How to Add CSS Animations in WordPress to Capture Attention?

Want to grab your visitors’ attention from the moment they land on your WordPress site? Adding CSS animations can be the perfect way to make your website more dynamic and engaging. Whether it’s a subtle hover effect or a bold entrance animation, these small touches can make a big difference in how people interact with your content.

While advanced customizations may require hiring WordPress developers, you can add basic animations yourself. In this guide, we’ll show you step-by-step instructions on how to add CSS animations in WordPress. Ready to make your website come to life? So, let’s start!

Why Add CSS Animations to Your WordPress Site?

Adding CSS animations to your WordPress site can do wonders for how visitors interact with your content. With CSS3, you can animate elements like buttons, images, or text, making them move, fade, or transform over time. The best part? You can modify as many properties as you want, giving you complete control to create something truly unique.

Unlike Flash or Javascript, CSS animations are easier to implement and don’t come with annoying browser compatibility issues or slow page performance. This means you can draw attention to key areas of your site—like important products or calls-to-action—without worrying about breaking anything or slowing down your load times.

Here are some key benefits of adding CSS animations to your WordPress site:

• Grab Attention: CSS animations can draw visitors’ attention to specific areas, such as product features, sale items, or important CTAs.
• Improve User Experience: By highlighting essential elements, animations help guide users through your website smoothly and efficiently.
• Boost Conversions: Animations can emphasize CTAs, encouraging more people to sign up for newsletters, click buttons, or make purchases.
• Modernize Your Design: Incorporating animations shows that your brand is keeping up with the latest design trends, making you appear more professional and trustworthy.
• Enhance Brand Perception: Smooth, well-placed animations can make your brand seem more credible while keeping visitors engaged and interested.

You can use animations in a variety of ways to make your site more interactive, including:

• Hover effects for buttons and links
• Page transitions to create smooth navigation between different pages
• Dynamic backgrounds that add life to static pages
• Scrolling effects to engage users as they explore your content
• Pop-ups to highlight special offers or announcements

While adding CSS animations can be fun and effective, it’s important to get it right. Manually adding them to your WordPress theme’s stylesheet can take time, and a small mistake can mess up your site’s design. So always be cautious, or consider using plugins to simplify the process.

Incorporating animations into your WordPress site is a great way to keep your audience engaged, create a memorable experience, and even boost conversions. It’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to make your site stand out from the competition.

How to Add CSS Animations in WordPress: 3 Easy Methods

Adding CSS animations to your WordPress site doesn’t have to be complicated. Whether you’re a beginner or have some coding experience, there’s an option for everyone.

Here, we’ll explore three simple and effective methods to bring your site to life with animations. From using easy-to-install plugins to creating custom animations with code, these methods will help you add dynamic elements to your website without hassle.

Method 1: Adding CSS Animations in WordPress Using a Plugin

Let’s kick things off with one of the easiest methods—using a plugin! If you’re not super confident in your coding skills, don’t worry. With the right plugin, you can create eye-catching CSS animations in WordPress without writing a single line of code. We’ll use the Blocks Animation plugin here.

Let’s walk through it step by step.

Install and Activate the Plugin

First things first, you’ll need to install the plugin.

• In your WordPress admin dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New.
• In the search bar, type Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks.
• Once you find it, click Install Now and then Activate.

Design Your CSS Animation in WordPress

Now, head over to the post or page where you want to add your animation.

• Click on the block or element you’d like to animate (like an image, button, or text).

• In the Block tab on the right-hand sidebar, you’ll see a new Animation section added by the plugin.
• Click the drop-down menu to explore various animation effects—everything from subtle fades to more dynamic movements.

Play around with different effects until you find one that fits the vibe of your content. Here’s a sample we created:

Customize the Animation Delay and Speed

Want to tweak your animation even further? The plugin lets you adjust both Delay and Speed.

• Delay: This setting controls when the animation starts. You can set it to delay up to five seconds after the page loads. This is helpful if you want to grab attention after the user has had a chance to scroll or look around.
• Speed: You can choose from options like Slow, Slower, Fast, or Faster. A slow animation can be more subtle, while a fast one will grab attention quickly. It’s up to you how bold you want to be!

Save and Preview Your Animation

Before you publish your page, it’s a good idea to preview your animation to make sure it looks just right.

• Save your post or page as a draft.
• Hit Preview to check out your animated element in action.

Make sure it’s not too distracting and blends well with the rest of your content. If it feels off or doesn’t match the flow of the page, don’t worry! You can easily go back into the Block Editor and tweak the settings until it’s perfect.

Method 2: Adding CSS Animations in WordPress Using a Page Builder

If you want to create more engaging and dynamic pages, using a page builder is a great choice. While plugins like Blocks Animation are perfect for simple animations, a page builder lets you go even further. You can animate entire sections, add dynamic text effects, and grab your visitors’ attention instantly.

For this method, we’ll use SeedProd, one of the best page builders for WordPress. SeedProd comes with a drag-and-drop editor, animated headline blocks, and over 40 entrance animations that can be applied to images, text, buttons, and more.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to adding CSS animations to your WordPress site using SeedProd.

Install and Activate SeedProd

To start, you need to install and activate the SeedProd plugin.

• In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New.
• Search for SeedProd.
• Once you’ve found it, click Install Now and then Activate.

Upon activation, you’ll be prompted to enter your license key. You can find this in your SeedProd account. Enter the key and click Verify Key to complete the activation.

Create a Custom Page Design

Next, let’s create a page where you can add your animations.

• Go to SeedProd > Landing Pages and click Add New Landing Page.
• On the next screen, you’ll see a list of over 350 templates organized into categories like 404-page templates, sales pages, and WooCommerce thank you pages.
• Browse through the categories to find a template that fits your needs. In this example, we’ll use the Zen Sales Page template, but feel free to choose any template.
• Hover over your chosen template and click the checkmark icon.
• Give your page a title and customize the URL if needed. SeedProd will automatically create a URL based on the page title, but you can edit this to include relevant keywords to improve SEO.

Once you’re happy with your choices, click Save and Start Editing the Page to launch the SeedProd drag-and-drop editor.

Add Animated Text to Your Page

With SeedProd, you can add animated text to your page using the Animated Headline block.

In the drag-and-drop editor, find the Animated Headline block and drag it onto your page. There are two styles of animations you can choose from:

Highlighted: This style adds a shape animation (like a circle or zigzag) around specific words. You can use it to highlight important parts of your headline, like a call to action.

• To create a highlighted animation, open the Style dropdown and select Highlighted.
• Then, open the Shape dropdown and choose a shape. You can preview each shape in the editor to find the one that best suits your design.

Rotating: This style animates your text by rotating it with different transition effects. It’s a great way to catch the visitor’s eye when the page loads.

• To create a rotating animation, select Rotating from the Style dropdown.
• Then, choose the transition effect you want from the Animation dropdown. Options include fade, zoom, roll, and more. SeedProd lets you preview the animation so you can see which effect works best for your page.

You can also add text before and after your animated headline using the Before Headline and After Headline fields. If you want the entire headline to animate, just leave these fields empty.

Customize the Animation Settings

SeedProd gives you full control over how your animations play:

• By default, animations are set to loop continuously. If you don’t want this, toggle off the Infinite Loop switch.
• The Duration setting lets you adjust how long the animation lasts (default is 1200 milliseconds).
• The Delay setting controls when the animation starts (default is an 8000 millisecond delay). You can tweak both the duration and delay to make the animation slower, faster, or start at a different time.

If you want to style your animated text, SeedProd offers customization options for font size, alignment, and more.

Add Entrance Animations to Your Page

Entrance animations are triggered when the page first loads, making them a great way to draw attention to key content like a product image or sale banner.

Here’s how to add an entrance animation:

• In the editor, click on the block, section, or column you want to animate (such as a hero image or button).
• Go to the Advanced tab in the left-hand menu.
• Expand the Animation Effects section and choose an animation from the Entrance Animation dropdown. There are plenty of options like slide-ins, fade-ins, zoom effects, and more.

You can repeat this process to add entrance animations to any part of the page.

Publish Your CSS Animations

Once you’ve added all your animations and are happy with the design, it’s time to publish your page.

• Click the Save button at the top of the editor.
• From the dropdown, select Publish.

Now, you can view your page and see your CSS animations live!

Method 3: Adding CSS Animations in WordPress With Custom Code

If you’re comfortable working with code, you can add custom CSS animations directly to your WordPress site without the need for a plugin. While this method requires some technical know-how, it offers complete control over your animations.

Before we dive in, it’s important to take a backup of your site and use a child theme to avoid any issues. This way, if something goes wrong, you can easily restore your site to its original state.

Let’s walk through the steps to create and add custom CSS animations in WordPress.

Understand the CSS Properties Involved

To create CSS animations, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with a few key CSS properties. Here are the main ones:

• @keyframes: Specifies the styles that will be applied during the animation.
• animation-name: Names the animation so you can reference it in your code.
• animation-duration: Sets how long the animation should last.
• animation-delay: Defines how long the animation should wait before starting.
• animation-iteration-count: States how many times the animation should run.
• animation-direction: Specifies in which direction the animation should run.
• animation-timing-function: Controls the speed curve of the animation.
• animation-fill-mode: Sets the element’s style when the animation is not running.
• animation: A shorthand for combining all of the animation properties.

The most important property is @keyframes, which controls the flow of the animation. Here’s an example of a keyframe animation that changes the background color at different stages:

@keyframes example {
  0%   {background-color: red;}
  25%  {background-color: yellow;}
  50%  {background-color: blue;}
  100% {background-color: green;}
}

In this example, the background color of an element will gradually shift through different colors at various stages (0%, 25%, 50%, and 100%).

Create Your animate.css File

Now that you understand the key properties, it’s time to create your own custom CSS animations. You’ll need to write your animation code in a new CSS file, which we’ll call animate.css.

Here’s an example of a simple animation that slides an element in from the right:

@keyframes slideInRight {
  from {
    transform: translate3d(100%, 0, 0);
    visibility: visible;
  }
  to {
    transform: translate3d(0, 0, 0);
  }
}

.slideInRight {
  animation-name: slideInRight;
  animation-duration: 1s;
}

In this code:

• We define the @keyframes for the animation slideInRight, which moves the element from off the screen (100% to the right) to its final position.
• The slideInRight class is then created to reference the animation.

You can repeat this process for as many animations as you need. Once your animations are written, save this file as animate.css.

If coding your own animations sounds too complex, you can download the Animate.css library, which comes with pre-built animations.

Upload Your animate.css File to Your Site

Next, you need to upload your custom CSS file to your WordPress site.

• Use an FTP client to access your site’s files. You can find your FTP login details in your hosting account. Here, we will use FileZilla.
• Navigate to the wp-content > themes folder and find your active theme (or child theme).
• Look for a folder named css inside your theme directory. If it doesn’t exist, you can create one.
• Upload your animate.css file (or the animate.min.css file if you’re using the Animate.css library) into this folder.

Call the CSS File via functions.php

Once the file is uploaded, you’ll need to tell WordPress to load it.

• In the same theme folder, find the functions.php file.
• Open it and add the following code at the end:

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wpb_animate_styles' );

function wpb_animate_styles() {
  wp_enqueue_style( 'animate-css', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/css/animate.css', array(), '3.5.0', 'all' );
}

This code ensures that your WordPress site loads the new animate.css file, making the animations available to use on your site.

Apply Animations in WordPress Using CSS Classes

Now that your animation file is loaded, you can apply the animations to any element on your site.

• Go to the post or page where you want to add the animation.
• In the Classic Editor, switch to the Text Editor. If you’re using the Block Editor, click the three-dot icon and select Edit as HTML.
• Find the element you want to animate and add the animation class. For example:

<div class="slideInRight">This text will slide in from the right!</div>

If you’re using the Animate.css library, you can reference a complete list of available animations on GitHub to find the class you need.

Preview Your Animation

Once you’ve added the animation class, save your changes and preview your post or page. The animation should now be live, and the element will animate as expected.

FAQs on How to Add CSS Animations in WordPress

Conclusion

Adding CSS animations to your WordPress site is more than just adding visual flair—it’s about improving user engagement and guiding visitors to take action. Whether you’re highlighting important CTAs, showcasing products, or creating interactive elements, animations can enhance both the look and functionality of your website.

You have multiple options to implement these animations, from using plugins and page builders to adding custom code. Each method gives you flexibility depending on your skills and needs. Start small, experiment with different effects, and gradually enhance the user experience on your site.

If you want to stand out, well-crafted CSS animations can help make your WordPress site memorable. So, give it a try, and see how it can elevate your design and performance!

If you’re looking for professional help to create a dynamic and engaging website, consider investing in WordPress development services. A skilled development team can take your animations and overall design to the next level.