THESE TWO SMALL SCRIPTS ALLOW FOR STATUS BAR MESSAGES
ONE DEFAULT IN THE <BODY OnLoad="window.defaultStatus='THIS IS THE DEFAULT MESSAGE'">
AND ONE FOR THE MOUSOVER
<a href="../javascript.php3" onmouseover="window.status='this is the mouseover message'; return true" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true">

LINK



Now lets try a form input - click in field to focus it:
<input type="text" name="f1" size="40" maxlength="80" value="" onfocus="self.status='this is tooltip one' ; return true">