Topic summary
Modal dialog
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Modal window.
A modal window creates a mode that disables user interaction with the main window but keeps it visible, with the modal window as a child window in front of it. In regular practice a user has to interact with the modal window in order to be returned to the parent window. This avoids interrupting the workflow on the main window. Modal windows are sometimes called heavy windows or modal dialogs because they often display a dialog box.