Field help: the “?” beside every field

Every field label carries a small “?” that says what the field is for. Hover over it or reach the field with Tab to read it; Escape hides it. Lists show the same help on their column headings, and record pages on every field.

Since 22 October every field has help that says more than its label: on forms, line grids, action pop-ups, custom fields, self-service pages, the Configuration pages and record pages.

Reading it

1. Point at the “?” after a label: what the field is for opens beside it.
2. With the keyboard, Tab to the field (or to the mark): the help opens as the field gets the focus.
3. Escape, moving away or clicking elsewhere closes it. A screen reader reads the help as the field’s description without the tooltip opening.

Lists, line grids and record pages

• A list’s column heading that has written help shows its “?” when you point at the heading, and stays quiet otherwise, so the list is not cluttered.
• Line-grid headings carry a quiet mark; the cells under them are described by it.
• A record page shows a “?” on each field: the column’s help, else what is written for the field.

Where the words come from

• The field’s own help or hint first; then what is written for that field on that screen; then a glossary of common field names; otherwise a sentence made from the field’s kind, its choices, the list it picks from, its bounds and rules — never only its label repeated.
• The tooltip opens in a layer of its own, so a pop-up’s scrolling never cuts it off. It sits above the mark, below where there is no room, follows the theme (light, dark and the others) and reads right to left in Arabic and Urdu. Label sizes and form layout do not change.