8 simple CSS3 transitions that will wow your users

Default avatar.
May 01, 2014
8 simple CSS3 transitions that will wow your users.

thumbnailCSS3 has introduced countless possibilities for UX designers, and the best thing about them is that the coolest parts are really simple to implement.

Just a couple of lines of code will give you an awesome transition effect that will excite your users, increase engagement and ultimately, when used well, increase your conversions. What’s more, these effects are hardware accelerated, and a progressive enhancement that you can use right now.

Here are 8 really simple effects that will add life to your UI and smiles to your users’ faces.

All of these effects (bar one) are controlled with the transition property. So we can see these effects working, we’ll set up a div in an HTML page:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
 <style type="text/css">
 </style>
</head>
<body>
 <div></div>
</body>
</html>

Having done so, set its width and height (so it has dimensions), its background color (so we can see it) and its transition property.

<style type="text/css">
body > div
{
 width:483px;
 height:298px;
 background:#676470;
 transition:all 0.3s ease;
}
</style>

The transition property has three values: the properties to transition (in our case all of them) the speed of the transition (in our case 0.3 seconds) and a third value which lets you change how the acceleration and deceleration is calculated, but we’ll stick with the default by leaving this blank.

Now all we need to do is change properties, and they’ll animate for us…

If you’d like to follow along you can download the demo files here.

1. Fade in

Having things fade in is a fairly common request from clients. It’s a great way to emphasize functionality or draw attention to a call to action.

Fade in effects are coded in two steps: first, you set the initial state; next, you set the change, for example on hover:

.fade
{
 opacity:0.5;
}
.fade:hover
{
 opacity:1;
}

(Make sure you set the class of your div to fade” to see this working.)

2. Change color

Animating a change of color used to be unbelievably complex, with all kinds of math involved in calculating separate RGB values and then recombining them. Now, we just set the div’s class to color” and specify the color we want in our CSS:

.color:hover
{
 background:#53a7ea;
}

3. Grow & Shrink

To grow an element, you used to have to use its width and height, or its padding. But now we can use CSS3’s transform to enlarge.

Set your div’s class to grow” and then add this code to your style block:

.grow:hover
{
 -webkit-transform: scale(1.3);
 -ms-transform: scale(1.3);
 transform: scale(1.3);
}

Shrinking an element is as simple as growing it. To enlarge an element we specify a value greater than 1, to shrink it, we specify a value less than 1:

.shrink:hover
{
 -webkit-transform: scale(0.8);
 -ms-transform: scale(0.8);
 transform: scale(0.8);
}

4. Rotate elements

CSS transforms have a number of different uses, and one of the best is transforming the rotation of an element. Give your div the class rotate” and add the following to your CSS:

.rotate:hover
{
 -webkit-transform: rotateZ(-30deg);
 -ms-transform: rotateZ(-30deg);
 transform: rotateZ(-30deg);
}

5. Square to circle

A really popular effect at the moment is transitioning a square element into a round one, and vice versa. With CSS, it’s a simple effect to achieve, we just transition the border-radius property.

Give your div the class circle” and add this CSS to your styles:

.circle:hover
{
 border-radius:50%;
}

6. 3D shadow

3D shadows were frowned upon for a year or so, because they weren’t seen as compatible with flat design, which is of course nonsense, they work fantastically well to give a user feedback on their interactions and work with flat, or fake 3D interfaces.

This effect is achieved by adding a box shadow, and then moving the element on the x axis using the transform and translate properties so that it appears to grow out of the screen.

Give your div the class threed” and then add the following code to your CSS:

.threed:hover
{
 box-shadow:
 1px 1px #53a7ea,
 2px 2px #53a7ea,
 3px 3px #53a7ea;
 -webkit-transform: translateX(-3px);
 transform: translateX(-3px);
}

7. Swing

Not all elements use the transition property. We can also create highly complex animations using @keyframes, animation and animation-iteration.

In this case, we’ll first define a CSS animation in your styles. You’ll notice that due to implementation issues, we need to use @-webkit-keyframes as well as @keyframes (yes, Internet Explorer really is better than Chrome, in this respect at least).

@-webkit-keyframes swing
{
 15%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(5px);
 transform: translateX(5px);
 }
 30%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(-5px);
 transform: translateX(-5px);
 } 
 50%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(3px);
 transform: translateX(3px);
 }
 65%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(-3px);
 transform: translateX(-3px);
 }
 80%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(2px);
 transform: translateX(2px);
 }
 100%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(0);
 transform: translateX(0);
 }
}
@keyframes swing
{
 15%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(5px);
 transform: translateX(5px);
 }
 30%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(-5px);
 transform: translateX(-5px);
 }
 50%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(3px);
 transform: translateX(3px);
 }
 65%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(-3px);
 transform: translateX(-3px);
 }
 80%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(2px);
 transform: translateX(2px);
 }
 100%
 {
 -webkit-transform: translateX(0);
 transform: translateX(0);
 }
}

This animation simply moves the element left and right, now all we need to do is apply it:

.swing:hover
{
 -webkit-animation: swing 1s ease;
 animation: swing 1s ease;
 -webkit-animation-iteration-count: 1;
 animation-iteration-count: 1;
}

8. Inset border

One of the hottest button styles right now is the ghost button; a button with no background and a heavy border. We can of course add a border to an element simply, but that will change the element’s position. We could fix that problem using box sizing, but a far simpler solution is the transition in a border using an inset box shadow.

Give your div the class border” and add the following CSS to your styles:

.border:hover
{
 box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 25px #53a7ea;
}

Featured image/​thumbnail, animation image via Shutterstock.

Sara Vieira

Sara Vieira is a freelance Web Designer and Developer with a passion for HTML5/​CSS3 and jQuery. You can follow her on twitter or check out her website.

Read Next

15 Best New Fonts, May 2023

The choices you make when selecting a typeface have more impact on your design than almost any other decision, so it’s …

10+ Best Tools & Resources for Web Designers and Agencies (2023 updated)

Having the ability to envision a tastefully designed website (i.e., the role creativity plays) is important. But being …

20 Best New Websites, May 2023

This month, there are tons of great new agency websites to get excited about. 3D animated prisms are a popular theme, a…

How to Find the Right White Label Website Builder for Your Agency

Web design agencies face a lot of obstacles in closing the deal with new clients. One of the most common ones is the ar…

Exciting New Tools For Designers, May 2023

There are hundreds of new tools for designers and developers released each month. We sift through them all to bring you…

3 Essential Design Trends, May 2023

All three of the website design trends here mimic something bigger going on in the tech space, from a desire to have mo…

10 Best AI Tools for Web Designers (2023)

It’s time to stop worrying if AI is going to take your job and instead start using AI to expand the services you can of…

10 Best Marketing Agency Websites (Examples, Inspo, and Templates!)

Marketers are skilled in developing strategies, producing visual assets, writing text with high impact, and optimizing …

15 Best New Fonts, April 2023

Fonts are a designer’s best friend. They add personality to our designs and enable fine typography to elevate the quali…

20 Best New Websites, April 2023

In April’s edition, there’s a whole heap of large-scale, and even full-screen, video. Drone footage is back with a veng…

Exciting New Tools For Designers, April 2023

The AI revolution is having a huge impact on the types of products that are hitting the market, with almost every app b…

3 Essential Design Trends, March 2023

One thing that we often think about design trends is that they are probably good to make a list. That’s not always true…