A text fading in and out or a link popping up when hovered. What do these two things have in common? Yes, they all animate.
What’s special about the custom web development space is that along with static elements, it also provides an infinite possibility of dynamic elements which can animate the way it is needed. It can be done via simple CSS rules or by using a library or even a generator tool that would do the same.
It’s just a matter of what type of animation you want and how you want to implement them. So that you don’t have to hop around from one website to another, we have curated 20 of the best CSS animation resources from libraries to generator tools in this article. Pick your favourite and start implementing it!
List of CSS Animation Resources
Whirl
Made by Jhey Tompkins, a CSS wizard himself, Whirl is a curation of CSS-loading animations. It takes the pain out of a developer because it already has 106 whirls and more.
Take a look at the demo website to get a taste of what types of loaders are available.
Usage:
You can install it on your projects via NPM or Yarn commands –
npm i @jh3y/whirl
yarn add @jh3y/whirlElse, if you want to get a quick spin-up, you are free to use the CSS or SASS files.
Magic Effects
Ever wanted to have some special effects on your website without having to learn some complex software programs?
The Magic Effects library has got them all. Whether you want the usual static effects like OPENDOWNLEFT which makes an element appear as if it’s opening from a box and then going down, or something more real-life like PERSEPECTIVEUPRETURN that uses the CSS perspective property to make you feel like the element is in a 3D space, this library suits the best!
Usage:
The good thing is that we can use it with both CSS and JavaScript files. Let’s see how to do it in CSS:
npm i magic.css
yarn add magic.cssYou can also include its minified version in your HTML boilerplate:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="yourpath/magic.min.css">
Animista
What makes Animista unique from others you say? Well, it has a fully-featured animation demo workspace where you can literally preview each of the different types of animation it has to offer along with different options like delay, iteration count, direction, fill mode, and more!
And did I tell you that each of its 15 ‘Basic’ animation types has more than 10 sub-animations! It’s mind-blowing to see how much we can achieve with Animista.
Usage:
There are three steps to this-
- Get a taste of different animations from its editor.
- Pick your favorite ones by clicking on the heart button.
- When you are ready, click the download button on the top-right corner to access the download screen.
When you do this, an animate.css file will be downloaded which you can then easily add to your project directory.
Hamburgers
Did someone say, “Treat!”? Well, yes but for developers. Hamburger is a collection of 10+ examples of CSS hamburger animations that are very well-suited for navigation for mobile devices.
From the usual ‘Boring’ one to the exciting ‘Empathic’, you can get them all. The good thing here is that it has tremendous support for different stacks be it SASS or Ruby on Rails.
Usage:
(1) Download the file from here.
(2) Include the following in your HTML:
<link href="dist/hamburgers.css" rel="stylesheet">(3) Add base HTML:
<button class="hamburger" type="button">
<span class="hamburger-box">
<span class="hamburger-inner"></span>
</span>
</button>(4) Append the class name of the type of hamburger you want:
<button class="hamburger hamburger--collapse" type="button">
<span class="hamburger-box">
<span class="hamburger-inner"></span>
</span>
</button>(5) Finally, trigger the active state:
<button class="hamburger hamburger--collapse is-active" type="button">
<span class="hamburger-box">
<span class="hamburger-inner"></span>
</span>
</button>Animate.css
This has to come right? Probably one of the most popular CSS animation libraries out there. Animate.css is one of those libraries which work great for emphasis, home pages, sliders, and attention-guiding hints.
With the powers of NPM, Post CSS + postcss-preset-env, you can create custom builds pretty easily. For accessibility, it supports [prefers-reduced-motion] media query.
Usage:
npm install animate.css --save
yarn add animate.cssOr add its CDN:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/animate.css/4.1.1/animate.min.css" />Then use it on any element like this:
<div class="animate__animated animate__bounce"></div>Hover.css
Finding some inspiration on different hover states and how they should animate? Hover.css got you back with an amazing set of 2D, icons, borders, and speech bubbles animations to integrate into your button or link styles.
The best part? All effects make use of a single element and are self-contained so you can easily copy and paste them whenever needed.
Usage:
Install it by running the following commands-
npm install hover.css --save
bower install hover --saveOr you can directly download its ZIP code. Once it is installed, you can use it like:
<a href="#" class="hvr-grow">Add to Basket</a>GSAP
GSAP or GreenSock Animation Platform is not just another CSS library, it’s an entire platform of animation services on the web which can be achieved by both CSS and JavaScript.
What stands out is that it’s really powerful and packed with tonnes of customizable features. If you are someone who is fed up with the usual entrance, hover, or glow animations, GSAP allows you to completely code out your entire animation sequences from scratch!
Usage:
There is so much to choose from here that they made an entire webpage just to choose what to install. Go to this page and select the different features you want to incorporate and make sure you visit their Getting Started guide.
Motion UI
Motion UI is a SASS library for creating flexible CSS transitions and animations. The core utility here is to transition components in and out. You can then apply these transitions to any UI element you like.
You can tinker around with the variety of animations it has to offer on its demo page linked above. The code is mostly in SCSS and CSS also so you can use features of both.
Usage:
You can install it via the following commands-
bower install motion-ui --save
npm install motion-ui --saveInfinite
Probably the simplest of the lot here. Infinite is a simple set of useful infinite CSS animations that you can drop into your project.
It mainly focuses on the pulsating effects of an element. Some of the animations it has to offer include; pulsate, opacityPulse and alertPulse.
Usage:
The usage is really simple. You just have to include its infinite.css file in your project and then you are ready to go!
AnimXYZ
This one claims to be the first composable CSS animation toolkit. AnimXYZ is powered by CSS variables which opens an infinite amount of possibilities that can be achieved with this library without you writing a single [@keyframes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@keyframes) code.
What’s great is that it supports the major front-end contenders like Vue, React, and SCSS out of the box!
Usage:
Install it with:
with npm
npm install @animxyz/core
# with yarn
yarn add @animxyz/coreOr simply use it with a CDN:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@animxyz/core@0.4.0/dist/animxyz.min.css">WOW.js
Need a wonderful reveal animation library, especially on scroll? WOW got you!
It works close to Animate.css and you can easily customize the style, delay, length, offset, and iterations of each animation you chose. One plus point here is that you can customize its default settings easily!
Usage:
Here are some steps to follow-
(1) Link Animate.css in HTML:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/animate.css">(2) Link and activate WOW.js:
<script src="js/wow.min.js"></script>
<script>
new WOW().init();
</script>(3) Use it in an element:
<h3 class="wow">Content to Reveal Here</h3>Wicked CSS
Wicked CSS is developed for those who want to spice up their sites with some sweet animation effects it offers.
It has some really sweet animation demos and examples on its website and offers just enough effects you might need on any regular project like zoomer, shake or fadeIn.
Usage:
- Download the Wicked CSS file from here.
- Add this to your HTML:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/wickedcss.css"> - Apply the animation you want:
<div class="barrelRoll">My animation</div>
CSS Libraries 📚
React spring
React Spring is a powerful animation library for React that helps developers create smooth and interactive animations. It leverages the power of physics-based animation principles to provide more natural and realistic motion compared to traditional CSS-based animations.
Framer Motion
Framer Motion is a powerful and flexible animation library for React that enables developers to create complex and performant animations with ease. It is built on top of the Framer library and offers a simple yet powerful API for adding animations to React components.
Framer Motion stands out for its advanced features, smooth animations, and ease of use.
CSS Animation Generators ⚙️
Angry Tools
The first of the lot is from Angry Tools and they managed to put some of the common animations you will need in a project in a single place.
With their interactive demo by which you can control the animation function, you get the desired code immediately which you can then copy/paste or adjust the values accordingly.
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WAIT! Animate
It promises to calculate updated keyframe percentages of animation given a wait time.
This means you can insert a delay between each animation iteration using pure CSS, without JavaScript with this tool. It also supports SASS mixins.
Ceaser
Want to tinker around with the bezier curve functions? Maybe you want to have some ease-out at first and then go with easeInSine?
Fret not because Ceaser is that tool that has mastered curves early in this game. It has more than 10 curve types that can be further customized accordingly with duration, effects, and opacity values.
Ultimate CSS Gradient Generator by ColorZilla
The gold mine for gradients! When you have a synchronized preview by your side along with browser support and an interactive tool for making the perfect gradient, you can’t complain much.
There are a plethora of options available in this tool from changing the hue/saturation to getting SASS code, complex multi-stop gradients, and more.
CSS Loaders Libraries
Flowbite Spinner
Flowbite’s pre-built spinner components offer a versatile and efficient solution for visually indicating loading states within your application. With customizable options for color, size, and style, you can seamlessly integrate spinners into various UI elements like buttons, forms, or content sections to enhance user experience during data fetching operations.
By providing clear visual feedback, Flowbite spinners contribute to a more responsive and intuitive user interface.
Preline UI Loaders
This is an open-source Tailwind CSS components loading library for any needs. Comes with UI examples & blocks, loader templates, plugins, Figma design system.
Material Tailwind CSS Spinners
By Utilizing CreativeTim’s Material Tailwind CSS Spinner to catch your users’ attention during loading. This will make the experience smooth and interesting.
Easily integrate this spinner animation into your website, and let it do the work while you focus on delivering exceptional user experiences.
UIVerse Loaders
Transform dull loading screens into captivating experiences. Uiverse offers a rich library of open-source loaders that any developer can easily use those to improve app performance and user satisfaction.
This is Open-Source loaders made with Tailwind CSS & available free for everyone.
Miscellaneous CSS Animation tools
CSS Animation tutorials and guides
This is a curated weekly roundup of all the latest in web animation. You get:
- Inspirations on all the new projects made by developers with CSS animations.
- A complete guide on how to start working on an animation project with the latest CSS standards.
- Tutorials with demos and code examples.
- A weekly newsletter that shares the latest and greatest animations.
Cool CSS Animation
With this website, you can easily discover CSS animations by learning to code really cool animations with amazing effects.
You get:
- CSS animation examples: to get some inspiration.
- CSS animation tutorials: to learn some cool HTML and CSS tricks.
- CSS animation cheat sheets: to code CSS animations faster with code snippets.
Wrapping Up on CSS Animation Tools
We hope this curated collection of CSS animation resources has ignited your creativity!
Do you have a CSS animation tool that’s missing from our list? Your Animation tool helps us keep this resource up-to-date and relevant.
Don’t forget to bookmark your favorites and share your animated masterpieces on twitter, Tag @Wrappixel so we can share your work!
Let’s make the web a more dynamic and engaging place together.
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