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h5bp/effeckt.css

10,822CSSAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TLDR

Effeckt.css was a curated CSS library of high-performance animations and transitions designed to run at 60fps using hardware-accelerated properties, the project is now archived and no longer maintained.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What It Does
      60fps CSS animations
      Hardware-accelerated effects
      Performance reference
    Key Concepts
      Transform animations
      Opacity transitions
      Keyframe animations
    Use Cases
      Modal animations
      Page transitions
      Mobile effects
    Status
      Archived project
      No longer maintained
    Audience
      Frontend developers
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Browse archived 60fps CSS animation patterns for modal windows and page transitions as a reference when building your own effects.

USE CASE 2

Learn which CSS properties like transform and opacity trigger hardware acceleration for smooth mobile animations.

USE CASE 3

Reference performance-focused CSS animation techniques from a historically influential project in the frontend community.

Tech stack

CSS

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Project is archived and no longer maintained, treat as a historical reference, not for adoption in new projects.

License not specified in the repository description.

In plain English

Effeckt.css was a CSS library aimed at providing smooth, high-performance animations and transitions for websites and web apps. The project is now archived and no longer maintained, but the code and documentation remain available. The core problem it was trying to solve is that adding visual effects to web pages, such as modal window animations or page transitions, is easy to do badly. Effects implemented poorly can cause stuttering and dropped frames, especially on mobile devices. The project's goal was to collect and provide only effects that could reliably run at 60 frames per second, which is the threshold where motion feels smooth to most people. Any effect that could not meet that standard was explicitly excluded. The library was built on CSS transitions and keyframe animations, particularly ones that trigger hardware acceleration on the device, such as transforms and opacity changes. These properties can often be handled by the device's graphics chip directly, making them much cheaper to animate than properties like width or position. The original ambition included a web-based builder that would let developers pick only the specific effects they needed rather than loading the full library. The project also aimed to define browser support tiers and provide performance testing tools. It was part of the h5bp (HTML5 Boilerplate) GitHub organization, which has historically produced front-end tooling and best-practice starter templates. Since the repository is archived, it should be considered a historical reference rather than something to adopt in new projects.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to animate a modal window opening using only CSS transforms and opacity so it runs at 60fps on mobile without jank.
Prompt 2
What is the difference between animating CSS properties like width vs transform for performance? Give me a before and after example.
Prompt 3
I want to add a page transition effect to my website. How do I use CSS keyframes and transforms to fade and slide between pages without causing layout reflow?
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