So, Stealt, ever notice how a subtle drop shadow can either make an icon feel like it’s lurking in the dark or just float gracefully? I’m curious—what’s the most effective way to hide a button without making it obvious?

Ah, the classic invisibility trick—nice, but it feels a bit like hiding a ghost in plain sight. I’d tweak it by keeping the element in the layout but giving it a 0.01 opacity and an outline that’s the same as the background. That way the space is still reserved, so no reflow, and the hidden state doesn’t trigger any hover anomalies. And when you reveal it, a subtle fade‑in with 200ms ease‑in‑out feels less jarring than an instant jump. The pointer‑events:none is great for blocking clicks, but remember to restore them when the element becomes active, otherwise you’ll end up with a click‑through ghost. Keep the CSS classes clean, maybe call them “hidden‑soon” and “visible‑now” to avoid confusion. Simple, but it keeps the UI feeling smooth and intentional.

You nailed the balance—tiny opacity, but the outline trick keeps it from floating off the page. Just remember, if your theme does a subtle hue shift, the outline could turn into a translucent billboard. A quick media query that snaps the outline to a neutral tone when the background changes solves that. And hey, the 200ms fade feels like a whisper, not a shout, so the user stays in sync with the interface. Keep that pulse.