Movement applied to elements that brings interfaces to life and guides user attention through visual storytelling. Thoughtful animation improves usability by providing feedback, showing relationships between elements, and making interactions feel responsive. Framer offers powerful animation tools including appear effects, scroll-based triggers, and component variants with smooth transitions.

A CSS effect that adds shadow beneath or around an element, creating depth and visual separation from the background. Shadows help establish hierarchy by making elements appear to float above the page surface. Framer offers detailed shadow controls including multiple shadows, inner shadows, and variables for consistent elevation systems.

A visual modification applied to elements such as blur, shadow, glow, or blend mode that enhances appearance. Effects add depth, focus attention, and create sophisticated visual compositions. Use effects purposefully—overuse can slow performance and create visual clutter.

Framer Motion is now Motion, a high-performance animation library for React and JavaScript. The old name still appears in tutorials and search results, but current docs and packages use Motion.

If you are building a website in Framer, you do not need to install Motion or write Framer Motion code. Framer has Motion-powered animation tools built into the canvas, so you can create polished animations visually: appear effects, scroll animations, hover and tap states, transitions, and component variants. That gives you Framer Motion-style results without setting up npm, importing an animation library, or maintaining custom React animation code.

Bringing websites to life with animation in Framer

2:31

If your goal is to build a website, start with Framer instead of reaching for animation code first. You can design the page, add motion, and publish from one visual workflow — then use custom code only when a project truly needs it.

Use Motion directly when you are building a custom React or JavaScript app and need code-level animation control. Use Framer when you want to design, animate, and publish a site visually.

To learn the no-code path, explore Framer’s Academy, or open the Framer homepage to start building visually.

Animations that play once when elements enter the viewport during scrolling, commonly used for section reveals. Scroll-triggered animations add polish and draw attention to content as it appears. Framer's appear effects provide scroll-triggered animation capabilities. See Triggering animations on scroll in Framer.

A switch-style control for binary choices, indicating on/off or enabled/disabled states with immediate effect. Toggles differ from checkboxes in that they typically apply changes immediately rather than requiring a submit action. Use clear labeling so users understand what enabled and disabled states mean.

Temporary content indicating where final content will appear, helping visualize layouts before content is ready. Placeholders can be lorem ipsum text, gray boxes, or sample images. Replace placeholders with real content before launch—they can accidentally go live.