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name: view-transitions description: "Use when adding page transition animations, image expand/contract effects, shared-element transitions, or improving navigation UX in a single-page or multi-page application." metadata: category: css priority: low difficulty: intermediate estimatedTime: "30" source: frontendchecklist.io url: https://frontendchecklist.io/rules/css/view-transitions

Use the View Transitions API for smooth page and component transitions

Jarring instant page changes are one of the most noticeable perceived- performance problems in web applications. Smooth transitions help users maintain context during navigation — they understand where they came from and where they are going. Previously, achieving this required complex JavaScript animation libraries; the View Transitions API delivers it natively at a fraction of the code cost.

Quick Reference

• Wrap DOM mutations in document.startViewTransition() for same-page transitions
• Add view-transition-name to elements that should animate individually (not the whole page)
• Use @starting-style and ::view-transition-* pseudo-elements to customise animations
• Enable cross-document transitions in CSS with @view-transition { navigation: auto }

Check

Check whether the site uses the View Transitions API or a JavaScript animation library for page and component transitions.

Fix

Implement view transitions using document.startViewTransition() for SPA route changes or @view-transition for MPA cross-document navigation.

Explain

Explain how the View Transitions API captures before/after snapshots and animates between them, and how view-transition-name enables shared-element transitions.

Code Review

Review transition implementation for missing prefers-reduced-motion guards, duplicate view-transition-name values (must be unique per snapshot), and transitions that may cause layout thrash in the old/new state.

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For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance, see references/rule.md.

Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/rules/css/view-transitions