Pausing a toast when you reach for it

A toast that dismisses itself while you are still reading it is worse than one that never appeared. The fix is small — pause the timer on hover — but it is the difference between a component that works and one that feels considerate.

The rule

Anything on a timer should stop when it looks like someone is paying attention to it. Hover is the cheapest signal available.

The best interaction details are the ones you only notice by their absence.

Three more in the same family:

1. Don’t move what someone is about to click. New items push from the far end, never the near one.
2. Let motion be interruptible. If it can be started twice, it must survive being started twice.
3. Respect reduced motion. Not as a fallback, as a real design.