Daily Challenge #6 : The 'CSS-Only' Tooltip System 🗨️

Source: Dev.to

Overview

It is February 18th. Today’s focus is on creating accessible, clean UI components without the bloat of external libraries.

Requirements

• Build a fully functional tooltip system that appears when hovering over or focusing on an element.
• Position the tooltip correctly and handle overflow gracefully.
• No JavaScript – no toggling classes or calculating coordinates via script.
• Use only CSS/HTML – pseudo‑elements (::before or ::after) or hidden sibling elements.
• Ensure accessibility: the tooltip must be visible to keyboard users (e.g., using :focus-within or :focus).
• Include a smooth fade‑in or slide‑up animation.
• The tooltip should stay attached to its parent element regardless of where that element is on the screen.

Tips

• Pro tip: Use attr(data-tooltip) in the content property of a pseudo‑element to manage the tooltip text directly in your HTML.

Save

button::after {
  content: attr(data-tooltip);
  /* additional styling */
}

Submission

Drop your CodePen or GitHub repository link in the comments.

Bonus Points

• Add a beak (the little triangle pointing to the target).

Extra Credit

• Make the tooltip automatically flip to the top if there isn’t enough room at the bottom (challenging with pure CSS!).

Have fun!