Emil Kowalski Animation Best Practices

Comprehensive animation guide for web interfaces based on Emil Kowalski's teachings, open-source libraries (Sonner, Vaul), and his animations.dev course. Contains 43 rules across 7 categories, prioritized by impact.

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Adding animations to React components
• Choosing easing curves or timing values
• Implementing gesture-based interactions (swipe, drag)
• Building toast notifications or drawer components
• Optimizing animation performance
• Ensuring animation accessibility

Rule Categories by Priority

Priority	Category	Impact	Prefix
1	Easing Selection	CRITICAL	ease-
2	Timing & Duration	CRITICAL	timing-
3	Property Selection	HIGH	props-
4	Transform Techniques	HIGH	transform-
5	Interaction Patterns	MEDIUM-HIGH	interact-
6	Strategic Animation	MEDIUM	strategy-
7	Accessibility & Polish	MEDIUM	polish-

Quick Reference

1. Easing Selection (CRITICAL)

• ease-out-default - Use ease-out as your default easing
• ease-custom-curves - Use custom cubic-bezier over built-in CSS
• ease-in-out-onscreen - Use ease-in-out for on-screen movement
• ease-spring-natural - Use spring animations for natural motion
• ease-ios-drawer - Use iOS-style easing for drawer components
• ease-context-matters - Match easing to animation context

2. Timing & Duration (CRITICAL)

• timing-300ms-max - Keep UI animations under 300ms
• timing-faster-better - Faster animations improve perceived performance
• timing-asymmetric - Use asymmetric timing for press and release
• timing-tooltip-delay - Delay initial tooltips, instant subsequent ones
• timing-drawer-500ms - Use 500ms duration for drawer animations

3. Property Selection (HIGH)

• props-transform-opacity - Animate only transform and opacity
• props-hardware-accelerated - Use hardware-accelerated animations when main thread is busy
• props-will-change - Use will-change to prevent 1px shift
• props-avoid-css-variables - Avoid CSS variables for drag animations
• props-clip-path-performant - Use clip-path for layout-free reveals

4. Transform Techniques (HIGH)

• transform-scale-097 - Scale buttons to 0.97 on press
• transform-never-scale-zero - Never animate from scale(0)
• transform-percentage-translate - Use percentage values for translateY
• transform-origin-aware - Make animations origin-aware
• transform-scale-children - Scale transforms affect children
• transform-3d-preserve - Use preserve-3d for 3D transform effects

5. Interaction Patterns (MEDIUM-HIGH)

• interact-interruptible - Make animations interruptible
• interact-momentum-dismiss - Use momentum-based dismissal
• interact-damping - Damp drag at boundaries
• interact-scroll-drag-conflict - Resolve scroll and drag conflicts
• interact-snap-points - Implement velocity-aware snap points
• interact-friction-upward - Allow upward drag with friction
• interact-pointer-capture - Use pointer capture for drag operations

6. Strategic Animation (MEDIUM)

• strategy-keyboard-no-animate - Never animate keyboard-initiated actions
• strategy-frequency-matters - Consider interaction frequency before animating
• strategy-purpose-required - Every animation must have a purpose
• strategy-feedback-immediate - Provide immediate feedback on all actions
• strategy-marketing-exception - Marketing sites are the exception

7. Accessibility & Polish (MEDIUM)

• polish-reduced-motion - Respect prefers-reduced-motion
• polish-opacity-fallback - Use opacity as reduced motion fallback
• polish-framer-hook - Use useReducedMotion hook in Framer Motion
• polish-dont-remove-all - Don't remove all animation for reduced motion
• polish-blur-bridge - Use blur to bridge animation states
• polish-clip-path-tabs - Use clip-path for tab transitions
• polish-toast-stacking - Implement toast stacking with scale and offset
• polish-scroll-reveal - Trigger scroll animations at appropriate threshold
• polish-hover-gap-fill - Fill gaps between hoverable elements
• polish-stagger-children - Stagger child animations for orchestration

Key Values Reference

Value	Usage
cubic-bezier(0.32, 0.72, 0, 1)	iOS-style drawer/sheet animation
scale(0.97)	Button press feedback
scale(0.95)	Minimum enter scale (never scale(0))
200ms ease-out	Standard UI transition
300ms	Maximum duration for UI animations
500ms	Drawer animation duration
0.11 px/ms	Velocity threshold for momentum dismiss
100px	Scroll-reveal viewport threshold
14px	Toast stack offset

Reference Files

Category	Example References
Easing	ease-context-matters, ease-ios-drawer
Timing	timing-300ms-max, timing-drawer-500ms
Props & Transform	props-transform-opacity, transform-scale-097
Interaction & Polish	interact-interruptible, polish-reduced-motion