iPad Question: Is there an alternative to modally presenting a view?

Question

For the fullscreen imaging app I am doing for iPad. I want to present an informational view atop the current view. This is simply a view, centered on but not entirely occluding the display that presents a textual description. This is the sort of thing we see routinely on websites where clicking on a link presents a canvas with a little "X" at one of the corners to dismiss. I want to replicate this on iPad. I prefer not to use a modally presented view. The sliding up/down thing is not really appropriate and a bit distracting/dramatic here. Could someone suggest an approach?

UPDATE

What I am currently thinking of doing is something super simple. Hide the view I intend to present behind the view it is intended to occlude. Then bring-to-front and perhaps animate in the opacity for a bit of slickness. What do folks think?

Thanks,
Doug

Answer 1

If you don't need the functionality of a different UIView, another option over a fullscreen image may be to just draw your information on top of the current image. Do it in your current view's drawRect, after a setNeedsDisplay. Draw a background rect if necessary. Have the info just appear, or do any animated presentation you want based off of a timer. Refresh without drawing the info to go back.

Answer 2

I decided to do the myView.hidden = NO/YES approach. Works just fine.