A tooltip explains what a nearby control means; it does not confirm that an action happened. In a hypothetical reading interface, a citation-style icon has the label “Explains abbreviated citations.” Seeing that text tells you how the icon is described, not that a citation setting has been changed or saved.
What the tooltip tells you
When the pointer rests on the labelled icon, or when keyboard focus reaches it, descriptive text may appear. The relevant pattern is intended for supplementary information, rather than an interactive surface that receives focus itself. It should also close when Escape is pressed. These points describe the scope of a tooltip pattern, not every visual label that happens to look similar. See the MDN tooltip role reference for the underlying accessibility guidance.
Worked hypothetical example
Hypothetical observation: You focus the citation-style icon and read “Explains abbreviated citations.” No setting name changes, no save message appears, and no confirmation question is shown. You then separately activate a control labelled “Save citation style.” A distinct dialog asks “Save citation style?” and presents “Cancel” and “Save” buttons.
Outcome: The first text is only an explanation. Even after opening the separate dialog, the setting should not be described as saved until you deliberately choose “Save” and the interface provides a resulting confirmation or updated state. The tooltip did not perform either action.
Practical reading limit
Do not infer an action from appearance, timing, or proximity alone. Look for an explicit action control and then for evidence that the requested state changed. This explanation concerns a declared tooltip pattern, not every pop-up panel. Native title-style tooltips can also have keyboard and touch limitations; their presence still does not turn them into confirmation dialogs. On a touch-only screen, absence of a visible tooltip is therefore not proof that a setting was applied or rejected. Record the visible description separately from any later action and resulting message.