Error Explanation Popup overlaps UI and misaligns navigation buttons

[Nina-1210]

Describe the bug
The Error Explanation popup overlaps with the underlying UI elements, causing the text and navigation buttons (e.g., Next) to appear misaligned and partially obscured.

Steps to reproduce the behavior:
1.Navigate to Microsoft MakeCode Arcade.
2.Create a new project and drag some blocks into the workspace.
3.Create a new variable and trigger an error.
4.Click Explain with AI, then click Next.
5.Observe the UI layout in the Error Explanation popup dialog.

Actual behavior
The popup content overlaps with the sprite block area.

Expected behavior
The Error Explanation popup should display fully without overlapping underlying blocks.

Screenshots

Additional context
1.OS: Windows 11 & Mac mini M2, Sequoia 15.7.2
2.Browser: Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari
3.Arcade version : 2.1.20
4.Microsoft MakeCode version: 12.2.9

[github-actions]

Triage Summary

Status: info-complete

Area(s): HoAI, UI/UX

Duplicate Issue(s): No duplicate issue found

Related Issue(s): #7139 (HoAI-related UI issue from the same skillmap context)

Suggested Priority: p2

Complexity: medium

Copilot Agent Ready: ❌ No

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Analysis

This is a UI layout bug in the "Error Explanation" popup dialog feature, specifically affecting the "Explain with AI" functionality. The popup content overlaps with underlying UI elements (sprite block area), causing the navigation buttons (Next) to appear misaligned and partially obscured. This issue is reproducible across multiple browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) and operating systems (Windows 11, macOS Sequoia), suggesting it's a core layout/CSS problem rather than browser-specific. The issue has complete reproduction steps, environment details, and screenshots.

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Duplicate & Related Issues

Duplicates:

• No duplicates found via issue search

Related Issues:

• [HoAI] White bug background blends with game background, making it hard to see #7139 - HoAI-related UI issue (white bug background blending) reported by the same user, also tagged with HoAI label. While this was a different visual issue in the Bug Arena skillmap, it shows ongoing attention to HoAI feature quality.

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Location Hints

Important Note: This issue likely affects pxt-core (microsoft/pxt repository), not pxt-arcade specifically. The "Error Explanation" and "Explain with AI" functionality is part of the core MakeCode editor features that are shared across all MakeCode targets (Arcade, micro:bit, Minecraft, etc.).

Based on the repository custom instructions and the nature of this issue:

• Repository: This should be triaged/fixed in microsoft/pxt (pxt-core)
• Component: AI assistant dialog/modal UI
• Type: Dialog/modal CSS layout issue (z-index, positioning, overlay)

Files in pxt-arcade searched (none found relevant):

• Searched for "error explanation", "explain with ai", "HoAI" in this repository - no code matches found
• ./theme/ directory contains only styling overrides, not core dialog implementation
• ./editor/extension.ts does not contain AI-related functionality

Expected location (in pxt-core):

• Core editor dialog/modal components (likely in pxt/webapp/ or pxt/pxteditor/)
• AI assistant related UI components
• CSS files controlling modal/dialog z-index and positioning

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Next Steps

Recommended Actions:

1. Add label: bug (UI defect with clear expected behavior)
2. Add label: HoAI (related to Hour of AI features)
3. Add label: UI/UX (user interface layout issue)
4. Add label: browser compat (affects multiple browsers consistently)
5. Consider priority: p2 - High impact for HoAI feature usability, affects all users using this feature

Repository Assignment Consideration:
⚠️ This issue should likely be transferred to microsoft/pxt as the "Error Explanation" and "Explain with AI" features are part of the core MakeCode framework, not Arcade-specific functionality. The fix would benefit all MakeCode targets.

If maintainers decide to keep this in pxt-arcade for tracking purposes, note that the actual fix will need to be made in the pxt-core repository.

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Copilot Coding Agent Assessment

Can assign to Copilot Coding Agent: ❌ No, human needed

Reasoning: This issue requires access to the microsoft/pxt repository where the core AI assistant dialog implementation exists. The relevant code is not in the pxt-arcade repository. Additionally, fixing modal/dialog overlay and z-index issues requires careful testing across the entire editor UI to ensure no regressions, understanding of the dialog component architecture, and cross-browser validation - all better suited for human developers familiar with the codebase structure.

🏴‍☠️ Ahoy! This treasure was crafted by pxt-arcade Issue Triage Assistant fer issue #7203 🗺️

[abchatra]

@vritant24 @pelikhan @sarah-widder

Triage Summary was useful.

• Status is correct. It has all the info I need.
• Area: Somewhat correct.
• Related issue: Incorrect. (I would rename to Likely related).
• Priority is correct.

Analysis was great
Location hints: I liked the location hints. Analysis seems ok.

Next steps:

• Bug is a type and not a label.
• Label recommendation: Mostly incorrect, may be my labels don't have good description for the labels. Does it take into account the description of label?

Repository Assignment Consideration: Incorrect and I would skip this section altogether.

Loved the Ahoy at the end!

Overall this is great.

[abchatra]

Also spelling mistake fer issue, instead of for issue.

[sarah-widder]

Also spelling mistake fer issue, instead of for issue.

This might be part of the pirate persona 🏴‍☠️

[abchatra]

Looks like I am no fun to work with 😄