FAQ
#What syntax theme is used on this website?
It's a theme I made called Moonlight!
#Nothing is working
Make sure Tippy's scripts are placed before your own scripts, at the very bottom of the page, like so:
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>My page</title> </head> <body> <button>Text</button> <!-- Very end of the body --> <script src="https://unpkg.com/popper.js@1"></script> <script src="https://unpkg.com/tippy.js@5"></script> <script> tippy('button', {content: 'tooltip'}); </script> </body> </html>
#My tooltip appears cut off or is not showing at all
When using interactive: true
, the tippy may be invisible or appear cut off if
your reference element is in a container with:
position
(e.g. fixed, absolute, sticky)overflow: hidden
To fix add the following prop (recommended):
tippy(targets, { // ... popperOptions: { positionFixed: true, }, });
Or, if the above causes issues:
tippy(targets, { // ... appendTo: document.body, });
⚠️ For the latter, you need to be employing focus management for accessibility.
#I'm getting Uncaught ReferenceError: process is not defined
If you're using the ESM or CJS versions and importing like this:
import tippy from 'tippy.js'; // or const tippy = require('tippy.js').default;
Tippy uses a special expression to distinguish a development and production environment. For you, the developer, there are lots of warnings and error messages to help your development experience. For your end users, all of this needs to get stripped out because it reduces performance and increases bundle size.
Tools like create-react-app
and Parcel
bundler handle this automatically.
#Browserify/Grunt/Gulp
#Rollup
Install the
replace plugin
.
import replace from 'rollup-plugin-replace'; export default { // ... plugins: [ // Production config replace({ 'process.env.NODE_ENV': JSON.stringify('production'), }), // OR development config replace({ 'process.env.NODE_ENV': JSON.stringify('development'), }), // You can also use process.env.NODE_ENV and set the env variables when // running the rollup command to merge the above into one call ], };
#How do I use the animations or themes stylesheets with the CDN?
For brevity, this documentation uses import
syntax and assumes a module
bundler environment. If you're using the CDN version, then you'll be using
<link>
tags to import separate CSS stylesheets.
#What are those "iife", "esm" and "cjs" initialisms?
They represent JavaScript formats. You don't need to know how they work, just which one you're using:
Initialism | Full Name | Usage | Tree-Shaking? |
---|---|---|---|
iife | Immediately Invoked Function Expression | Used via script tags in the browser (CDN) | No |
esm | ECMAScript Module | Used via import syntax in module bundlers | Yes |
cjs | CommonJS Module | Used via require() syntax in module bundlers | Only in Parcel currently |
Using tippy.js
via the esm
format is the most recommended way, since you get
the benefits of tree-shaking in all bundlers.
#What global side effects are there?
There are global listeners to determine the user's current input type (e.g.
touch
), and other UX helpers.
#I can't click things inside the tooltip
To enable interactivity, set the interactive
prop to true
.
#My tooltip is hiding instantly after showing
If you're using a focus
trigger, for example on an <input>
, make sure you
also set hideOnClick: false
.
#Changing data-tippy-* attributes does not update the tooltip
Updating the data-tippy-* attribute on an element will currently not update the
tooltip. You must use the setProps()
method on a Tippy
instance.
For example, let's say you want to update the theme
for tooltips when changing
between dark and light mode:
const instance = tippy(element, {theme: 'custom-dark'}); // When clicking the theme toggle button, you can do this: instance.setProps({theme: 'custom-light'});
It's also possible to attach a MutationObserver
to the reference elements and
observe mutations to attributes if need be, then call .setProps()
with the new
values.
#Can I use the title
attribute?
Yes. The content
prop can be a function that receives the reference element as
an argument and returns a string or element.
tippy('button', { content(reference) { const title = reference.getAttribute('title'); reference.removeAttribute('title'); return title; }, });
The title
attribute should be removed once you have its content so the
browser's default tooltip isn't displayed along with the tippy.
#Plugin
You can create a plugin for this to generalize the behavior:
const titleAttribute = { name: 'titleAttribute', defaultValue: true, fn() { return { onCreate(instance) { if (!instance.props.titleAttribute) { return; } const title = instance.reference.getAttribute('title'); if (title) { instance.setContent(title); instance.reference.removeAttribute('title'); } }, }; }, };
Note that the plugin does not take into account dynamic titles. Be cautious of why you might need this in the first place.
#What's the difference between an addon and a plugin?
An addon is an external function that calls the tippy()
constructor
because it's controlling or creating many different tippy instances.
A plugin is a plain object that hooks into, and adds functionality, to a single tippy instance that has already already created.