Bill Scott delves into the humble mouse-over in his post “Musings on Mouse Hover”:http://looksgoodworkswell.blogspot.com/2005/11/musings-on-mouse-hover.html. In it he identifies three main uses for mouse-over effects:
# Hover invitation – using the hover to cue the user as to what is going to happen next
# Hover zoom/focus – enabling the user to focus in on a particular area (usually with mapping tools)
# Hover detail – using hover to show more information about an item (Netflix does this to great effect)
I particularly liked his conclusion:
bq. Use hover to create a more lightweight but engaging way to cue the user to hidden functionality. Use it as a way to provide just-in-time details. Use it to keep your page visually simpler providing what is needed when they are most curious.
*Update:* fiftyfoureleven goes into the hover invitation effect “in more detail”:http://www.fiftyfoureleven.com/weblog/widgets-that-work/pingomatic-hover-invitation and causes me to make a mental note to add this effect to all my online forms. It just makes sense.