Rethinking My Use of Modal Windows....

I think I may still have a use for a modal window or two for my
website (like when some prankster enters in "**** **** ****" in my
search engine!) but I think maybe I should have a less "intrusive" or
"in-your-face" way of presenting "optional information," the sort you
associate with sidebars or even footnotes.

How about a comic book-style thought or dialog balloon onMouseOver?

Yeah, that'd be awesome!  Only pops up onMouseOver and still allows
access to the rest of the page while displayed, while disappearing on
its own without needing the user to click an "okay" or "back" link or
button.

I wonder, could I somehow use the modal window code I have to achieve
the same thing, only without "freezing" the webpage?

Moreover, how do I style the thinggy to look like a comic book thought
balloon??

That thought balloon would be a kind of pop-up window, with
information (text), but it only appears onMouseOver and disappears
(with a nice little fading away effect, I hope!) just as easily...yet
it has to *look* like a comic book-style thought balloon and not just
another box or rectangle with text!

How would I style such a thinggy??


TIA for all ideas and advice!