Creating a CSS-only Animated Text Shadow Effect
In this blog post, we’ll learn how to create a CSS-only animated text shadow effect without using any JavaScript or external libraries. This effect can add an interesting visual flair to your web pages, making your text more dynamic and eye-catching.
Step 1: Write the HTML Structure
First, let’s create a simple HTML structure for our text with a class that we will use to apply the CSS effect.
<!-- HTML -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1 class="animated-text-shadow">CSS-only Animated Text Shadow</h1>
</body>
</html>Step 2: Create the CSS File
Now, create a new CSS file named “styles.css” and write the following CSS code:
/* CSS */
.animated-text-shadow {
font-size: 3rem;
text-align: center;
color: #333;
position: relative;
}In the above code, we define the basic styles for the text, such as font-size, text-align, and color. We also set the position property to “relative” to make sure the text is positioned correctly.
Step 3: Define the Keyframes Animation
Now, let’s define the keyframes animation for the text shadow effect.
/* CSS */
@keyframes text-shadow-animation {
0% {
text-shadow: 0 0 10px #f00, 0 0 20px #f00, 0 0 30px #f00, 0 0 40px #f00;
}
50% {
text-shadow: 0 0 20px #0f0, 0 0 30px #0f0, 0 0 40px #0f0, 0 0 50px #0f0;
}
100% {
text-shadow: 0 0 10px #00f, 0 0 20px #00f, 0 0 30px #00f, 0 0 40px #00f;
}
}In the code above, we create a keyframes animation called “text-shadow-animation”. We define three keyframes (0%, 50%, and 100%) and set different text-shadow values for each keyframe. This will create a smooth animation effect as the text shadow changes colors and sizes.
Step 4: Apply the Animation to the Text
Now, let’s apply the animation we created to our text by adding the following code to our CSS file:
/* CSS /
.animated-text-shadow {
/ ...previous styles... */
animation: text-shadow-animation 4s infinite;
}In this code, we add the “animation” property to the “.animated-text-shadow” class, specifying the animation name (“text-shadow-animation”), duration (4 seconds), and setting it to loop infinitely.
Conclusion:
That’s it! With just a few lines of CSS, we’ve created an animated text shadow effect without using any JavaScript or external libraries. This effect can add an extra layer of visual interest to your website, making it more engaging and dynamic for users. Remember, you can customize the colors, duration, and other properties of the animation to better suit your specific design needs.