CSS Animation Keyframes and its Advantages | Complete Overview

What is Animation?

Animations on our website may be a robust technique for engaging and entertaining visitors. They can make the loading process more enjoyable for visitors, draw their attention to a critical aspect, and increase usability.

While producing animations on the web isn't new, the animation used to necessitate learning JavaScript, one of the most challenging coding languages to master, or Flash, an Adobe product for which you must pay a monthly charge. Many developers have turned away from JavaScript and Flash in favor of CSS for animations in the last decade.

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Why do we need Animation?

• You can have additional control over the process by using animations.
• They are adaptable and dynamic.
• Transitions are used to make simple changes, whereas animation changes can be more complicated. Transitions cannot change their properties; they can only define their actions. Within the keyframes, animations can change CSS properties and values.
• The terms "transition" refer to three separate states: beginning, end, and duration. Animations are independent of any state and can be used at any time.
• Transitions cannot loop, whereas animations can.

Note: Animations take more code than transitions, so stay with the transition method if you only need a simple movement or action.

Advantages of CSS Animation over Flash, Videos, and JavaScript

• Only CSS knowledge is required to create CSS animations. Writing animation code in JavaScript requires some prior knowledge of the language.
• Unlike videos, animations do not require external loading. They run directly in the browser, reducing overall load time, increasing compatibility, and improving responsiveness.
• JavaScript code will not run in browsers that do not support it.
• Because the browser controls the animation process, it improves performance and ensures smooth functioning.

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What is the requirement of Animations?

There are only three requirements for Animation.

• Keyframes: Must be declared and provide the entity's styles or look.
• Properties: The animation characteristics associated with the keyframe are given here.
• Duration: The time it takes for the entire procedure to complete.

Example:

p {
animation-duration: 3s;
animation-name: slidein;
}
@keyframes slidein {
from {
margin-left: 100%;
width: 300%;
}
to {
margin-left: 0%;
width: 100%;
}
}

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Characteristics associated with Animation and keyframes

• Animation-name: The name of the @keyframes Animation is defined here. This name functions similarly to a variable, and the developer must declare it.
• Animation-duration: This specifies how long it takes for an animation cycle to complete. It is critical to specify a duration since no animation will occur without it. A timeframe is required for the Animation. The min value is 0s, and the value is an integer in seconds.
• Animation delay: The time when an element loads and when the animation sequence starts.
• Animation-timing-function: The time or pace at which the animation-timing-function defines the animation transitions from one style or state to another. Transition-timing-function values include linear, ease-in, ease-out, step-start, step-end, and cubic-bezier.
• Animation-iteration-count: The number of times an animation should be repeated is defined by animation-iteration-count.
• Animation-fill-mode: This specifies the values or styles used by the Animation before, during, or after the sequence. It accepts forward and backward values.
• Animation-play-state: This specifies whether an animation is running or paused, and users have control over this. When a user hovers over a running animation, it pauses. The values for animation-play-state are running and halted.
• Animation-direction: This specifies the Animation's direction. Alternate between right and left.
• In this demonstration, the ball only goes in one direction. When it reaches 300px, it returns to the 0px starting position and begins the process again. This movement does not appear to be pleasant. The ball, however, glides pleasantly forward and backwards after adding animation-direction with a value alternative, and the cycle continues

Example:

<html>
<body>
<div></div>
</body>
</html>

div {
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
background-color: red;
position: absolute;
border-radius: 50%;
animation: rollingball linear 2s infinite;
}
@keyframes rollingball {
0% {
left: 0px;
}
25% {
background: purple;
border-radius: 0;
}
75%{
background: orange;
}
100% {
background: green;
left: 300px;
}
}

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List of Lightweight Animation CSS

The best lightweight animations for deepens visual understanding are described below:

CSShake

CSShake is a CSS-based animation framework that concentrates on making UI elements shake—yes, you read that correctly! The library includes a variety of CSS classes that you may use to create various animated shake elements for your project. As a result, you should have no trouble choosing a shake preset that meets your requirements.

Apple's iOS, in particular, popularized the shake animation'. It occurs when an iOS user types in erroneous credentials into an input area or attempts to perform an action that the system does not allow. Shake animations have recently become a staple in interaction design. These animations are usually made with keyframes and the transform attribute. Example: ⏩ Play around

Bounce.js

Bounce.js is a tool and a JS framework for creating CSS3-powered keyframe animations. The library includes ten bouncy Animation presets that are smooth, useful, and enjoyable. You don't have to create high-level animation scripts because these fun presets take care of everything.

This minified library has a much lower influence on your website's size and loading time, which is a crucial consideration when adding animations. As the name suggests, bounce.js appeals to UI designers who want to attract users' attention with attractive, bouncy animations. Bounce.js comes in handy when you need to construct your animation library. Typically, these animations are created utilizing the landing page's advanced transform settings.

AnimeJS

AnimeJS is a powerful and easy-to-use JavaScript animation toolkit suitable for a wide range of projects. This little package provides a strong API for animating HTML elements, CSS properties, JS objects, SVG, and DOM attributes.

With its built-in staggering system, you can quickly generate ripples, directional movements, follow-through, and overlapping animation effects. However, to do a lot, you may still leverage its built-in callback and control capabilities, such as play, pause, control, reverse, and trigger events. Overall, it delivers a complete product ready for UI designers to uncover. Example. ⏩ Play around

Mo.js

Mo.js is a powerful JavaScript animation toolkit that incorporates motion effects into your web pages. It takes a unique approach to code and animation structure compared to other JS libraries.

Speed—it creates smooth animations and effects for an exciting user experience, high screen density-independent effects that look good on any device, simplicity—the simple API allows complete control over your Animation, and modularity—animations are customizable based on your project needs are just a few of the features that set this library apart. Last but not least, it's an open-source library that's constantly updated and polished by a vibrant community. Example: ⏩ Play around

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What are the Do's and Don't of Animation?

The Do's and Don't of Animation are listed below:

Don'ts

• You don't have to animate everything on your stage.
• Don't shuffle everything over the stage.
• Don't position your object first, then animate it.
• Don't animate all of your objects at once.
• Don't make animations that are too long. Your audience's attention span is limited.

Do's

• Keep things simple. Choose carefully which objects to animate.
• Position your objects how you want them to be at the end of the Animation.
• Keep it brief. If you're making a presentation slide, keep the Animation to a few seconds.
• Use Animation to help your content stand out.
• Do you question yourself: will this appear better animated, or will it seem cleaner in its current position?
• Use modest motion effects (not every object needs to move from one side to the other) and provide frequent reviews. Preview after making minor modifications. Repeat.

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Conclusion

To summarize, creating animations should be a top priority. They are simple to complete, especially for individuals who understand the process and are aware of the objectives to be met. However, excessive use of Animation should be avoided because it might cause performance concerns and an overwhelming condition for the user.

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• Discover more about User Experience Design Tools