Route Transition

Problem

Navigation feels abrupt and jarring, with content instantly swapping out without visual continuity. Users lose spatial awareness of where they are in the application as pages suddenly appear and disappear. The experience feels mechanical rather than fluid.

Solution

Animate between route changes to provide visual continuity and context about navigation. This helps users understand spatial relationships and makes transitions feel polished.

Example

This example demonstrates CSS transitions for route changes, fading in new pages with a subtle upward movement for visual polish.

/* Initial state when page starts entering */
.page-enter {
  opacity: 0;
  transform: translateY(20px);
}

/* Final state and transition definition */
.page-enter-active {
  opacity: 1;
  transform: translateY(0);
  /* Animate to final state over 300ms */
  transition: all 300ms ease-in;
}

Benefits

• Provides visual continuity that helps users maintain spatial awareness.
• Makes navigation feel polished and intentional rather than abrupt.
• Can communicate direction (forward/back) through animation choices.
• Improves perceived quality and professionalism of the application.

Tradeoffs

• Adds delay to navigation that can feel slow if animations are too long.
• Increases complexity with animation libraries and transition management.
• Can cause accessibility issues if not properly handled with reduced motion.
• May introduce bugs if animations interfere with component lifecycle.