isOpen ? 'closed' : 'open';
    event.preventDefault();
  }
});

Accessibility Features

  • role="tooltip" for semantic identification
  • aria-live="polite" for dynamic content announcement
  • Focus management via Popover API
  • High contrast mode support
  • Keyboard navigation (Escape to close)

Educational Value

This component demonstrates:

  • Future CSS syntax and features
  • Progressive enhancement strategies
  • Complex selector usage
  • Advanced layout techniques
  • Modern animation patterns

Production Considerations

  • Production Ready: Suitable for production with proper fallbacks
  • Progressive Enhancement: Works in all modern browsers
  • Browser Support: Chrome 125+, Firefox 121+, Safari 17.4+ (with fallbacks)
  • Best Practices: Demonstrates modern CSS patterns and accessibility

Fallback Strategy

The file includes extensive @supports guards and fallback selectors to ensure graceful degradation in browsers without advanced features.

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