diff --git a/src/mol-canvas3d/controls/trackball.ts b/src/mol-canvas3d/controls/trackball.ts
index 3fd77fb7f9a316a6167c921cd1c9a1ae28c5c871..f1f3ffcfdc838940b3a819ee42eeba7053fab587 100644
--- a/src/mol-canvas3d/controls/trackball.ts
+++ b/src/mol-canvas3d/controls/trackball.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ export const TrackballControlsParams = {
     zoomSpeed: PD.Numeric(6.0, { min: 0.1, max: 10, step: 0.1 }),
     panSpeed: PD.Numeric(0.8, { min: 0.1, max: 5, step: 0.1 }),
 
-    spin: PD.Boolean(false),
+    spin: PD.Boolean(false, { description: 'Spin the 3D scene around the x-axis in view space' }),
     spinSpeed: PD.Numeric(1, { min: -100, max: 100, step: 1 }),
 
     staticMoving: PD.Boolean(true, { isHidden: true }),
diff --git a/src/mol-gl/renderer.ts b/src/mol-gl/renderer.ts
index e661ad68671b5f36025b3e280ef21de121547a9e..a4ba67c8838305a8eb63e259d19a06b3554e7eba 100644
--- a/src/mol-gl/renderer.ts
+++ b/src/mol-gl/renderer.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ interface Renderer {
 }
 
 export const RendererParams = {
-    backgroundColor: PD.Color(Color(0x000000)),
+    backgroundColor: PD.Color(Color(0x000000), { description: 'Background color of the 3D canvas' }),
     pickingAlphaThreshold: PD.Numeric(0.5, { min: 0.0, max: 1.0, step: 0.01 }, { description: 'The minimum opacity value needed for an object to be pickable.' }),
     interiorDarkening: PD.Numeric(0.5, { min: 0.0, max: 1.0, step: 0.01 }),
 
diff --git a/src/mol-plugin/ui/structure/representation.tsx b/src/mol-plugin/ui/structure/representation.tsx
index cbbb6e33da42d827a78300ddd0bcbc5d2300c643..8482703139efb9dea9b5f00aca45d5bbed6f227d 100644
--- a/src/mol-plugin/ui/structure/representation.tsx
+++ b/src/mol-plugin/ui/structure/representation.tsx
@@ -106,8 +106,8 @@ export class StructureRepresentationControls extends CollapsableControls {
         const { options } = this.values
         return {
             options: PD.Group({
-                showHydrogens: PD.Boolean(options.showHydrogens),
-                visualQuality: PD.Select<VisualQuality>(options.visualQuality, VisualQualityOptions),
+                showHydrogens: PD.Boolean(options.showHydrogens, { description: 'Toggle display of hydrogen atoms in representations' }),
+                visualQuality: PD.Select<VisualQuality>(options.visualQuality, VisualQualityOptions, { description: 'Control the visual/rendering quality of representations' }),
             }, { isExpanded: true })
         }
     }