Understanding Help Tags
Help tags are a quick form of help that can offer expanded information on items found throughout OS X and in many applications. Many applications enable you to get immediate information about Finder items (buttons and icons, for example) via expanded information shown in the help tags.
If an object in OS X has a help tag description, when you hover the pointer over it for a few seconds, a yellow box appears. Inside the box is a description of what action the item performs, as shown in Figure 6.4. If no such box appears, the object has no help tag associated with it.
Note
Some applications call these help tags ToolTips.
Not all objects have help tags. Common menu items—such as scroll arrows and menus—do not have help tags because they are considered self-explanatory. And not all applications offer the same level of help tag functionality as those created by Apple. Help tags are primarily used by custom buttons and icons to describe what the image used by the icon represents.
Figure 6.4
Help tags are enabled throughout OS X and many applications. They provide quick information regarding various items. Left: A help tag displays at the bottom of the toolbar in a Finder window. Right: A help tag displays in the Chrome browser's toolbar.
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