Are modals/dialogs perfect? Absolutely not but completely eschewing them is also a mistake. In all things, moderation.
So when the virtual keyboard suddenly pops up over half the screen anyway...I end up reaching for the modal all the time. Like, want to just change a name? Click the name and a modal with a single input box pops up for that one field.
I am sure every UI designer will tell me how it is so wrong, but I find the keyboard popping up just so incredibly disrupting anyway, it just feels safer and better to have a modal up while the keyboard is up, than to mess around with making sure the UI allows scrolling the field into view, making sure user understand the context after the jump to get the field in the top half of the screen, etc
Modals in a website rarely have a place. Modals in an application can be very useful if you have an isolated task that needs input or if you want to clearly communicate whether or not a particular state has been updated.
I don't really understand the problem with "stacked" modals though.
It's of course horrible.
As you point out, VSCode in particular is loaded with ever-changing user feedback and prompting, spread throughout the interface with no rhyme or reason as to how attention should be distributed.
I honestly don't understand what's the problem with modals is in the first place. Most "issues" listed on that page are either subjective or could be argued against.
We use too many damn modals (2018) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23645447 - June 2020 (120 comments)
That's just, like, your opinion, man. I disagree. Don't imagine yourself as the universal subject.
> inaccessible
I have no trouble whatsoever navigating and understanding the page with VoiceOver, and it obviously passes contrast and color rules for readability.
> and borderline unusable
Completely disagree. It's literally arranged text on a page. There's nothing to "use".
