Introduction

CSS animations provide a powerful way to enhance the user experience on a website. With CSS animations, elements can be smoothly transitioned between different states, creating engaging and dynamic visual effects. One of the lesser-known features of CSS animations is the 'steps()' function, which allows for the creation of frame-based animations.

Understanding the Steps() Function

The 'steps()' function is a timing function that divides an animation into a specified number of steps. Each step represents a different state of the animation, giving the appearance of a frame-based animation. Animating elements using the 'steps()' function can be particularly useful when a desired effect is better achieved by discrete transitions rather than smooth interpolation between states.

Here's how the 'steps()' timing function is defined:

step(n, direction)

n represents the number of steps the animation will be divided into, while direction specifies whether the animation progresses forwards or backwards. The direction value can be either 'start' or 'end', with 'start' being the default value.

Applying Steps() Animation

To apply the 'steps()' animation, you need to define a keyframe animation using the '@keyframes' rule and specify the 'steps()' function as the timing function. Let's take a look at an example:

@keyframes exampleAnimation {
 0% {
  opacity: 1;
 }
 100% {
  opacity: 0;
 }
}

In this example, we define an animation called 'exampleAnimation' that starts with an opacity of 1 at 0% progress and ends with an opacity of 0 at 100% progress.

To apply the 'steps()' timing function, we simply need to add it to the animation declaration:

animation: exampleAnimation 2s steps(10);

In this case, the animation will have a duration of 2 seconds and will be divided into 10 steps.

Conclusion

The 'steps()' timing function in CSS animations provides a unique way to create frame-based animations. Understanding its usage and applying it creatively can bring your web designs to life. Experiment with different values for the n parameter to achieve various visual effects. With CSS animations and the 'steps()' function, you have the power to create dynamic and engaging animations that captivate your website visitors.

References

[1] Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/animation-timing-function