Day 88: CSS Motion Path
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It’s time to get me up to speed with modern CSS. There’s so much new in CSS that I know too little about. To change that I’ve started #100DaysOfMoreOrLessModernCSS. Why more or less modern CSS? Because some topics will be about cutting-edge features, while other stuff has been around for quite a while already, but I just have little to no experience with it.
CSS Motion path allows you to position any graphical object and animate it along a specified path.
Let's you have a path, and you want to animate an element along that path.
<svg>
to achieve that, but for the sake of understanding, I'm using it in this demo to visualize the path. I've placed the square on top of the svg using absolute positioning.
<svg width="305" height="144">
<path stroke="#000" fill="none" stroke-width="4" d="m4,139c0,-1.31731 7.78207,-137 121.62162,-137c113.83955,0 85.71428,133.04808 178.37837,127.12019">
</svg>
<div class="square"></div>
.square {
background: hsl(93deg 75% 49%);
height: 2em;
width: 2em;
position: absolute;
inset-inline-start: 0;
inset-block-start: 0;
}
Because of the absolute positioning, the .square
is at the top left corner of its parent element. If you want to put the .square
on a path (Note: not the actual path of the svg, but its own path), you can use the offset-path
property. Just copy the value of the <path>
s d
attribute and put it in a path()
function.
.square {
offset-path: path("m4,139c0,-1.31731 7.78207,-137 121.62162,-137c113.83955,0 85.71428,133.04808 178.37837,127.12019");
}
The .square
is now positioned on the path and can be moved, using offset-distance
.
.square {
offset-path: path("m4,139c0,-1.31731 7.78207,-137 121.62162,-137c113.83955,0 85.71428,133.04808 178.37837,127.12019");
offset-distance: 30%;
}
You can also rotate it, using offset-rotate
.
.square {
offset-path: path("m4,139c0,-1.31731 7.78207,-137 121.62162,-137c113.83955,0 85.71428,133.04808 178.37837,127.12019");
offset-distance: 30%;
offset-rotate: 13deg;
}
Of course, you can also animate these properties.
.square {
offset-path: path("m4,139c0,-1.31731 7.78207,-137 121.62162,-137c113.83955,0 85.71428,133.04808 178.37837,127.12019");
animation: move 2s infinite;
}
@keyframes move {
0% {
offset-distance: 0%;
}
100% {
offset-distance: 100%;
}
}
For the sake of completeness, the same demo without the svg.
<div class="parent">
<div class="square"></div>
</div>
.parent {
height: 150px;
}
.square {
offset-path: path("m4,139c0,-1.31731 7.78207,-137 121.62162,-137c113.83955,0 85.71428,133.04808 178.37837,127.12019");
animation: move 2s infinite;
position: static;
}
Further reading
- Motion Path Module Level 1
- Fun with CSS Motion Path
- Create a Responsive CSS Motion Path? Sure We Can!
- Method Draw Vector Editor
Do you want to learn even more awesome CSS?
I'm running a workshop with my friends at Smashing Magazine in which I introduce you to the most useful modern features in CSS and show how you can implement them today in your code base to improve scalability, maintainability, and productivity.
Learn more about the workshop!
Overview: 100 Days Of More Or Less Modern CSS