The Importance of UI animation

&

AN Intro to css3 animation  

Andrew Baker

Senior Experience Developer - Karsh Hagan

03.11.2015

What does An experience developer do?

digital strategy and creative concepting

user experience design

visual design mockups

front-end development

Workshop Outline

1) Intro to UI animation 

Animation design principles

Importance of animation and interactivity on the web

How to design & build web animation in usable, intuitive user interfaces

Workshop Outline (continued)

2) Using CSS3 to bring your websites to life

What to know about CSS3 animation (basic principles, browser support, graceful degradation)

Intro to CSS3 transition syntax & CSS3 key-frame animation syntax

Using Modernizr to ensure your CSS3 code falls back for old browsers 

Examples of CSS3 live in action

Workshop Outline (continued)

3) Student Engagement Live Coding

We will use codepen.io and each student will get the opportunity to build their own unique web animation example

UI animation

Make your interfaces Usable, beautiful, and delightful

What is animation

At its most basic definition, animation is simply a visualization of change

The "illusion of life'  animation principles

Created by Walt Disney Studios in the 1930's

"Illusion of Life" book cover

A couple Examples

Animation Helps increase Usability

Moving elements attract your user's attention

Intuitive animation gives users feedback based on their interactions

SUBTLETY and CONSISTENCY are key to making your UI comfortable and realistic

iPhone's camera shortcut from the lock-screen

Key components of great animation

Weight

Depth

Balance

Drawing Attention to and explaining changes

Animation to show content detail

Revealing and hiding content

Transitions to other content

Animation adds an additional layer of information

Animation to show content detail

Portfolio website

Homepage section click expands project detail

Javascript, HTML5 history allows for page creation and indexing

vitosalvatore's portfolio attention to detail

Transition to new content

'my profile'  page transition to about page seems fluid and intuitive

notice the animation sequence (fade old content, slide new panel in, fade in and scale up new content)

flavinsky.com 'about' profile content animates onto screen

Scrolling Animation

(the good)

Scrolling animations to draw user attention to important information

showcases product detail and technical components

"Pencil" by 53 website

Scrolling Animation

(the bad)

Arrow link undergoes a fast 'bounce' animation effect from the bottom left corner of the page

Places unnecessary importance on this element and distracts the user from reading the main content on the page

"Festival of Marketing" - back to top link animation

Scrolling Animation

(the ugly)

'parallax' effect offers no detail or function.

scrolling image materialization animation covers up the important categories of work that the agency does

unnecessary 'loading' style animation on team photos

"Muffi" - digital agency portfolio website

Animating main site navigation

'Hamburger' icons for main site navigation have brought a lot of controversy in the UX/UI community

contextual navigation mimics touch UI. 

draggable grid transforms in 3d space to show context and allow for project navigation

Wild - agency website has a unique contextual navigation model

Reveal Hidden Content

Use reveal animations only for content that is not imperative to the general understanding of your page content

simplicity of animation style can make content consumption easier and more enjoyable 

forbetter.coffee is a playful animated site with tips for making great cups of coffee

Use css3 animations

Bring your websites to life

Core movement patters

Css Transitions

Transitions from one state to another

Define by:

1. transition-property *
2. transition-duration *
3. transition-timing function (ease, linear, cubic)
4. transition-delay

* only property and duration are required

.btn {
    background: #000000;
    -webkit-transition: background .3s ease 0s;
    transition: background .3s ease 0s;
}

.btn:hover {
    background: #333333;
}

.btn {
    background: #000000;
    transition-property: background;
    transition-duration: .3s;
    transition-timing-function: ease;
}

.btn:hover {
    background: #333333;
}

shorthand

full breakdown

Easing

Cubic-bezier gives a unique sense of motion from animation start to finish

Bourbon SASS timing functions

triggering css transitions

:hover

class changes (Triggered via javascript)

page load

media queries

device orientation

Browser Support

'Can I Use' - an essential tool for building progressively enhanced websites

In action with palm trees

Transitioning top/left vs Translate

Transitioning top, left, bottom, right requires browser 

re-paints, sub pixel rendering, and causes composite issues

Modernizr to the rescue

Small javascript library detects HTML5 and CSS3 feature support

The script adds classes to the <html> element on load 

nav {
    transform: translateY(-300px);
    transition: transform .3s ease-in;
}

.no-csstransforms nav {
    transition: top .3s ease-in;
}

CSS fallbacks with modernizr

CSS Transitions between state via JS class addition/removal

Adding or removing a CSS class to an element 

Most commonly triggered in these instances

• user initiated  action (click, swipe, rotate-device)
• page load
• page transition
• scroll

In action with play buttons

Css Key frame animation

Ability to define stages in between initial and final state

CSS3 Key-frame animation

CSS3 transitions

Css KEY-FRAME ANIMATIONS

Define animation in keyframe code,

then reference it on element

[animation-name] [animation-duration] [animation-timing-function] [animation-delay] [animation-iteration-count] [animation-direction] [animation-fill-mode] [animation-play-state]

Great css animation tutorial

.btn {
    animation: bobble 3s ease-in infinite;
}

@keyframes bobble {
    0% {
        opacity: 1;
        transform: rotate(20deg);
    }
    50% {
        opacity: 0;
        transform: rotate(-60deg);
    }
    100% {
        opacity: 1;
        transform: rotate(0deg);
    }
}

shorthand

full breakdown

Browser Support css animation

'Can I Use' - an essential tool for building progressively enhanced websites

Simple Keyframe 'pulsing' animation

Sprite animation to the next level

How have i put css animation to use?

Wonderful Colorado via Karsh Hagan

How have i put css animation to use?

karshhagan.com

How have i put css animation to use?

Brussels and Muscles via Be Colorado

How have i put css animation to use?

Mystyle by American Crew