Modal vs. Popover

A modal dialog takes over: it centers itself, dims the page behind a scrim, and blocks everything until you deal with it. A popover stays local: it's anchored to the control that opened it, the rest of the page keeps working, and clicking anywhere else quietly dismisses it.

How to tell them apart

• Dark dimmed layer behind it → modal (that layer is the scrim).
• It points at or touches the button that opened it → popover.
• You can still scroll or click the page behind it → popover.
• It demands an answer before you can continue → modal.

The full entries — names, anatomy, paste-ready prompts

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