CSS animation-direction

• animation
• animation-name
• animation-duration
• animation-timing-function
• animation-delay
• animation-iteration-count
• animation-play-state
• animation-fill-mode
• CSS3 Properties
• CSS properties

The CSS animation-direction property allows you to specify which direction an animation will be played in.

You can specify whether or not the animation should play in reverse on some or all cycles. When an animation is played in reverse the animation-timing-function is also reversed. For example, when played in reverse, a animation-timing-function of ease-out would appear to be ease-in.

The examples on this page include browser-specific properties that start with extensions such as -webkit-, -moz-, etc. This is for browser compatibility reasons. See the bottom of this article for more on this.

Syntax:	`animation-direction: [ normal \| reverse \| alternate \| alternate-reverse ] [, [ normal \| reverse \| alternate \| alternate-reverse ] ]*`
Example	`animation-direction: alternate-reverse /* W3C / -webkit-animation-direction: alternate-reverse / Safari & Chrome / -moz-animation-direction: alternate-reverse / Firefox / -ms-animation-direction: alternate-reverse / Internet Explorer / -o-animation-direction: alternate-reverse / Opera */` Note that this example includes various CSS extensions in addition to the W3C CSS3 property. This is for browser compatibility.
Try it yourself!	<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>Example of the CSS3 animation-name Property</title> <style> .springy-text{color: darkslateblue; animation-name: springy-text; animation-duration: 1s; animation-timing-function: ease-in; animation-delay: 0s; animation-iteration-count: 6; animation-direction: alternate-reverse; animation-fill-mode: backwards; -webkit-animation-name: springy-text; -webkit-animation-duration: 1s; -webkit-animation-timing-function: ease-in; -webkit-animation-delay: 0s; -webkit-animation-iteration-count: 6; -webkit-animation-direction: alternate-reverse; -webkit-animation-fill-mode: backwards; -moz-animation-name: springy-text; -moz-animation-duration: 1s; -moz-animation-timing-function: ease-in; -moz-animation-delay: 0s; -moz-animation-iteration-count: 6; -moz-animation-direction: alternate-reverse; -moz-animation-fill-mode: backwards; -ms-animation-name: springy-text; -ms-animation-duration: 1s; -ms-animation-timing-function: ease-in; -ms-animation-delay: 0s; -ms-animation-iteration-count: 6; -ms-animation-direction: alternate-reverse; -ms-animation-fill-mode: backwards; -o-animation-name: springy-text; -o-animation-duration: 1s; -o-animation-timing-function: ease-in; -o-animation-delay: 0s; -o-animation-iteration-count: 6; -o-animation-direction: alternate-reverse; -o-animation-fill-mode: backwards; } @keyframes springy-text /* W3C CSS3 / { 0% {letter-spacing:1.2em;color: thistle;} 100% {letter-spacing:0.1em;color: darkslateblue;} } @-webkit-keyframes springy-text / Safari and Chrome / { 0% {letter-spacing:1.2em;color: thistle;} 100% {letter-spacing:0.1em;color: darkslateblue;} } @-moz-keyframes springy-text / Firefox / { 0% {letter-spacing:1.2em;color: thistle;} 100% {letter-spacing:0.1em;color: darkslateblue;} } @-ms-keyframes springy-text / Internet Explorer / { 0% {letter-spacing:1.2em;color: thistle;} 100% {letter-spacing:0.1em;color: darkslateblue;} } @-o-keyframes springy-text / Opera */ { 0% {letter-spacing:1.2em;color: thistle;} 100% {letter-spacing:0.1em;color: darkslateblue;} } </style> </head> <body> <h3 class="springy-text">Animations!</h3> </body> </html>
Possible Values:	normal All iterations of the animation are played as specified. reverse Defines that all cycles of the animation are played in the reverse direction from the way they were specified. alternate Alternates between the normal direction and reverse direction. Therefore, the odd-numbered cycles are played in the `normal` direction, and the even-numbered iterations are played in a `reverse` direction. alternate-reverse Same as `alternate` except in reverse order. Therefore, the odd-numbered cycles are played in `reverse` direction and the even-numbered cycles are played in `normal` direction.
Initial Value:	`normal`
Applies to:	All elements, and the `:before` and `:after` pseudo elements
Inherited:	No
Media:	Visual

Browser Compatibility

At the time of writing, CSS3 was still under development and browser support for many CSS3 properties was limited or non-existent. For maximum browser compatibility many web developers add browser-specific properties by using extensions such as -webkit- for Safari and Google Chrome, -ms- for Internet Explorer, -moz- for Firefox, -o- for 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.

Be aware that if you choose to use the proprietary CSS extensions in a live environment, your code will not pass any W3C CSS validation, as the browser-specific properties are not valid W3C properties.

Many of the CSS3 examples on this website include these browser specific properties. If they weren't included, most of the examples wouldn't work for most users (at least, not until possibly years after the article was written).

The major browser manufacturers are working to support the W3C properties, and eventually, you will be able to omit these browser-specific properties.

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CSS animation-direction

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