Is it possible to trigger the display of a native element tooltip with javascript?

Question

Say I have a help icon with some help text on mouse over.

<span title="To do X, do Y.">?</span>

In Firefox 37 at least, clicking on the help icon will disable the tooltip until the user mouses away and back over again, instead of showing it quicker.

Is there any way to make the browser display the tooltip when a user clicks as well as mouses over?

Things I tried with no luck:

• onclick="this.onmouseover();" => TypeError: this.onmouseover is not a function
• onclick="(function (self) { var e = document.createEvent('Events'); e.initEvent('mouseover', true, false); self.dispatchEvent(e); }(this)); => no effect
• onclick="(function (self) { var temp = self.title; self.title = ''; self.title = temp;}(this))" => no effect

Answer 1

I don't think there's any way to manipulate how "title" works. You'd have to do it custom (or with 3rd party code). I tried moving the element out from under the cursor for 1ms and then back, but it doesn't work as it seems the native title tooltip timer doesn't begin until the mouse moves (at least in Chrome).