DONGChuan

CSS Animation

2016/04/22

Quick note about CSS animation.

CSS Animation

CSS3 animation lets an element gradually change from one style to another.

Two steps:

  1. Use @keyframes to define an animation.
  2. Set this animation on an element with animation properties

We could set properties one-by-one or with following shorthand:

animation: [animation-name] [animation-duration] [animation-timing-function] [animation-delay] [animation-iteration-count] [animation-direction] [animation-fill-mode] [animation-play-state];

@keyframes

It defines what the animation looks like at each stage of the animation timeline. It is composed of:

  • Name of the animation. For example, changeColor.
  • Stages: From 0% to 100% to represent the whole process of animation
  • CSS Properties: The CSS properties defined for each stage of the animation timeline.

Following example creates an animation called changeColor and assign it to div:hover:

@keyframes changeColor {
	0% {
		background: red;
	}
	60% {
		background: blue;
	}
	100%{
	    background: green;
	}
}

div:hover{
  animation: changeColor 5s ease .1s;
}

In above example, we could also use from to represent 0% and to to represent 100%

Animation Properties

It has following properties:

  1. animation-name
  2. animation-duration
  3. animation-timing-function
  4. animation-delay
  5. animation-iteration-count
  6. animation-direction
  7. animation-fill-mode
  8. animation-play-state

animation-name

The name of the animation, defined in the @keyframes.

animation-duration

The duration of the animation, in seconds (e.g., 5s) or milliseconds (e.g., 200ms).

animation-timing-function

The speed curve or pace of the animation:

Timing Function Description
linear The animation has the same speed from start to end
ease Default value. The animation has a slow start, then fast, before it ends slowly.
ease-in Start slowly and end fast.
ease-out Start more quickly than linear ones and end slowly. The opposite of ease-in.
ease-in-out Both a slow start and a slow end
initial Sets this property to its default value. So ease.
inherit Inherits this property from its parent element.

Check The basics of easing for details.

animation-delay

It specifies when the animation will start. The value is defined in seconds (s) or milliseconds (mil).

animation-iteration-count

It specifies the number of times that the animation will play. The possible values are:

  • a specific number of iterations (default is 1)
  • infinite - repeats forever
  • initial
  • inherit

animation-direction

It specifies whether the animation should play forward, reverse, or in alternate cycles.

  • normal - Default. On each cycle the animation resets to the beginning state (0%) and plays forward again (to 100%).

  • reverse - On each cycle the animation resets to the end state (100%) and plays backwards (to 0%).

  • alternate - On each odd cycle, the animation plays forward (0% to 100%). On each even cycle, the animation plays backwards (100% to 0%).

  • alternate-reverse - On each odd cycle, the animation plays in reverse (100% to 0%). On each even cycle, the animation plays forward (0% or 100%).

animation-fill-mode

It specifies if the animation styles are visible before or after the animation plays.

  • normal - Default. The animation does not apply any styles to the element, before or after the animation.

  • forwards - After the animation is finished, the styles defined in the final keyframe (100%) are retained by the element.

  • backwards - Before the animation (during the animation delay), the styles of the initial keyframe (0%) are applied to the element.

  • both - forwards with backwards.

animation-play-state

Two values: running and paused.

It specifies whether the animation is playing or paused. Resuming a paused animation starts the animation where it was left off. But if pause an animation, the element style will return back to its origin.

Example:

div:hover {
  animation-play-state: paused;
}

Multiple Animations

Add multiple animations to a selector with comma:

div {
	animation: animationA 2s, animationB 2s;
}

Refs

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