7 min read

Design , User Experience , UI , Design Patterns

How to choose between modals and pages, when to avoid modals, and how to determine the right level of interruption or navigation. Brought to you by Smart Interface Design Patterns , a friendly video course on UX and design patterns by Vitaly.

You probably have been there before. How do we choose between showing a modal to users, and when do we navigate them to a separate, new page? And does it matter at all?

Actually, it does. The decision influences users’ flow, their context, their ability to look up details, and with it error frequency and task completion . Both options can be disruptive and frustrating — at the wrong time, and at the wrong place.

So we’d better get it right. Well, let’s see how to do just that.

Modals vs. Dialogs vs. Overlays vs. Lightboxes

While we often speak about a single modal UI component, we often ignore fine, intricate nuances between all the different types of modals. In fact, not every modal is the same .…