Micro-Interaction Adder

This skill layers production-grade CSS micro-interactions onto frontend code — new or existing. The goal: every element a user touches should respond, making the interface feel alive, crafted, and trustworthy.

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Philosophy

Micro-interactions are not decoration. They:

• Confirm intent — "yes, I saw you click that"
• Communicate state — loading, disabled, selected, error
• Reward attention — subtle delight for the observant
• Establish hierarchy — animated elements feel more important

Rules of thumb:

1. Duration: 150–300ms for most UI. 400–600ms for entrances. Never over 800ms for interactive feedback.
2. Easing: prefer cubic-bezier curves over ease-in-out defaults. Use spring-feel curves for scale.
3. Less is more: one well-executed hover beats five mediocre ones. Pick the 3–5 highest-impact moments.
4. Respect prefers-reduced-motion — always wrap animation-heavy CSS in the appropriate media query.

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Step-by-Step Workflow

1. Audit the UI

Before adding anything, scan the code for:

• Interactive elements (buttons, links, inputs, checkboxes, cards, nav items)
• State-bearing elements (loading, error, success, disabled)
• Structural elements that could benefit from entrance animations (modals, dropdowns, toasts)

2. Select Interaction Patterns

Choose from the Pattern Library below. Don't apply everything — pick what fits the component's purpose and the overall aesthetic (see references/pattern-library.md for full recipes).

3. Inject the CSS

• Add transitions to base state, NOT to :hover/:focus state. This ensures smooth exit animations too.
• Use CSS custom properties (--transition-fast, --color-focus-ring) for consistency.
• Keep interaction CSS co-located with component styles, not in a separate "animations.css" blob.

4. Validate

Check:

• Interactions work on keyboard focus (:focus-visible), not just mouse hover
• Disabled states suppress all transitions (pointer-events: none; opacity: 0.5)
• prefers-reduced-motion fallback exists for all scale/translate animations
• No layout shifts — use transform and opacity only (GPU-composited)

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Core CSS Variables (inject into :root)

:root {
  /* Timing */
  --duration-instant:  100ms;
  --duration-fast:     150ms;
  --duration-base:     200ms;
  --duration-slow:     300ms;
  --duration-enter:    400ms;

  /* Easing */
  --ease-out:          cubic-bezier(0.0, 0.0, 0.2, 1);
  --ease-in-out:       cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.0, 0.2, 1);
  --ease-spring:       cubic-bezier(0.34, 1.56, 0.64, 1); /* slight overshoot */
  --ease-snappy:       cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.46, 0.45, 0.94);

  /* Focus ring */
  --color-focus-ring:  #3b82f6;          /* adjust to brand color */
  --focus-ring-width:  3px;
  --focus-ring-offset: 2px;

  /* Shadows for lift effects */
  --shadow-resting:    0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.12), 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.08);
  --shadow-hover:      0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.15), 0 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.10);
  --shadow-active:     0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.10);
}

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Pattern Library (Quick Reference)

Full recipes with variants are in references/pattern-library.md.

Pattern	Elements	Key Properties
Hover Scale	Cards, images, avatars	transform: scale(1.03)
Button Press	All buttons	scale(0.96) on :active
Focus Ring	Inputs, buttons, links	outline + box-shadow on :focus-visible
Link Underline Sweep	<a> tags, nav items	background-size pseudo-element trick
Card Lift	Content cards	transform: translateY(-3px) + shadow
Icon Wiggle	Icon-only buttons, alerts	@keyframes wiggle on hover
Checkbox Spring	Custom checkboxes	scale + opacity on check state
Input Focus Expand	Text inputs, textareas	border-color + box-shadow glow
Skeleton Loader	Loading states	@keyframes shimmer gradient sweep
Fade + Slide Entrance	Modals, dropdowns, toasts	opacity + translateY on mount
Ripple Effect	Buttons (Material-style)	Pseudo-element radial expand
Toggle Switch	Boolean toggles	Smooth translateX + color shift
Progress Bar Fill	Upload, step indicators	width + background transition
Tooltip Appear	Tooltips, popovers	opacity + scale(0.95) origin

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Accessibility: prefers-reduced-motion

Always include this block when using scale, translate, or entrance animations:

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  *, *::before, *::after {
    animation-duration: 0.01ms !important;
    animation-iteration-count: 1 !important;
    transition-duration: 0.01ms !important;
  }
}

For interactions that still need some feedback (e.g., focus rings, color changes), leave color, background-color, border-color, and opacity transitions intact — only strip transform and motion-heavy @keyframes.

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Framework-Specific Notes

Plain HTML/CSS

• Use the raw CSS patterns from references/pattern-library.md directly.
• Add will-change: transform to frequently animated elements (use sparingly).

React

• For entrance animations on mount/unmount, use CSS classes + useState toggle, or the motion library (framer-motion). See references/react-patterns.md.
• Avoid useEffect + setTimeout hacks for animations — use CSS @keyframes with a class toggle instead.
• transition-all is a code smell — always specify the property explicitly.

Tailwind CSS

• Use transition, duration-{n}, ease-{type}, hover:scale-{n}, active:scale-{n}, focus-visible:ring-{n} utilities.
• For custom cubic-bezier curves, extend tailwind.config.js transitionTimingFunction.
• For entrance animations not in core Tailwind, write a thin @layer utilities block.

Vue / Svelte

• Use <Transition> (Vue) or transition: directive (Svelte) for enter/leave.
• CSS custom properties approach works identically.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Mistake	✅ Fix
transition: all 0.3s	Specify only changed properties
Putting transition on :hover only	Put on base state for smooth exit
transform + position: fixed combo	Creates new stacking context — test carefully
box-shadow transitions on many items	Expensive — prefer filter: drop-shadow or pseudo-element shadow
Forgetting focus-visible	Don't style :focus alone — it fires on click
animation: spin infinite in lists	Decimates performance — use will-change sparingly

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Read Next

• references/pattern-library.md — Full copy-paste CSS for every pattern in the table above, with light/dark variants and customization notes.
• references/react-patterns.md — React-specific hooks, framer-motion snippets, and class-toggle entrance patterns.