Tooltip
Slack’s new feature tooltip features a cool gif
Slack offers a simpler sidebar in a one-step tooltip with an animated preview, a recommended setting and a Save button.
Slack introduces a sidebar option with a single new feature tooltip attached to the sidebar. At the time of the recording, the top half of the tooltip is an animation of a channel list shrinking to only the channels with unread messages, with the others tucked under a menu. Below it, "Want a simpler sidebar?" explains why: you have a lot of channels, and read conversations stay a click away. Two radio buttons offer "Show unreads only" (marked Recommended, and preselected) or "Show all", with a Save button and a close button.
Why it works
- Simple design: one step, a few lines of copy and one decision, so it makes sense even if you weren't thinking about your sidebar.
- An animation that does the explaining: the GIF shows exactly where the hidden channels go, which answers the obvious worry before you have to ask.
- A question as a headline: "Want a simpler sidebar?" draws you in, and the setting is chosen right there, so the tooltip changes the product rather than just describing it.
More on this pattern: new feature onboarding and tooltips in web design.
