CSS transition
The CSS transition
property is a shortcut property for defining CSS transitions. It combines the four transition properties into a single property.
Specifically, the transition
property combines the following properties: transition-property
, transition-duration
, transition-timing-function
, and transition-delay
.
Note that order is important. The values must be provided in the order as specified in the "Syntax" section below.
Syntax
Possible Values
- <'transition-property'>
- Specifies which property to apply the transition to. For more information on this property, see
transition-property
. - <'transition-duration'>
- Specifies how long the transition will last. For more information on this property, see
transition-duration
. - <'transition-timing-function'>
- Specifies how the transition speeds up or slows down. Based on a cubic bézier curve. For more information on this property, see
transition-timing-function
. - <'transition-delay'>
- Specifies how long to wait until the transition effect begins. For more information on this property, see
transition-delay
.
In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:
initial
- Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.
inherit
- Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.
unset
- This value acts as either
inherit
orinitial
, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.
Basic Property Information
- Initial Value
- See individual properties:
transition-property
,transition-duration
,transition-timing-function
, andtransition-delay
. - Applies To
- All elements, and the
:before
and:after
pseudo elements - Inherited?
- No
- Media
- Interactive
Example Code
Basic CSS
Working Example within an HTML Document
CSS Specifications
- The
transition
property is defined in CSS Transitions (W3C Working Draft 19 November 2013).
Browser Support
The following table provided by Caniuse.com shows the level of browser support for this feature.
Vendor Prefixes
For maximum browser compatibility many web developers add browser-specific properties by using extensions such as -webkit-
for Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera (newer versions), -ms-
for Internet Explorer, -moz-
for Firefox, -o-
for older versions of Opera etc. As with any CSS property, if a browser doesn't support a proprietary extension, it will simply ignore it.
This practice is not recommended by the W3C, however in many cases, the only way you can test a property is to include the CSS extension that is compatible with your browser.
The major browser manufacturers generally strive to adhere to the W3C specifications, and when they support a non-prefixed property, they typically remove the prefixed version. Also, W3C advises vendors to remove their prefixes for properties that reach Candidate Recommendation status.
Many developers use Autoprefixer, which is a postprocessor for CSS. Autoprefixer automatically adds vendor prefixes to your CSS so that you don't need to. It also removes old, unnecessary prefixes from your CSS.
You can also use Autoprefixer with preprocessors such as Less and Sass.