Popover API
The Popover API provides developers with a standard, consistent, flexible mechanism for displaying popover content on top of other page content. Popover content can be controlled either declaratively using HTML attributes, or via JavaScript.
A very common pattern on the web is to show content over the top of other content, drawing the user's attention to specific important information or actions that need to be taken. This content can take several different names — overlays, popups, popovers, dialogs, etc. We will refer to them as popovers through the documentation. Generally speaking, these can be:
- modal, meaning that while a popover is being shown, the rest of the page is rendered non-interactive until the popover is actioned in some way (for example an important choice is made).
- non-modal, meaning that the rest of the page can be interacted with while the popover is being shown.
Popovers created using the Popover API are always non-modal. If you want to create a modal popover, a <dialog> element is the right way to go. There
is significant overlap between the two — you might for example want to create a popover that persists, but control
it using declarative HTML. You can turn a <dialog> element into a popover
(<dialog popover> is perfectly valid) if you want to combine popover control with dialog
semantics.
