Paths
CSS Motion Path Animation
An element travelling along a curved path.
Opens with this animation loaded. Nothing is uploaded — the scene travels in the link.
.travel-path {
transform: translate3d(208px, 128px, 0);
offset-path: path('M 0 0 Q 120 -160 240 0');
offset-distance: 0%;
offset-rotate: 0deg;
width: 64px;
height: 64px;
background: #22d3ee;
border-radius: 999px;
animation: travel-path-anim 2400ms linear 0ms infinite both;
will-change: transform, opacity;
}
@keyframes travel-path-anim {
0% {
offset-distance: 0%;
offset-rotate: 0deg;
animation-timing-function: ease-in-out;
}
100% {
offset-distance: 100%;
offset-rotate: 0deg;
}
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
.travel-path {
animation: none;
transition: none;
}
}Why it is built this way
offset-path moves an element along an arbitrary curve with one animated percentage — the kind of thing that used to need JavaScript stepping through coordinates every frame.
What it animates
1 property across 1 CSS declaration. The bar shows when each one is moving.
offset-distanceWhat it costs to run
Offset-distance is handled by the compositor: no layout, no repaint, and the work can run off the main thread. This is the cheap end of CSS animation, which is why it stays smooth on a slow phone where other properties will not.
It runs for 2.40s across 2 keyframe stops, with every property moving over the same window.
One curve throughout: Ease In Out on a plain box. Keeping a single easing across every property is what makes a multi-property animation read as one movement rather than several things happening at once.
Accessibility
Nothing here hides content — offset-distance moves over 2.40s and the element is visible throughout. The exported prefers-reduced-motion guard still silences it, which matters most for the looping ones: motion that never stops is the kind that makes people feel unwell.