Guidelines and examples for UI motion and animation. Use when designing, implementing, or reviewing motion, easing, timing, reduced-motion behaviour, CSS transitions, keyframes, framer-motion, or spring animations.
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---
name: ui-animation
description: Guidelines and examples for UI motion and animation. Use when designing, implementing, or reviewing motion, easing, timing, reduced-motion behaviour, CSS transitions, keyframes, framer-motion, or spring animations.
---
# UI Animation
## Core rules
- Animate to clarify cause/effect or add deliberate delight.
- Keep interactions fast (200-300ms; up to 1s only for illustrative motion).
- Never animate keyboard interactions (arrow-key navigation, shortcut responses, tab/focus).
- Prefer CSS; use WAAPI or JS only when needed.
- Make animations interruptible and input-driven.
- Honor `prefers-reduced-motion` (reduce or disable).
## What to animate
- For movement and spatial change, animate only `transform` and `opacity`.
- For simple state feedback, `color`, `background-color`, and `opacity` transitions are acceptable.
- Never animate layout properties; never use `transition: all`.
- Avoid `filter` animation for core interactions; if unavoidable, keep blur <= 20px.
- SVG: apply transforms on a `<g>` wrapper with `transform-box: fill-box; transform-origin: center`.
- Disable transitions during theme switches.
## Spatial and sequencing
- Set `transform-origin` at the trigger point.
- For dialogs/menus, start around `scale(0.85-0.9)`; avoid `scale(0)`.
- Stagger reveals <= 50ms.
## Easing defaults
- Enter and transform-based hover: `cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1)`.
- Move: `cubic-bezier(0.25, 1, 0.5, 1)`.
- Simple hover colour/background/opacity: `200ms ease`.
- Avoid `ease-in` for UI (feels slow).
## Accessibility
- If `transform` is used, disable it in `prefers-reduced-motion`.
- Disable hover transitions on touch devices via `@media (hover: hover) and (pointer: fine)`.
## Performance
- Pause looping animations off-screen.
- Toggle `will-change` only during heavy motion and only for `transform`/`opacity`.
- Prefer `transform` over positional props in animation libraries.
- Do not animate drag gestures using CSS variables.
## Reference
- Snippets and practical tips: [examples.md](examples.md)
## Workflow
1. Start with the core rules, then pick a reference snippet from [examples.md](examples.md).
2. Keep motion functional; honor `prefers-reduced-motion`.
3. When reviewing, cite file paths and line numbers and propose concrete fixes.
