Framer Motion
Animations that feel natural, not bolted on.
What it is
Framer Motion is an animation library for React. It handles the tricky parts of animation - spring physics, gesture recognition, layout transitions, scroll-triggered effects, and exit animations - through a declarative API that integrates naturally with React's component model.
Animations on the web have historically been difficult to do well. CSS transitions work for simple cases, but anything involving coordinated sequences, physics-based motion, or context-aware transitions requires either a lot of manual JavaScript or a dedicated library. Framer Motion is that library.
How I use it
Framer Motion is used on this site for the section fade-ins, page transitions, staggered list reveals, and hover states on interactive elements. Animations run on the GPU via CSS transforms where possible, which keeps them smooth even on lower-powered devices.
The `viewport={{ once: true }}` option on scroll-triggered animations means they only play once as content comes into view, rather than replaying every time the user scrolls back up. That's the kind of detail that makes the difference between animation that feels considered and animation that feels distracting.
Why this over the alternatives
CSS animations are the right choice for simple transitions, but they can't handle layout animations, coordinated sequences, or exit animations (animating elements as they leave the DOM). Framer Motion covers all of those cases while keeping the code readable.
What it means for your site
- GPU-accelerated animations that stay smooth on mobile
- Physics-based spring animations that feel natural rather than mechanical
- Scroll-triggered reveals that draw attention to content progressively
- Exit animations that make UI transitions feel polished rather than abrupt
Works with
Also in Frontend
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