Tooltips for mobile browsers

Question

I currently set the title attribute of some HTML if I want to provide more information:

An 

        

Answer 1

Here is a CSS only solution. (Similar to @Jamie Pate 's answer, but without the JavaScript.)

We can use the pseudo class :hover, but I'm not sure all mobile browsers apply these styles when the element is tapped. I'm using pseudo class :focus because I'm guessing it's safer. However, when using pseudo class :focus we need to add tabindex="0" to elements that don't have a focus state intrinsically.

I'm using 2 @media queries to ensure all mobile devices are targeted. The (pointer: coarse) query will target any device that the primary input method is something "coarse", like a finger. And the (hover: none) query will target any device that the primary pointing system can't hover.

This snippet is all that's needed:

@media (pointer: coarse), (hover: none) {
      [title] {
        position: relative;
        display: inline-flex;
        justify-content: center;
      }
      [title]:focus::after {
        content: attr(title);
        position: absolute;
        top: 90%;
        color: #000;
        background-color: #fff;
        border: 1px solid;
        width: fit-content;
        padding: 3px;
      }
    }

/*Semantic Styling*/
body {
  display: grid;
  place-items: center;
  text-align: center;
  height: 100vh;
}

a {
  height: 40px;
  width: 200px;
  background: #fa4766;
  color: #fff;
  text-decoration: none;
  padding: 10px;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  border-radius: 10px;
}

/*Functional Styling*/
@media (pointer: coarse), (hover: none) {
  [title] {
    position: relative;
    display: flex;
    justify-content: center;
  }
  [title]:focus::after {
    content: attr(title);
    position: absolute;
    top: 90%;
    color: #000;
    background-color: #fff;
    border: 1px solid;
    width: fit-content;
    padding: 3px;
  }

}

Tag with Title

Obviously, you'll need to open this on a mobile device to test it. Here is a Pen with the same code.