Automatic Highlighting
Write normally. Glossary Tooltip does the rest.
Below is a real excerpt from a tutorial-style article. Every underlined word is a genuine glossary term, matched and linked automatically — hover or tap one to see its tooltip.
Speeding up your first WordPress site
When you’re setting up a new site, the fastest wins usually come from the server layer, not the content itself. Start by checking whether your host runs Apache or Nginx, since both handle traffic differently under load. Enabling cache at the server level means WordPress does not have to rebuild the same page from the database on every visit.
Next, look at your images. An oversized image is one of the most common causes of a slow homepage, and compressing them before upload makes a noticeable difference. If your theme relies on JavaScript for menus or sliders, keep an eye on how much of it loads on pages that do not need it.
Finally, a clean permalink structure and a properly configured CSS file both help visitors and search engines understand your site faster. Small changes like these compound quickly across a growing site.
Tooltip Position
Four sides, one setting
Choose where tooltips appear relative to a highlighted term from Glossary → Settings → Tooltip — top, bottom, left, or right. The example below shows the exact same term, hover the word to see each position for yourself.
Caching stores a copy of content so pages load faster.
cache
Top
Small pieces of data a site stores in your browser.
Bottom
The language that controls a page’s look and layout.
CSS
Left
database
Where WordPress stores your content, users, and settings.
Right
The [glossary_list] Shortcode
Drop a full glossary index anywhere
Add the shortcode below to any post or page and it renders a complete, alphabetically organized glossary index — with jump navigation and search built in, using every term currently on this site. Here it is with a small limit so the preview stays compact; leave the attribute off to show every term.
[[glossary_list limit="1"]]Attribute: category
Show only one topic at a time
Filter the index down to one or more Glossary Categories by slug. This example shows only terms filed under “SEO”.
[[glossary_list category="seo"]]Attributes: orderby & order
Sort terms, and even reverse the A-Z order
Control how terms are sorted inside each letter group, and which direction the A-Z groups themselves run in. This example sorts by publish date, newest first, reverses the whole index to Z-A, and limits the result to keep the preview short.
[[glossary_list orderby="date" order="DESC" limit="2"]]Attributes: letters & limit
Hide the headings, cap the count
letters="hide" removes the big A-Z heading above each group, which is handy for a compact widget-style list. limit caps how many terms appear per letter group — here, at most 1 term per letter.
[[glossary_list letters="hide" limit="1"]]Attribute: columns
Lay terms out in up to 6 columns
Set how many columns each letter group’s terms are arranged into, from 1 to 6. This example uses 3 columns with a small per-letter limit so the shape is easy to see.
[[glossary_list columns="3" limit="3"]]Combining Attributes
Mix and match for exactly the view you need
All six attributes work together. Here, only “Web Development” terms are shown, sorted newest first, capped at 2 per letter, and arranged in 2 columns.
[[glossary_list category="web-development" orderby="date" order="DESC" limit="2" columns="2"]]Full A-Z Index & Live Search
A complete, browsable glossary
With no attributes at all, [glossary_list] shows every term on the site. Click a letter in the jump navigation to scroll straight to it, or type in the search box to filter instantly — both work live, right here.
[[glossary_list]]Inside the Dashboard
Simple settings, full control
A quick look at the admin screens where you configure highlighting, tooltips, and the glossary index.
Highlight terms on
Posts, Pages, Glossary
Repeat highlighting
2 times per page
Ignore headings & links
Enabled
General Settings — choose which content types get highlighted and how parsing behaves.
Tooltip position
Top
Background colour
Disable on mobile
Off
Tooltip Settings — pick the position, colours, and mobile behaviour of every tooltip.
Glossary Highlight
Default
Tooltip
Off
Per-post overrides — turn highlighting or tooltips on or off for one specific post or page.
Fully Responsive
Built for every screen size
On phones and tablets, the glossary index automatically switches to a single column, the A-Z navigation wraps neatly, and tooltips reposition themselves so they never run off screen. Highlighted terms respond to a tap instead of a hover.
- Single-column glossary index on small screens
- Tap-to-reveal tooltips on touch devices
- Optional setting to disable tooltips below a chosen breakpoint
All A B C D E
C
Cache
Category
Cookies
Why Glossary Tooltip
Built to stay out of your way
Lightweight
No unnecessary libraries or bloated dependencies — just the CSS and JavaScript each page actually needs.
SEO-friendly
Each term gets its own indexable page and clean internal links, helping search engines understand how your content connects.
Accessible
Tooltips are reachable by keyboard focus as well as hover and tap, so no visitor is left out.
No jQuery required
Every interaction on this page — tooltips, search, and jump navigation — runs on plain JavaScript.
Fast by default
Optional caching, footer-loaded scripts, and main-query-only parsing keep glossary highlighting from slowing your pages down.
Fully customizable
Colours, underline styles, tooltip position, and layout are all adjustable from the settings screen — no code required.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to manually link every glossary term?
No. Once a term exists in your glossary, the plugin automatically detects and links matching words across your content — no manual linking needed.
Can I turn off highlighting on a single post?
Yes. Add the shortcode to that post or page, or set its “Glossary Highlight” option to Off from the edit screen.
Does the glossary index slow down my site?
No. Glossary Tooltip caches its term list and only loads its CSS and JavaScript on pages that actually use highlighting, tooltips, or the index.
Will it work with my current theme?
Yes. The plugin outputs standard HTML and CSS classes that inherit your theme’s typography, so tooltips and the glossary index match your site’s existing design.
Can I filter the glossary index by topic?
Yes, using the category attribute on the [glossary_list] shortcode, as shown in the examples above. You can filter by one category or several at once.
Ready to try it on your own site?
Glossary Tooltip is free, open source, and ready to install in minutes.