Comment 65 for bug 527458

As some have mentioned, knowing what an icon in the panel is does not require a tooltip. However, that isn't always true.

The icon may sometimes make it clear what the application is, however, there are many cases where that isn't true.

1. I have 6 configurations of eclipse for different development configurations. These are non-trivial to set up, so having the quick-access buttons on my panel is awesome, but of course I need the tooltips to make sure I'm clicking the right one.

2. I have 3 servers I connect to regularly to do maintenance. So the maintenance application icon is repeated three times, the tooltips tell me which server it will connect me to.

3. I have both the remote desktop viewer and terminal server client on my panel. I never remember which is which, but lucky for me I have a tooltip that nicely pops up in a few seconds to help me remember.

There are other examples, but the point is that the assumption that a "well designed icon is so obvious that a tooltip is redundant" is simply not valid.