Animations in CSS: A Comprehensive Guide

css animation timeline guide
01 December 2024

Animations in CSS are one of the most attractive features that designers use to create engaging and appealing websites. Even if you are new to the world of web design, understanding the fundamental concepts of animations can help you significantly enhance the user experience you provide.

Basic settings for animations in CSS include defining properties like duration, timing functions, and the state of movement (including ease, linear, and others). These properties enable you to have complete control over how and quickly animations execute on your websites.

In this context, the concept of "timeline" comes into play. By using properties like animation-delay and animation-duration, you can precisely define when animations should start and end.

Below is a simple example of how to work with animation code in CSS. This code causes a block to move from the left side of the page to the right.


  <style>
    @keyframes moveRight {
      from {
        transform: translateX(0);
      }
      to {
        transform: translateX(100px);
      }
    }

    .animate-box {
      width: 100px;
      height: 100px;
      background-color: blue;
      animation-name: moveRight;
      animation-duration: 2s;
      animation-timing-function: ease-in-out;
      animation-iteration-count: infinite;
    }
  </style>
  
  <div class="animate-box"></div>
  

Line-by-Line Code Explanation:

@keyframes moveRight
This is an animation named moveRight that describes how the block will move.

from and to
Represent the initial and final states of the animation. Here, it moves along the X-axis from 0 to 100 pixels.

.animate-box
The class is applied to the element that will be animated.

animation-duration
The total duration of the animation execution, which is set to 2 seconds here.

animation-timing-function
Defines the type of motion for the animation, which is set to ease-in-out here.

animation-iteration-count
The number of times the animation will repeat. Here, it is set to "infinite" so that the animation repeats endlessly.

FAQ

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How can I create an animation in CSS?

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How can I control the duration of animations?

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Can I apply multiple animations to a single element?