We prefer to stand on the shoulders of giants. A lot could be written on this topic of overlays and a lot already has.
If you have a need to explore further the different ways of having conversations with users, these are some resources that we've found helpful:
- Overlays (Audi Design System)
- Modals (Dialog Windows)
- Tooltip, Popover, and Modal (Culture Amp)
- Tooltips, popovers and modal windows (Checkmarket)
- Modal & Nonmodal Dialogs: When (& When Not) to Use Them (NNGroup)
- When should I use a popover vs a tooltip? (Stackexchange)
- Popups: 10 Problematic Trends and Alternatives (NNGroup)
- Tooltip alternatives (Primer)
- Your tooltips are bogus (HEYDONWORKS)
- Messaging components (Lightning design system)
- Tooltips and Popovers (Yale a11y)
- Modality Is the One UX Concept That Most Designers Don’t Fully Understand
- Tooltips (Material Design)