CSS Transition Generator

A powerful tool that helps you create smooth CSS transitions and animations with customizable properties, duration, timing functions, and delays.

Settings
Transition Properties
Duration
1s
Timing Function
Delay
0s
Target State (Hover Effect)
1.2
50%
Preview
Hover or Click Me
Generated CSS Code
.transition-element { /* Initial state */ background-color: #1e88e5; border-radius: 5px; /* Transition properties */ transition-property: all; transition-duration: 1s; transition-timing-function: ease; transition-delay: 0s; } .transition-element:hover { /* Target state */ transform: scale(1.2) rotate(10deg); background-color: #0d47a1; border-radius: 50%; }
How to use?

Adjust the settings on the left to customize your CSS transition. The preview will update in real-time to show how your transition will look with the applied settings.

  • Properties: Select which CSS properties should be animated during the transition
  • Duration: Set how long the transition should take to complete
  • Timing Function: Choose how the transition progresses over time (linear, ease, cubic-bezier, etc.)
  • Delay: Add a delay before the transition starts
  • Target State: Define how the element should look after the transition (on hover)

Once you're satisfied with your transition, copy the generated CSS code and use it in your project. Add the classes to your elements to apply the transition effect.

About CSS Transition Generator

What are CSS Transitions?

CSS transitions provide a way to control animation speed when changing CSS properties. Instead of having property changes take effect immediately, you can cause the changes in a property to take place over a period of time. For example, if you change the color of an element from white to black, usually the change is instantaneous. With CSS transitions, the change occurs over a specified duration, creating a smooth animation effect.

The Four Components of CSS Transitions

1. transition-property

The transition-property specifies the name of the CSS property to which the transition effect should be applied. You can transition almost any CSS property, including colors, dimensions, positions, and transforms. Some common properties that are often transitioned include:

  • transform: For scaling, rotating, translating, or skewing elements
  • background-color: For smooth color changes
  • opacity: For fade in/out effects
  • width/height: For size changes
  • border-radius: For shape changes

You can specify multiple properties by separating them with commas, or use the value all to transition all animatable properties.

2. transition-duration

The transition-duration property specifies how long the transition effect should take to complete. The duration is specified in seconds (s) or milliseconds (ms). A longer duration results in a slower transition, while a shorter duration creates a faster effect.

3. transition-timing-function

The transition-timing-function property specifies the speed curve of the transition effect. This determines how intermediate values are calculated during the transition. CSS provides several predefined timing functions:

  • ease: Starts slowly, speeds up, then slows down again (default)
  • linear: Maintains a constant speed throughout
  • ease-in: Starts slowly, then speeds up
  • ease-out: Starts quickly, then slows down
  • ease-in-out: Similar to ease, but with more pronounced acceleration/deceleration
  • cubic-bezier(): Allows you to define your own timing function using cubic Bézier curves
  • steps(): Creates a step-by-step transition with a specified number of steps

4. transition-delay

The transition-delay property specifies when the transition effect should start. It allows you to add a delay before the transition begins, which can be useful for creating sequential animations or staggered effects. Like duration, delay is specified in seconds (s) or milliseconds (ms).

The Shorthand Property

Instead of specifying each transition property separately, you can use the shorthand transition property to define all four components in a single declaration:

transition: property duration timing-function delay;

For example:

transition: all 0.5s ease-in-out 0.2s;

Common Use Cases for CSS Transitions

Hover Effects

One of the most common uses for CSS transitions is to create smooth hover effects on interactive elements like buttons, links, and cards. For example, you might want a button to change color or size when a user hovers over it.

Navigation Menus

Transitions can enhance the user experience in navigation menus by smoothly revealing dropdown menus or highlighting the current page.

Form Elements

Transitions can provide visual feedback on form elements, such as smoothly changing the border color of an input field when it receives focus.

Content Reveals

Transitions can be used to smoothly reveal or hide content, such as expanding accordion panels or showing tooltips.

Best Practices for CSS Transitions

  • Keep Durations Short: In most cases, transitions should be quick (around 200-300ms) to maintain a responsive feel. Longer transitions can make your interface feel sluggish.
  • Choose Appropriate Timing Functions: Different timing functions create different feelings. For example, ease-out is often good for entrances, while ease-in works well for exits.
  • Be Selective: Don't transition everything just because you can. Focus on transitions that enhance the user experience and provide meaningful feedback.
  • Consider Performance: Some properties are more expensive to animate than others. Properties like transform and opacity are generally more performant than properties that trigger layout changes (like width or height).
  • Test on Different Devices: Make sure your transitions work well across different devices and browsers, and consider reducing or disabling transitions for users who prefer reduced motion.

Browser Compatibility

CSS transitions are well-supported across all modern browsers. However, for older browsers, you might need to include vendor prefixes (like -webkit-, -moz-, etc.) or consider providing fallbacks for browsers that don't support transitions.

Transitions vs. Animations

While CSS transitions and CSS animations are related, they serve different purposes:

  • Transitions are generally simpler and are triggered by state changes (like hover, focus, or class changes).
  • Animations are more complex, can have multiple keyframes, can loop indefinitely, and can run automatically without being triggered by a state change.

For simple effects like hover states, transitions are usually the better choice due to their simplicity and performance. For more complex, multi-step animations, CSS animations or JavaScript-based solutions might be more appropriate.