The recently-leaked Windows 10 Insider Preview build 16212 includes a dire warning for File History users: This feature is no longer supported. I think I know why this happening.
The post Thinking About Windows 10 File History appeared first on Thurrott.com.
Wir waren mit drei Smartphones unterwegs, um die Mobilfunkversorgung auf Helgoland und auf dem Weg dorthin zu testen. Beim Speedtest haben wir eine Überraschung erlebt. Zudem ist LTE noch keine Selbstverständlichkeit.
Hendricks hat sich "sehr verwundert" über den Berliner Kreis der Union gezeigt. Die Konservativen hatten vorgeschlagen, das Pariser Abkommen mit den USA zu verlassen.
Die Microsoft Garage ist nicht wirklich dafür bekannt, sonderlich großes Interesse an Microsofts eigener Windows-Plattform zu zeigen. Die Projekte von Microsoft-Mitarbeitern sind sehr häufig exklusiv für Android und iOS.
Während das Interesse der Microsoft-Entwickler für Windows 10 und Windows 10 Mobile nur marginal höher zu sein scheint als beim Rest der Welt, scheint HoloLens dieses doch zu wecken. Einige Praktikanten des Unternehmens haben nämlich ein Projekt entwickel, welches man als Holographic Photo Project bezeichnet.
Mit der Anwendung können Fotos auf der Mixed Reality-Brille betrachtet werden, allerdings nicht in 2D, wie mit der offiziellen Fotos-App, sondern unter Nutzung aller 3D-Features der HoloLens. Alben können auf unterschiedliche Arten dargestellt werden, beispielsweise in einem Karussell-Modus und Fotos frei im Raum platziert werden.
Microsofts offizielle Fotos-App auf der HoloLens ist weiterhin eine 2D-App, welche einzig und allein das Windows 10-Interface auf die Brille bringt. Es wäre möglich, dass das Unternehmen künftig diese Anwendung in eine 3D-App umwandelt und sich von diesem Projekt inspirieren lässt.
Quelle: Holographic Photo Project
Der Beitrag Holographic Photo Project: HoloLens-App erweckt OneDrive-Fotos zum Leben erschien zuerst auf WindowsArea.de.
Ein Pilot zeigt, wie mächtig Wetter aussehen kann. Aus dem Cockpit fotografiert er beeindruckende Sturm-, Wolken- und Sonnenszenen.
Microsoft used to say its mobile software would always be best on Windows phones, but that's just not the case anymore. The BlackBerry KEYone is a perfect example of why.
With varying levels of features and quality, mobile Office 365 apps are now available on Android and iOS, in addition to Windows 10 Mobile. On Windows 10 Mobile and Samsung Galaxy DeX-enabled phones, Office 365 apps offer a PC-like experience while docked, tied to a larger monitor and a keyboard. Office on iOS devices such as the iPad Pro also offers a PC-like experience, complete with full keyboard capabilities.
All of these scenarios, however, rely on larger screens and external keyboards. Sometimes it just isn't feasible or even desirable to carry a larger device, and thankfully, Word, Powerpoint, and Excel are all available for Windows, Android, and iOS phone devices too.
But there's a problem.
Today’s post was written by Sarah Bau, a Year 4/5 teacher for Our Lady Grace School in Australia.
I love a good checklist. There’s something very satisfying about making a list and checking off each item as I go. The humble checkbox is one of the first things that I discovered about OneNote—and it’s still one of my favorites.
When I began using the OneNote Class Notebook, I quickly realized that my students also get a lot of satisfaction out of checking off tasks as they finish them. Breaking tasks down into smaller sections, each with its own checkbox, helped my students with planning difficulties—such as those with autism, dyslexia and processing disorders. Projects or inquiries, which went over several lessons, became less daunting to these students because they could reopen their OneNote at the start of each lesson and see exactly where they were at a glance.
My students also became more proficient at checking over their work. One student hit upon an idea, which I had her teach to the rest of the class. Once she completed a task, she went back and unchecked all the checkboxes, then she went back through her work and rechecked all of the boxes to make sure that she hadn’t missed anything! This idea quickly took off, and I saw a dramatic decrease in the number of times where I had to tell a student, “Please go back and do this section; you skipped it.”
But I really hit checkbox gold when I began incorporating them into my assessment rubrics. We have a big emphasis on making learning visible at Our Lady of Grace School, so rubrics are always given to students with the initial assignment information. We go through the rubric at the start of the unit. Students have their own copies to look over as they work. I have taught them to refer to the rubric throughout their assignment so that they can make sure they are on track and have given themselves the best opportunity for success. Changing the layout of the rubric slightly allowed me to add the checkboxes. The students were then able to self-assess their work as they went—ensuring that they had met each assessment criteria.
My students use these rubrics in a variety of ways. One of my students told me that he makes sure that he has covered each assessment criteria to a “C” standard (average), and then goes back over his work and attempts to improve upon each assessment criteria—beginning with the criteria that are worth the most points. This student was just eight when we had this conversation! Not only is he using rubrics and checkboxes in a sophisticated manner, but he is also using the checkboxes as a time-management tool!
With my encouragement, students are permitted to have another student give them feedback on an assignment before submitting their work to me. They copy their page to the Collaboration Space, where another student reads and assesses their work using a copied and pasted rubric. The student attaches their peer assessment to their own work and attempts to make improvements before submitting to me.
When I assess their work, I copy and paste the rubric into my Assessment notebook, adjust the checkboxes as necessary and write a comment. I then take a screenshot of the whole lot and paste it back into the student’s page. This way there can be no “accidental” changes made to the checkboxes after I have assessed, and I have a record in my own OneNote that cannot be tampered with.
I give my students time to review their completed assessments and to set goals on which areas they will work to improve in their future work. As OneNote allows students to sign in to their OneNote Class Notebook anywhere, I encourage my students to share their learning achievements with their parents at home. Parents and students love the accessibility of OneNote and the prompt feedback that it provides. Using checkboxes in rubrics with OneNote has enabled my students to become independent in their learning, proficient at peer assessment, better at time-management skills and reflective in their own learning. Not to mention they have the added satisfaction of checking off work as they complete it!
—Sarah Bau
Join our #OneNoteQ TweetMeet on the first Tuesday of every month to learn from the OneNote experts on Twitter. Visit the Microsoft Education blog for details.
The post The humble checkbox appeared first on Office Blogs.
Das Kabinett wird noch diese Woche dafür votieren, Soldaten nach Jordanien zu verlegen. "Eigentlich ist Incirlik das kleinere der Probleme", sagte Außenminister Gabriel.
Outlook for iOS and Android is on a mission to help you accomplish more with your email and calendar while on the go. With our latest release, we’re addressing one of our most highly requested features with improvements to our People experience.
You will now have the ability to add and edit contacts right from Outlook on iOS, coming soon on Android. We’ve also completely redesigned the contact card to show more details—including latest conversations and shared files—and enabled easier calling and messaging with your contacts.
Here’s a deeper look at what’s new.
With our latest update, you can now add and edit contacts for Outlook.com and Office 365 accounts (support for Google contacts coming soon).
To create a new contact in Outlook, simply go to the People tab and tap the + sign. You can also add a new contact directly from a message or event by tapping the name of a person and then tapping Add Contact. Lastly, you can also use the search bar in the People tab to find and add contacts from your company directory.
Once you’ve added a contact, you can edit their information by opening the contact and tapping the Edit button. Any changes made in Outlook for iOS will be synced and available across all versions of Outlook.
The contact card has also been redesigned to put your contacts’ key details front and center. Tap on any name in your messages or events to access phone numbers, email addresses and other details, like Skype IDs, along with your contact’s picture. Tapping a phone number will allow you to choose between calling, messaging or FaceTiming your contact.
The new contact card now also displays your recent conversations, shared attachments and any upcoming meetings you have with that person.
While you can fully manage your contacts in Outlook, you can also save your contacts to the default Contacts app on iOS and Android. This allows you to easily see the name of a contact when you receive a call or text message from them, and view all of their contact information directly in the built-in Contacts app.
Due to the underlying capabilities of iOS and Android, Outlook provides a one-way push of contact information from Outlook to your phone. Newly added contacts and changes made in Outlook will sync to your built-in Contacts app. However, edits made in the contacts app will not sync back to Outlook or your email service.
To enable Caller ID with your Outlook contacts, navigate to your account within Settings and tap Save Contacts. If you’d like to remove the contacts at a later time, you can toggle the switch in Outlook and they will be removed from your address book.
Let us know what you think of our new People experiences! If you have other ideas for what would make Outlook even better for you, let us know right from Outlook by going to Settings > Suggest a Feature.
—The Outlook team
The post Improving People in Outlook for iOS and Android appeared first on Office Blogs.
Insiders are the millions who represent the billions – Dona Sarkar
This is absolutely true. Each and every Windows Insider out there is an individual who represents not only themselves, but also – to varying degrees – countless others who don’t participate in this amazing program. One area where the Windows Insider Program excels is in gathering broad coverage on the holistic Windows experience. We receive feedback and insights on every aspect of the OS – from app usage and core OS functionality, to usability and accessibility, from each of the primary languages around the globe. Windows Insiders represent the world in a microcosm.
One of the things we as a team have learned along the way is that at times the voice of one or two Insiders can be representative of hundreds of Windows users. Or thousands. Or even hundreds of thousands. Data from a handful of Insiders can truly be the “needle in a haystack” we’re often looking for while trying to squash bugs during a development cycle. The fun and challenging part of our work is when a small number of users – even just one or two – report an issue. Is this signal weak? Did so few people experience this issue that only one or two found a unique scenario (commonly referred to as a single-user or one-off issue), or is it because these users are a tiny number representing the proverbial tip of a “bug iceberg?” How do we tell the difference between these two categories?
Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane. It’s mid-December 2016. We’ve released Build 14986 for PC to Insiders in the Fast ring. Users are installing and giving feedback and all seems well as we head into the end of the year. Fast forward a few weeks into the beginning of January 2017. Build 15002 was released. The Engineering team is taking in Insider feedback, reviewing bugs, and as usual, we’re chatting with Insiders on Twitter. As part of these conversations, a tweet comes across like so many others. One user seems to be having an issue installing the new build:
Can't install build 15002 keeps green screening on me after restart with SYSTEM PTE MISUSE error. @NorthFaceHiker @donasarkar @GabeAul
— Tony (@win10fan) January 11, 2017
Together we go through various troubleshooting steps, we work with the user so that feedback gets filed, and we wait until the next build to see if it was an issue only for this user. About a week after 15002 was released, another build was shared out to the Fast ring for PC users, build 15007. Unfortunately for this user, it’s the same situation yet again:
@donasarkar @NorthFaceHiker @brandonleblanc Can't upgrade to 15002+ using ISO either, GSODs, will try going back to 14393 and upgrading.
— Tony (@win10fan) January 12, 2017
Same user, same problem, but still only one report that landed in front of us.
Fast forward a bit to early February. We’re doing the second #WinBugBash for the Windows 10 Creators Update and a new error appears from another Insider who is frustrated with not being able to update and participate.
1st reboot get an error screen "failed during SAFE_BOOT" msg, then rolls back 14986
— Grimie Browneye (@GrimieBrowney) February 8, 2017
Well this is interesting. Another single-user issue of being stuck on 14986, but a very different error message. We work through all the usual troubleshooting steps, we ensure that feedback gets filed, and we test through a few more releases on the chance that any potential changes in the OS end up solving this issue. These steps didn’t resolve the issue.
As we work on this issue over the course of a few weeks, the frustration begins to set in for these two users. On our side, we’re still pouring through the data. How do we fix this issue? Why is it so hard to diagnose? And why aren’t other users reporting this? If this was an OS issue, there should be more than one person hitting each of these errors. And if it was the same issue as the PTE_Misuse error from the first user, why aren’t both machines showing the same error? The one thing in common here is that both users are stuck on 14986 and haven’t been able to update to any new builds since then. Something is wrong and we need to tackle this from a different angle. It’s time to put a new strategy in place.
It’s March 1st, I have two unresolved issues, and I haven’t been able to make headway for these Insiders. Pulling out all the stops, I loop both users into a private conversation via Twitter DM. It’s time to crush these issues once and for all. I’ve talked extensively with the Deployment team here at Microsoft, but there’s no actionable data in the setup error logs. All that we know is there’s a failure and it’s early enough in the update process that no telemetry is being captured. All signs point to a kernel-level failure, but we don’t know exactly what is happening.
Sometimes taking drastic actions can have surprising results. After starting the private conversation, both users share their system information data and immediately we see a connection:
Now we have something to work with! Deeper investigation and additional hardware comparison shows that both users are running the near-exact laptops, both laptops being from the same manufacturer, and both with the same processor. The only notable difference is the amount of RAM in each machine (8GB and 12GB). At last we have a link! But even with this commonality, we can’t resolve the issue without seeing what’s going on. It’s time for kernel debugging, but neither user has done this before, and neither have I. There’s always time to learn something new though, and that’s part of what makes the Windows Insider Program fun.
I could spend pages of writing detailing what happened over the month of March and early April, but I’ll sum it up in a few bullets:
It turned out that a BIOS update released by the OEM in late November for this family of laptop models would fail to allow newer preview builds of Windows 10 to install. The failure was so early in the boot process that none of our log gathering tools would capture the failure, including a standard kernel debugger. Now that we knew the full scope of the problem, we could begin to work on a fix.
Once the OEM had prepared an updated BIOS for these machines, it was time to test. The OEM completed a full range of testing and validation on their side. But what about the two Insiders who had helped tirelessly to help us troubleshoot? It was time to thank them. Once again partnering with this OEM, the updated BIOS that had been prepared was delivered securely to these two Insiders. Both users installed the new BIOS and then attempted to install build 15063. At last… success! The BIOS update solved the issue and had fully resolved the update issue for these two users.
From of all of this, it’s funny to look back and realize that we had accidentally found the issue back at the beginning of March and not even realized it.While the noted timing of the BIOS update was slightly off (Brent had updated in December), this bit of conversation captured the problem:
Build 15002 hadn’t been released when each of these users had taken the BIOS update. Both users had installed build 14986 and then installed the BIOS that was now causing problems. Sometimes it’s best to trust your instincts, and it is always important to pay attention to all the details, but I digress from our story.
After fully detailing the scope of the issue and identifying all possible laptop models from this OEM that could be affected by the issue, we put a block in place to prevent affected retail users across the globe from attempting to install the Windows 10 Creators Update and hitting this upgrade failure. Months of hard work and investigation had helped protect users from a failed OS upgrade experience. The work of two dedicated Windows Insiders helped prevent potentially hundreds of thousands of failed OS upgrades and frustrated users. These two users and their feedback helped others from across the world to keep from using their internet bandwidth (which can be extremely expensive depending on locale) to download an upgrade they wouldn’t be able to install. We listened to Insider feedback and understood there was something bigger here, even if there were the only two people reporting the issue.
Windows Insiders are an amazing bunch of people. They like to learn, they like to explore new features and functionality, and with just as much importance, they like to poke around and find bugs. It’s this nature of curiosity that helps us continually make Windows even better. Another important lesson we learned from this experience is in highlighting the various layers of software that are at play in making a PC work properly. The initial thoughts from the affected users was that we had regressed (broken) functionality at the OS-level. As it turned out in this scenario, it was the OEM firmware that was the culprit of the regression. The software creation process is complex and fraught with ways to create potentially unexpected results (a polite way of saying “bugs”!). Anyone who writes software wants to create a good product and a positive end-user experience. To help with the troubleshooting process in the future, we’ll be creating an additional series of documentation; some will highlight the various layers of software and how they work, as other docs will lay out the foundation of engaging in troubleshooting and some of the related best practices. We’re committed to helping Insiders learn just as much as we’re committed to learning from Insiders.
Lastly, this overall scenario was an important reminder to us on the Windows Insider Engineering Team. Seeking to increase the diversity of hardware and application usage will be an even-greater focal point of the Windows Insider Program as we move forward. Seeing two Insiders represent so many retail users was a profound moment. We’re already working through ways to identify additional scenarios such as this and working to give them the attention they so greatly deserve. It will be an ongoing effort, but we are committed to this program and to listening to our greatest fans who take the time to share their insights and feedback. Knowing how important it is for the millions (of Insiders) to represent the billions (of Windows users), we also know it is just as important for the two who represent the hundreds of thousands. You never know if you may be the one user, or one of a small handful of users, whose feedback and dedication ends up being responsible for helping so many others.
This tale of two kernels is an expression of my unending gratitude to the dedication of every Windows Insider who helps make a difference every day. Without your efforts, this program would not be the success it is.
– Jason
The post A Tale of Two Kernels appeared first on Windows Experience Blog.
Here's some great news for users of Outlook for Android and iOS: Microsoft is delivering a major update that adds the ability to edit contacts.
The post Microsoft Finally Adds Contact Editing to Outlook for Android and iOS appeared first on Thurrott.com.
Apple hat eine neue Version von iOS vorgestellt und neue Funktionen gezeigt. Mit iOS 11 gibt es einige grundlegende Änderungen an der Bedienung und viele Anpassungen an die mitgelieferten Apps. Mit dem neuen Update werden ältere Geräte ausgemustert. (iOS, Smartphone) OneDrive makes it easier for you to access your files, and we are continually working to ensure you have the best OneDrive experience on every platform and every device. OneDrive already supports many iOS capabilities, including OneDrive for iMessage, the Share extension, and Apple Pencil and split-screen support on iPad. Today, Apple announced the new Files app at WWDC for iOS 11, and we are excited to announce support for the new app and its file management capabilities. OneDrive integration with the Files app will make it easier for you to access your content from any Apple device and will provide a better file management experience on iOS for your personal and work OneDrive and SharePoint sites. We will share more details when iOS 11 releases.
—The OneDrive team
The post Announcing OneDrive support for the Files app in iOS 11 appeared first on Office Blogs.
Last month, we announced an important security fix for all versions of OSMC and released Kodi v17.2.
OSMC's slightly belated May update is here with a variety of improvements and fixes, including Kodi 17.3. We are now beginning the preparation of OSMC for Debian Stretch (9.0) which is expected to achieve a stable release in late June.
Here's what's new:
EWE nutzt seine FTTH-Zugänge beim Endkunden jetzt richtig. Doch das Gigabit-Produkt kommt zu einem gewissen Preis. (
Apple hat WatchOS 4 angekündigt. Die neue Version des Smartwatch-Betriebssystems bringt Siri-Ziffernblätter und Verbesserungen für Fitnessübungen. Sie soll im Herbst erscheinen. (rpi-update or raspi-config on a Raspberry PiTo get the latest and greatest version of OSMC, simply head to My OSMC -> Updater and check for updates manually on your exising OSMC set up. Of course — if you have updates scheduled automatically you should receive an update notification shortly.
If you enjoy OSMC, please follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook and consider making a donation if you would like to support further development.
I’m a few days behind on this roundup because we’ve been busy getting the new fourth edition of Office 365 for IT Pros out the door. Here’s what’s new and changed in Office 365 for May.
Microsoft Teams, the Slack-like persistent chat service for Office 365 which became generally available in March, has switched to a default of “On” for the organization-wide setting in the admin portal. Microsoft recommends the use of per-user licensing for Teams, and is planning to remove the org-wide control from the portal in the near future. You can manage licensing for your Office 365 users with groups-based licensing or by using PowerShell.
The Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) roll out for Office 365 ProPlus applications began for customers that are ATP licensed (E5 or standalone licensing). ATP Safe Links policies can now be applied to links in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. When end users click a link in a document it is checked by ATP to see whether the link is a known malicious website and the user is blocked and warned of the threat. My Word docs started exhibiting this behavior back in April with a few initial hiccups, but it seems to have improved now. The Safe Links policies in the Security and Compliance Center (or via the Exchange Admin Center) now have additional settings for organization-wide settings, which includes the option to turn on Safe Links for Office 2016 on Windows.
More changes were rolled out for Office 365 Groups. Mail Contacts can now be added as members of Groups, simplifying the process of adding external guests to Groups. Tony Redmond has a write up of how this works, as well as a few quirks to be aware of. One of the caveats, at least for now, is that this doesn’t remove the requirement for distribution groups having no mail contacts in them before they can be converted to Groups. DL conversion to Groups is now available for admins and DL owners, but has a long list of eligibility requirements before a DL can actually be converted (e.g. must be a cloud-only group, that isn’t a security group, with no nesting, no forwarding, not dynamic, and more).
Groups are also getting a digest email for Group members to catch them up on communications they may have missed. The details on this are a bit vague so I’ll be interested to see it in action. From the info available it seems that you must be subscribed to the Group to receive the digest, which to me seems to be needless duplication (I’ll get the Group messages plus a digest of the Group messages?). If it is available as a separate option (e.g. I don’t want every message but I do want the digest) then that would make more sense to me, as would options to control the day/time the digest arrives.
SharePoint (and OneDrive for Business) are getting per-group sharing controls. First release tenants will start to see the new options in June, with other tenants to follow later. Currently we can control external sharing for the entire organization and at the site collection level. The new controls allow you to specify security groups that are allowed to share with external users, so you can lock down the organization-wide settings and then use the per-group settings to create exemptions.
SharePoint Online is also changing the email sending behavior for sharing emails. Previously all sharing emails were sent from no-reply@sharepointonline.com. This will change so that sharing emails for any user who has an Exchange Online mailbox will be sent using the user’s email address instead. The sharing email will also be saved in the user’s sent items folder. For users without Exchange Online mailboxes the no-reply@ behavior will continue.
For SharePoint and OneDrive mobile users a quality of life improvement is being implemented to increase the token lifetime from 14 days to 90 days. The longer session timeout is a welcome change for anyone who is getting tired of repeatedly logging in to mobile apps.
To improve the end user experience for OneDrive, which will probably increase adoption as well, Microsoft also announced OneDrive Files On-Demand which is coming for Windows 10 computers that have the “Fall Creators Update”, as well as mobile applications. Files On-Demand allows users who are connected online to see all of the files in their OneDrive, not just the files that have been synced locally. This is somewhat similar to the user experience when placeholders existed in OneDrive, and reduces local storage usage by allowing users to only sync their most important and frequently accessed files locally. When an online file is accessed it will be automatically downloaded to the local computer for access.
In Compliance Land, Office 365 eDiscovery is receiving several improvements. RMS decryption is now supported for eDiscovery results that are exported to MSG files. For customers licensed for Advanced eDiscovery, unified case management has removed the need to create separate cases in Advanced eDiscovery by allowing eDiscovery case information to carry over to Advanced eDiscovery. Advanced eDiscovery is also getting support for optical character recognition (OCR) to be able to recognize text in image files.
Microsoft announced plans for general availability of Microsoft Stream, the replacement for Office 365 Video. When Stream arrives in tenants Microsoft will begin a phased migration of existing Office 365 Video content into Stream. Existing links and embedded content will continue to work, so there is no action required. If you’re planning to begin using Office 365 for video content today, start with Microsoft Stream. Stream is enabled by default and can be managed with per-user licensing.
Exchange Online received an enhancement to mail flow rules that allows you to create rules for Direct to Calendar meetings, which bypass the invitee needing to accept (or reject) the message and instead will add it directly to their calendar. I can think of a few customer cases where all meeting requests originating from a particular user or application were deemed mandatory, or were always sent as tentative/info-only meeting requests, so this capability would be useful for those customers.
Microsoft Planner users have finally got a mobile app to use. The initial version of the app allows you to view and update plans on your mobile device, but not create new plans. That feature, as well as Intune support, are coming in the near future. Since Planner tasks don’t integrate with Outlook tasks, Microsoft now has two separate task management apps for mobile (Planner and To-Do).
The public preview of the Power BI Office 365 adoption content pack has arrived. We’re well past the stage of initial onboarding being the big hurdle for Office 365, and now it’s adoption of features that many organizations are focusing on to get value from their investment in Office 365. The Power BI reports let you see how your organization is using services like Exchange Online, Skype, Yammer, OneDrive, and SharePoint, as well as report on activations of licensed Office applications.
Finally, usage reporting for Office 365 has been added to the Graph API as a preview. The individual usage reports that the Office 365 admin portal presents are useful enough, but many organizations want to pull that data into their own reporting or consolidate it into a single report. Now that the Graph API provides usage reporting data Microsoft has also announced that many of the PowerShell cmdlets currently used for that purpose have been deprecated, and will be retired in October this year. If you depend on those cmdlets for your custom reporting then it’s time you got into the Graph API instead.
The post What’s New in Office 365 for May 2017 appeared first on Practical 365.
Tooltips gehören zur großen Gruppe der Mikrointeraktionen, also den wichtigsten UI-Elementen deiner Website. Entsprechend sorgfältig solltest du sie bauen.
Am Ende machen die Mikrointeraktionen den Unterschied zwischen einer guten und einer weniger guten Website. In Zeiten, in denen sich das grundlegende Design mehr und mehr ähnelt, findet Abgrenzung zunehmend über Details statt. Ist deine Website kompliziert zu bedienen, kann das der entscheidende Faktor dafür sein, dass dein potenzieller Kunde beim Wettbewerber kauft, der das gleiche Angebot hat wie du, es aber bequemer zugänglich macht. Einen ausführlichen t3n-Beitrag zu Mikrointeraktionen im Allgemeinen findest du an dieser Stelle.
Auch Tooltips gehören zur Gruppe der Mikrointeraktionen, wenn sie auch im Vergleich nur einen sehr reduzierten und abgegrenzten Anwendungsbereich haben. Die Wikipedia definiert einen „Tooltip als ein kleines Popup-Fenster in Anwendungsprogrammen oder Webseiten, das eine Beschreibung zu einem Element der grafischen Benutzungsoberfläche zeigt.”
Als erste Version der heutigen Tooltips darf wohl die 1991 von Apple entwickelte und noch heute im Einsatz befindliche „Balloon Help” gelten. Bei dieser, auch als „Mouse Over” bekannten, Form der Nutzerunterstützung werden kurze Texte in Sprechblasenoptik beim Überqueren so ausgestatteter Elemente mit der Maus angezeigt. Ein weiterer geläufiger Begriff für diese Art der Informationsvermittlung lautet „Quick Info”.
Microsoft erfand Mitte der Neunziger einen nicht so populären Helfer namens Karl Klammer, der die Funktion der Tooltips für Microsofts Office-Programme übernehmen sollte. Allerdings gehörte es bei jedem mir bekannten Office-Nutzer zu einer der ersten Amtshandlungen, Karl Klammer in den Optionen abzuschalten. Lass dich von dem Kerlchen bloß nicht inspirieren.
Im Webdesign gab es lange keinen Anwendungsfall für derlei Mikrointeraktionen. Erst der Aufstieg der Web-Apps in den letzten zehn Jahren legte den Einsatz von Tooltips nahe. Heutzutage besteht weitgehend Einigkeit darüber, dass Tooltips im Onboarding-Prozess neuer Nutzer oder bei der Einführung neuer Features in bekannten Seiten von großer Wichtigkeit sind, im weiteren Nutzungsverlauf indes nur noch sparsam eingesetzt werden sollten.
Generell sind die kleinen Info-Elemente ausschließlich dazu gedacht, die UX, also die Benutzererfahrung, zu verbessern. Sie dürfen nicht zum Selbstzweck geraten oder vorsichtshalber an allen möglichen Stellen platziert werden. Bei der Konzeptionierung von Tooltips solltest du deshalb so restriktiv wie möglich vorgehen und sehr genau überlegen, ob eine bestimmte Funktionalität durch den Tooltipp-Einsatz wirklich gewinnen kann.
Vor dem Tooltip nämlich steht das Design des Elements, für das du über einen Tooltip nachdenkst. Das bedeutet, dass du, wenn du ein Element selbsterklärend gestalten kannst, das lieber auch tun solltest, anstatt es dir einfach zu machen und einen Tooltip anzubringen. Andererseits kann es durchaus Elemente geben, die sich zwar erklären, aber dennoch einen Tooltip gebrauchen können. Wie dieses hier:
Dennoch gibt es in modernen App-Oberfläche mit ihrem geringen Bildschirmplatz stets das Erfordernis, die kürzestmögliche Beschriftung eines Features zu wählen. Das kann in manchen Fällen zu potenzieller Verwirrung beim Benutzer führen. In diesen Fällen ist es vollkommen gerechtfertigt, eine kleine Sprechblase am Element einzublenden, die über die Funktionalität aufklärt. Das gilt auch, wenn du etwa ein Interface ausschließlich aus Icons baust und dabei auf nicht ganz eindeutige Piktogramme zurückgreifen musst.
Den größten Nutzen indes bringen Tooltips in zwei durchaus gängigen Situationen. Einmal benötigen Neulinge in der Benutzung deiner Web-App sicherlich Hilfe. Durch gezielt eingesetzte Schnellinfos kannst du deren Lernkurve maßgeblich verkürzen, was die Loyalität deinem Angebot gegenüber sicherlich stärken dürfte. Zum anderen sind Tooltips da besonders hilfreich, wo du deine Web-App maßgeblich erweitert oder verändert hast. Selbst eingefleischte Nutzer können in dem Falle Hilfe gebrauchen, weil sie anderenfalls möglicherweise deine tollen neuen Features gar nicht sehen und demzufolge auch nicht nutzen. Betriebsblindheit ist ein nicht zu unterschätzendes Problem.
In manchen Fällen willst du vielleicht einen virtuellen Walkthrough durch eine spezifische Anwendungssituation machen. Hier kommt den Tooltips eine regelrecht schulende Funktion zu. In diesem Fall wirst du weit obstruktiver gestalten wollen und etwa dafür sorgen, dass der Benutzer einen Tooltip erst dann schließen kann, wenn er die darin vorgegebene Aufgabe (beipielsweise klicke XYZ an) erledigt hat. Bei dieser Form von Tooltips empfiehlt es sich zudem, innerhalb der kleinen Infoboxen anzuzeigen, an welchem Punkt der Tour der User sich gerade befindet.
Auf der anderen Seite gibt es Situationen, bei denen On-Hover am besten funktioniert. Das ist etwa da der Fall, wo der Tooltip lediglich eine Funktion erklären soll, die durch ein Icon schon hinreichend erklärt wird. Als Beispiel können die Formatierungswerkzeuge des TinyMCE gelten.
Auch der Marketer kann mal einen legitimen Anspruch auf die Einbindung eines Tooltips erheben. So wäre es etwa möglich, einen Sonderrabatt oder eine besondere Aktion mit Hilfe eines Tooltips zu verstärken.
Wie bereits erwähnt, sind Tooltips weder als Selbstzweck noch zur Kaschierung eines nachlässigen Designs geeignet. Es ist falsch, vorsichtshalber überall Tooltips zu hinterlegen.
Ebenso ist es nicht empfehlenswert, Tooltips in sich wieder mit Interaktionsmöglichkeiten zu versehen, sie also zu Bedienelementen anderer Art umzufunktionieren. Bei sehr komplexen Problemstellungen kann es mal sinnvoll sein, innerhalb eines Tooltips einen Link à la „Weitere Informationen finden Sie hier” unterzubringen. Die Regel sollte das aber nicht sein. Bedarf dein Userinterface wirklich derart vieler Informationen, hast du es noch nicht hinreichend durchdacht. Eine Ausnahme stellen die weiter oben genannten Produkt-Touren oder virtuelle Walkthroughs dar. Hier ist es sogar sinnvoll, in den jeweiligen Tooltips eine Möglichkeit vorzusehen, per Klick zum nächsten Halt der Tour zu gelangen.
Tooltips sollten stets ausschließlich zur Unterstützung hinterlegt sein. Sobald ein Tooltip zwingend erforderlich wird, weil dein Benutzer sonst nicht weiterkommt, hast du etwa falsch gemacht. Dein Interface muss auch ohne Tooltips bedienbar sein. Zudem legst du die kleinen Helfer so aus, dass sie sich spätestens ab der zweiten Benutzung selbst überflüssig machen. Sie sollen keine dauerhaft erforderliche Hilfestellung sein.
Befassen wir uns mit dem Design im engeren Sinne. Tooltips sind kein Selbstzweck, also gestalten wir sie auch nicht so. Es gibt Scriptlösungen, die es uns erlauben, sogar Medien in den Tooltip einzubinden. Das ist in 99,9 Prozent aller Fälle keine gute Idee.
Tooltips müssen minimalistisch gehalten werden. Sie sollen nicht von etwas ablenken, sondern auf etwas hinweisen. Gleichzeitig dürfen sie aber auch nicht dermaßen gut versteckt sein, dass man sie gar nicht erst finden kann. Um das zu erreichen, zeigst du Tooltips nicht nur beim Hovern oder beim Klicken an, sondern in Abhängigkeit sinnvoller Zustände deiner Web-App im Allgemeinen. Das einfachste Beispiel dafür dürfte das Betreten der Landing Page sein.
Textlich gestaltest du Tooltips so knapp und präzise wie möglich. An dieser Stelle ist auch nicht der richtige Ort für Humor. Du schreibst in maximal zwei Zeilen hin, was es zu der Funktion, für die der Tooltip gilt, zu wissen gibt. Orientiere dich ruhig am Twitter-Style. Prägnante Formulierungen in 140 Zeichen können nicht schaden.
Achte darauf, dass deine Tooltips keine anderen Elemente auf dem Bildschirm überlagern. Zumindest gilt das für andere wichtige Elemente. Am besten sind die Infoboxen so positioniert, dass sie einen ansonsten freien Bereich des Bildschirms besetzen. Wenn es hierfür erforderlich ist, sie etwas weiter weg vom zu erklärenden Element zu platzieren, mache grafisch klar, dass der Tooltip X zum Element Y gehört, etwa mit einem Pfeil oder einer kleinen Animation. Günstiger ist es, wenn diese Vorgehensweise nicht erforderlich wird.
Du merkst, es gibt eine ganze Menge zu bedenken, wenn es um die Konstruktion des perfekten Tooltips geht. Es ist wie überall in der Webentwicklung: Je einfacher das Ergebnis aussieht, desto komplexer war die Aufgabe.
Wenn du dich erstmal an die Erstellung von Tooltips rantasten willst, empfehle ich das jQuery-Plugin Tooltipster. Später kannst du dann mit reinem CSS und HTML arbeiten.
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