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When I built my website, I noticed how animations transform the user experience. Every hover effect, page transition, and scroll animation makes the website feel polished and engaging. These small details weren't just for show - they actually helped make everything feel more responsive and alive.

I wanted to understand how these animations work and why they matter. After exploring and implementing them myself, I found that good animations aren't just about looking cool - they're about making your website feel more intuitive and engaging.

The goal of this article isn't to provide copy-paste solutions, but to help you understand the animation possibilities in Next.js using tools like Framer Motion. Use this as a reference when adding animations to your own projects, helping you make informed decisions about implementation and best practices.

What You'll Learn

In this guide, I'll show you how to:

Add smooth page transitions
Create responsive hover effects
Build better loading states
Implement scroll animations

Understanding the Basics

Before we dive into code, let's understand what makes animations feel good:

Subtle is Better

Animations shouldn't scream for attention. The best ones are those your users barely notice - they just make the experience feel smoother. Think of a gentle fade when switching pages rather than elements flying across the screen.

Natural Movement

Good animations follow real-world physics. When something moves, it should accelerate and decelerate naturally, not at a constant speed. This is why we use easing functions in our animations to mimic natural movement.

Performance First

Heavy animations can make your site feel sluggish. We'll use techniques like:

Only animating properties that are cheap for browsers to change (transform and opacity)
Using will-change property carefully
Making sure animations don't trigger layout recalculations

Purpose Over Style

Every animation should serve a purpose:

Page transitions help users understand navigation flow
Hover effects provide feedback for interactive elements
Loading animations show that content is coming
Scroll animations guide attention to new content

Step-by-Step Implementation

1. Setting Up Framer Motion

Framer Motion makes creating animations in React simple. It provides a set of components that handle complex animations with simple props. Let's start by adding it to our project:

npm install framer-motion

2. Page Transitions

The most noticeable animation on a website is how pages transition. Instead of content just appearing, we want it to fade in smoothly:

"use client";

import { motion } from "framer-motion";

export function PageWrapper({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <motion.div
      initial={{ opacity: 0, y: 20 }}
      animate={{ opacity: 1, y: 0 }}
      exit={{ opacity: 0, y: 20 }}
      transition={{ duration: 0.2 }}
    >
      {children}
    </motion.div>
  );
}

Use this wrapper in your layout to animate all page content:

// app/layout.tsx
export default function Layout({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <div>
      <Header />
      <PageWrapper>{children}</PageWrapper>
      <Footer />
    </div>
  );
}

3. Hover Effects

Interactive elements should give feedback when users interact with them. Here's a button component with hover and tap animations:

export function Button({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <motion.button
      whileHover={{ scale: 1.02 }}
      whileTap={{ scale: 0.98 }}
      className="rounded-lg bg-zinc-100 px-4 py-2 
                dark:bg-zinc-800 dark:hover:bg-zinc-700"
    >
      {children}
    </motion.button>
  );
}

Use it in your components:

// app/contact/page.tsx
export default function Contact() {
  return (
    <form>
      <input type="email" />
      <Button>Send Message</Button>
    </form>
  );
}

4. Scroll Animations

Make your content fade in as users scroll down the page:

export function FadeIn({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <motion.div
      initial={{ opacity: 0, y: 20 }}
      whileInView={{ opacity: 1, y: 0 }}
      viewport={{ once: true }}
      transition={{ duration: 0.4 }}
    >
      {children}
    </motion.div>
  );
}

Wrap your content sections:

// app/blog/page.tsx
export default function Blog() {
  return (
    <div className="space-y-8">
      {posts.map((post) => (
        <FadeIn key={post.id}>
          <article>
            <h2>{post.title}</h2>
            <p>{post.excerpt}</p>
          </article>
        </FadeIn>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

5. Loading States

Create engaging loading indicators:

export function LoadingSpinner() {
  return (
    <motion.div
      animate={{ rotate: 360 }}
      transition={{ duration: 1, repeat: Infinity, ease: "linear" }}
      className="h-5 w-5 border-2 border-zinc-300 
                border-t-zinc-800 rounded-full"
    />
  );
}

Use it in your loading states:

// app/posts/loading.tsx
export default function Loading() {
  return (
    <div className="flex items-center justify-center py-20">
      <LoadingSpinner />
    </div>
  );
}

Common Challenges

1. Animation Performance

Some of the performance issues on your website can be fixed by:

Using transform and opacity for animations instead of other properties
Keeping animations short and snappy (200-300ms)
Testing animations on different devices
Using the will-change property only when necessary

2. Animation Timing

Getting the timing right was tricky. Too fast feels abrupt, too slow feels sluggish. Here's what worked for me:

Page transitions: 200ms
Hover effects: 150ms
Scroll animations: 400ms
Loading spinners: 1000ms (full rotation)

3. Mobile Considerations

Some animations that looked great on desktop didn't work well on mobile:

Hover effects don't make sense on touch devices
Complex animations can drain battery
Motion can cause dizziness for some users

4. Dark Mode Compatibility

Animations needed to work well in both light and dark modes:

export function Card({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <motion.div
      whileHover={{ scale: 1.02 }}
      className="rounded-lg border border-zinc-200 bg-white p-6 
                transition-colors dark:border-zinc-700 
                dark:bg-zinc-800"
    >
      {children}
    </motion.div>
  );
}

5. Accessibility

Not everyone wants animations. Here's how to respect user preferences:

export function AnimationWrapper({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  const prefersReducedMotion = window.matchMedia(
    "(prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)"
  ).matches;

  return (
    <motion.div
      initial={prefersReducedMotion ? false : { opacity: 0, y: 20 }}
      animate={prefersReducedMotion ? false : { opacity: 1, y: 0 }}
    >
      {children}
    </motion.div>
  );
}

Testing & Performance

Browser Testing

Always test your animations across different browsers and devices. What works smoothly on Chrome desktop might not work as well on Safari mobile. Here's what to check:

Animation smoothness
Frame rate consistency
Touch device behavior
Different screen sizes

Performance Monitoring

Keep an eye on performance using Chrome DevTools:

Use Performance tab to monitor frame rate
Check for layout shifts
Monitor CPU usage
Watch memory consumption

Edge Cases

Don't forget to test:

Slow internet conditions
Low-powered devices
Different color modes
Screen readers enabled

Next Steps

Now that you have the basics, here are some ways to enhance your animations:

Experiment with Timing Try different durations and delays to find what feels right for your site.
Add Interaction Combine hover and click animations for richer feedback.
Optimize Further Use tools like Lighthouse to measure and improve performance.
Consider Accessibility Ensure your animations don't cause motion sickness or accessibility issues.

Conclusion

Adding animations to your Next.js website doesn't have to be complicated. Start small, focus on enhancing user experience, and always prioritize performance. The key is finding the right balance between engaging animations and smooth performance.

Feel free to check out the implementation in my GitHub repository!

Simple Animations That Make Your Next.js Website Feel Alive