From 09d94e513e0d5fbaee33ae0e7c0b29ff64a76e1a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tudor <tudor@Tudors-MacBook-Pro.local>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:30:40 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] docs(compare): design for unified InfoPopover metric-help
 affordance

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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+# Info Popover — unified metric-help affordance
+
+**Date:** 2026-07-22
+**Status:** Approved (design)
+
+## Problem
+
+Two different "info affordance" patterns explain metrics across the app, and both are broken:
+
+1. **`MetricTooltip` (ⓘ)** — used on the two detail pages (`SchoolDetailView`,
+   `SecondarySchoolDetailView`). Its bubble is `position: absolute` with a fixed
+   `220px` width and no viewport-collision detection. Near a screen edge on
+   mobile the bubble renders **partly or wholly off-viewport with no way to
+   scroll to it** — effectively unusable. A `left: -12px` mobile hack only
+   shifts the problem, it doesn't solve it.
+
+2. **Compare-section `?` help** — every compare section funnels through
+   `RowLabel` in `components/compare/sectionShared.tsx`, which uses the **native
+   `title=` attribute**. On desktop the native tooltip has a long, unconfigurable
+   hover delay; on touch it barely surfaces at all.
+
+We want a single component that positions itself correctly in any viewport and
+shows a custom (non-native) tooltip on desktop.
+
+## Decisions
+
+- **Positioning: `@floating-ui/react`** (industry standard, ~10KB gzipped, React
+  19 compatible). Chosen over a hand-rolled portal + JS positioning because the
+  current hand-rolled approach is exactly what failed, and Floating UI already
+  solves flip/shift/portal/interactions/ARIA.
+- **Mobile presentation: repositioning popover** (not a bottom-sheet). Same small
+  bubble as desktop; Floating UI's `shift`/`flip` keep it fully on-screen. One
+  presentation to build and maintain, consistent across platforms.
+- **Glyph: standardise on the circled `?`** everywhere (replaces ⓘ on the detail
+  pages). Matches the common "help" convention.
+- **Bundle:** adding `@floating-ui/react` as a runtime dependency is accepted.
+
+## Architecture
+
+One shared engine, two thin adapters — **no call-site churn**.
+
+### `InfoPopover` (new — `components/InfoPopover.tsx`)
+
+Owns all behaviour via `@floating-ui/react`.
+
+- **Trigger:** a real `<button>` (min 24px tap target — WCAG 2.5.8 —
+  keyboard-focusable) showing the circled `?` glyph. Muted colour; hover / focus
+  / open → accent colour.
+- **Positioning middleware:** `offset(6)` + `flip()` + `shift({ padding: 8 })`
+  so the bubble flips above/below and slides sideways to **always stay fully
+  on-screen** (the direct fix for the off-viewport bug). An `arrow()` element
+  tracks the trigger.
+- **Portal:** rendered inside a `FloatingPortal` so it escapes the compare
+  grid's `overflow`/`transform` clipping contexts.
+- **Interactions** (merged via `useInteractions`, one code path for both
+  platforms):
+  - `useHover(context, { delay: { open: 100, close: 0 } })` — short open delay
+    fixes the slow native-`title` hover; Floating UI disables hover on touch
+    devices so it doesn't double-fire with tap.
+  - `useFocus` — keyboard focus reveals it.
+  - `useClick` — tap toggles on touch.
+  - `useDismiss` — outside-press and `Escape` close it (opening another popover
+    closes the first, since the outside-press lands on the new trigger).
+  - `useRole(context, { role: 'tooltip' })` — ARIA wiring.
+- **Content:** optional `label` (bold), `plain` (body), `detail` (muted) — same
+  content shape as today.
+
+**Props:**
+
+```ts
+interface InfoPopoverProps {
+  label?: string;   // bold heading
+  plain?: string;   // body text (the primary explanation)
+  detail?: string;  // muted supplementary line
+  /** Accessible name for the trigger button, e.g. the metric label. */
+  ariaLabel?: string;
+}
+```
+
+Renders `null` when there is no `plain` content (mirrors current
+`MetricTooltip` behaviour).
+
+### Adapter 1 — `MetricTooltip` (public API unchanged)
+
+Keeps its existing props (`metricKey`, `label`, `plain`, `detail`), still
+resolves `metricKey` → `METRIC_EXPLANATIONS`, and renders `InfoPopover` with the
+resolved content. **All ~24 detail-page call sites are untouched.** The
+hand-rolled positioning/dismiss `useEffect` and the `.tooltip` absolute-position
+CSS (including the `left: -12px` mobile hack) are deleted.
+
+### Adapter 2 — `RowLabel` (in `sectionShared.tsx`)
+
+Replaces the native-`title` `?` span with `InfoPopover`, passing the `tip`
+string as `plain` and the row label as `ariaLabel`. **All ~14 compare `tip=`
+call sites are untouched** (they pass through `Measure` → `RowLabel`).
+
+## Removed / replaced
+
+- `MetricTooltip`'s hand-rolled open/dismiss `useEffect`.
+- `MetricTooltip.module.css` `.tooltip` absolute positioning + arrow + the
+  `@media (max-width: 640px)` `left: -12px` hack (superseded by Floating UI).
+- Native `title=` on the compare `?` help span.
+
+## Testing
+
+1. **Unit (jest + jsdom)** — `InfoPopover`:
+   - trigger button renders with the correct `aria-label` and `aria-expanded`;
+   - click opens and closes it;
+   - `label` / `plain` / `detail` render when open;
+   - `Escape` closes it.
+   Positioning (flip/shift) is Floating UI's own tested concern, not re-tested
+   here.
+
+2. **E2E (Playwright, mobile viewport)** — the regression guard for the reported
+   bug. On a narrow viewport, open a help popover near the **right edge** of a
+   compare section and assert its bounding box is fully within the viewport
+   (`rect.right <= innerWidth && rect.left >= 0`). This is the check that would
+   have caught the original overflow. Satisfies the CLAUDE.md rule to extend
+   `e2e/` when user-facing behaviour changes.
+
+## Out of scope
+
+- Other `title=` usages (button/link hints, empty-state props) — these are not
+  metric explainers and keep native `title`.
+- No bottom-sheet / alternate mobile presentation.