Many web applications or web sites offer the feature that when the user moves the mouse over a link, then additional information concerning the link is shown in a popup or overlay. A critical point in this feature is the length of the delay between mouse over event and displaying the popup. If it is to small, then it is likely that the popup with the additional info is displayed when the user just moved the mouse unintentionally over the link, which can be annoying. If it is to long, the user has to wait for the info which undermines the idea behind this construction. Are there any studies that show what the optimal length of such a delay is?
I think that this question is not so easy to answear. It depends mainly on what you show and what kind of additional information you want to present.
If you just present a webpage and you want to show some further information for some words (a short explaination von wikipedia or so) then you should give a little more time, to make shure that the user really want to see some additional information. I think a good range is between 0.3-2.0 seconds (including the time for e.g. a small fade-in effect).
If you profide statistic visualization where you mouse is also used as pointer to observe some criticial points, it should be shown instantly. - As far as you present information to the statistics, if the information is something different, then similar to the previouse chapter.
You have to keep in mind, that a visible system reaction within 300ms is recognized by the user as a result based on his interaction. Only reactions after this 300ms are percepted as something more different that has not a direct consequence of your previouse interaction.
As Dirk mentions above, optimal is dependent on the context of the overlay. If the overlay is unobtrusive, easily dismissed, and does not block further engagement (such as continuing to read within a paragraph of text), a short delay of 0.2 - 0.3 seconds will work just fine.
If the overlay is larger or more visually involved (text + images, etc.), consider an intermediate cue to the user- such as underlining the word with a 0.1 - 0.2 second fade, then fading the overlay in sometime between 0.4 and 0.6 seconds. This will assist in training the user to anticipate the overlay when they see the underline appear, give them immediate feedback that the hover means something, and allow them to avoid unanticipated UI changes.
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