No,Category,Intensity Tier,Keywords,Trigger,Duration,Easing,GSAP Snippet,Framework Notes,Do,Don't,Performance Notes
1,Hover Micro-interaction,Subtle,"hover, button, opacity, lift, press feedback",hover,150-200ms,power1.out,"gsap.to(el, { y: -1, opacity: 0.9, duration: 0.15, ease: 'power1.out' });",Bind on mouseenter/mouseleave; in React wrap in a ref + useEffect (or onMouseEnter/onMouseLeave props directly calling gsap.to),Keep displacement under 2px so it reads as feedback not motion,Don't animate layout-affecting props (width/height/margin) on hover,Runs on transform/opacity only so it stays on the compositor thread
2,Hover Micro-interaction,Standard,"hover, card, scale, tilt, cursor feedback",hover,200-300ms,power2.out,"gsap.to(el, { y: -4, scale: 1.02, boxShadow: '0 12px 24px rgba(0,0,0,0.12)', duration: 0.25, ease: 'power2.out' });","Use gsap.quickTo(el, 'y') for cards with many hover targets to avoid re-creating tweens every event",Pair with a matching mouseleave tween that reverses the same properties,Don't leave the hover state stuck if the pointer leaves fast; always attach the reverse tween,quickTo() avoids GC churn on lists with 20+ hoverable cards
3,Hover Micro-interaction,Complex,"hover, magnetic, cursor follow, 3d tilt",hover + mousemove,300-500ms,"elastic.out(1,0.4)","const xTo = gsap.quickTo(el, 'x', { duration: 0.4, ease: 'elastic.out(1,0.4)' }); const yTo = gsap.quickTo(el, 'y', { duration: 0.4, ease: 'elastic.out(1,0.4)' }); el.addEventListener('mousemove', (e) => { const r = el.getBoundingClientRect(); xTo((e.clientX - r.left - r.width/2) * 0.3); yTo((e.clientY - r.top - r.height/2) * 0.3); });",Debounce is not needed since quickTo interpolates; remove listeners on component unmount in React/Vue to avoid leaks,Clamp the pull strength (e.g. * 0.3) so the element never fully leaves its hit box,Don't apply magnetic effect to more than 1-2 focal elements per screen; it becomes noisy,Use will-change: transform on the target element for smoother compositing
4,Scroll Reveal,Subtle,"scroll, fade in, reveal, on view",scroll (viewport enter),300-400ms,power1.out,"gsap.from(el, { opacity: 0, y: 12, duration: 0.35, ease: 'power1.out', scrollTrigger: { trigger: el, start: 'top 90%', toggleActions: 'play none none reverse' } });",Requires the ScrollTrigger plugin registered once via gsap.registerPlugin(ScrollTrigger),"Keep the y offset small (8-16px) so it reads as a fade, not a slide",Don't reveal below-the-fold content needed for SEO/crawlers as invisible-by-default without a no-JS fallback,toggleActions 'play none none reverse' avoids re-triggering on every scroll direction change
5,Scroll Reveal,Standard,"scroll, slide up, staggered section, reveal",scroll (viewport enter),400-600ms,power2.out,"gsap.from(el.children, { opacity: 0, y: 24, duration: 0.5, stagger: 0.08, ease: 'power2.out', scrollTrigger: { trigger: el, start: 'top 85%' } });","In React use useGSAP(() => {...}, { scope: containerRef }) from @gsap/react to auto-cleanup on unmount",Scope the ScrollTrigger to the section container so it doesn't re-scan the whole page,Don't stagger more than ~8 children; beyond that the last items feel laggy,Set scroller/markers: false in production; markers is dev-only
6,Scroll Reveal,Complex,"scroll, pin, scrub, storytelling, scrollytelling",scroll (continuous scrub),tied to scroll position,none (scrub-driven),"gsap.timeline({ scrollTrigger: { trigger: section, start: 'top top', end: '+=150%', scrub: 1, pin: true } }).from('.headline', { opacity: 0, y: 40 }).to('.bg-layer', { yPercent: -20 }, '<');",Pinning needs the section to have deterministic height; recalc ScrollTrigger.refresh() after images/fonts load,Use scrub: true or a small number (0.5-1.5) instead of instant jumps so it feels tied to the scrollbar,Don't pin more than 1-2 sections per page; excessive pinning fights native scroll feel and hurts mobile UX,"Pinning forces layout reflow; test on mid-tier mobile devices, not just desktop"
7,Stagger List,Subtle,"list, stagger, cards, grid entrance",load or scroll,250-350ms,power1.out,"gsap.from('.list-item', { opacity: 0, y: 8, duration: 0.3, stagger: 0.03 });",Select items with a stable class/data-attribute (not array index) so re-renders in React don't break targeting,Keep per-item stagger delay small (0.02-0.04s) for lists longer than 10 items,Don't stagger by more than 0.1s per item on long lists; total reveal time becomes sluggish,"For virtualized lists, only animate items currently mounted in the DOM"
8,Stagger List,Standard,"grid, bento, cards, staggered scale",load or scroll,300-450ms,back.out(1.4),"gsap.from('.grid-item', { opacity: 0, scale: 0.92, y: 16, duration: 0.4, stagger: { each: 0.06, from: 'start', grid: 'auto' }, ease: 'back.out(1.4)' });",grid: 'auto' lets GSAP infer rows/columns from a CSS grid layout for a natural wave stagger,Combine with from: 'center' for a bento-grid layout to draw the eye inward first,Don't use back.out on dense data tables; the overshoot reads as sloppy on informational UI,Group DOM writes; avoid interleaving layout reads (getBoundingClientRect) between staggered tweens
9,Stagger List,Complex,"stagger, wave, text reveal, split text",load or scroll,400-700ms,expo.out,"const split = new SplitText(headline, { type: 'chars' }); gsap.from(split.chars, { opacity: 0, y: 20, rotateX: -40, duration: 0.6, stagger: 0.015, ease: 'expo.out' });",SplitText is a GSAP Club/paid plugin; confirm license before shipping and provide a plain fade fallback if unavailable,Revert SplitText on unmount/cleanup (split.revert()) to restore original text nodes for accessibility tools,Don't split-animate long paragraphs; reserve for short headlines (under ~8 words),Splitting text creates one element per character; keep it to headline-length copy only for DOM size
10,Page Transition,Subtle,"route change, fade, page transition",route change,200-300ms,power1.inOut,"gsap.to(main, { opacity: 0, duration: 0.2, onComplete: () => { navigate(); gsap.fromTo(main, { opacity: 0 }, { opacity: 1, duration: 0.2 }); } });","Pair with the router's transition hooks (Next.js App Router transitions, React Router's useNavigate, Vue Router's beforeEach/afterEach)",Preload the destination route's critical assets before the exit tween finishes,Don't block navigation on animation; cap exit duration at ~250ms so the app never feels unresponsive,Exit animation should always resolve faster than entrance (asymmetric timing) so back/forward feels snappy
11,Page Transition,Standard,"route change, slide, overlay wipe",route change,400-600ms,power2.inOut,"const tl = gsap.timeline(); tl.to('.transition-overlay', { yPercent: 0, duration: 0.4, ease: 'power2.inOut' }).call(navigate).to('.transition-overlay', { yPercent: -100, duration: 0.4, ease: 'power2.inOut', delay: 0.1 });",Keep the overlay element mounted at the layout root (outside the page component) so it survives the route swap,Show a lightweight loading indicator if the destination route's data fetch outlasts the overlay,Don't tie the overlay's reveal directly to data-fetch completion without a max-wait timeout; a slow API stalls the whole transition,Prefer CSS transform (yPercent) over top/left to keep the overlay animation on the compositor thread
12,Page Transition,Complex,"shared element, morph, hero transition",route change,500-800ms,expo.inOut,"const state = Flip.getState('.hero-image'); navigate(); Flip.from(state, { duration: 0.6, ease: 'expo.inOut', absolute: true, zIndex: 100 });",Requires the GSAP Flip plugin; the 'from' and 'to' route must render the same element with a shared data-flip-id,Verify the shared element exists in both DOM states before calling Flip.from to avoid a silent no-op,Don't use shared-element transitions across more than one element pair per navigation; compounding Flips are hard to time correctly,Flip recalculates layout (FLIP technique) so test on low-end devices for jank
13,Parallax Scroll,Subtle,"parallax, background, depth, scroll speed",scroll (continuous),tied to scroll position,linear (scrub),"gsap.to('.bg-layer', { yPercent: 10, ease: 'none', scrollTrigger: { trigger: section, scrub: true } });","Apply parallax to background/decorative layers only, never to text or interactive controls",Keep the yPercent delta small (5-15) so foreground and background never desync distractingly,Don't parallax body copy; it hurts reading comfort and can trigger motion sickness,will-change: transform on the parallax layer only; remove it after scroll settles to free GPU memory
14,Parallax Scroll,Standard,"multi-layer parallax, depth, hero background",scroll (continuous),tied to scroll position,linear (scrub),"gsap.utils.toArray('.parallax-layer').forEach((layer, i) => { gsap.to(layer, { yPercent: (i + 1) * -8, ease: 'none', scrollTrigger: { trigger: layer.parentElement, scrub: 0.5 } }); });",Layer count beyond 3-4 has diminishing visual return and multiplies scroll-listener cost,"Vary speed per layer (background slowest, foreground fastest) to sell the depth illusion",Don't let parallax layers overflow their container; clip with overflow: hidden on the wrapper,Batch all layers under one ScrollTrigger container where possible instead of one per layer
15,Loading / Skeleton,Subtle,"loading, skeleton, shimmer, pulse",on mount / async wait,1200-1600ms loop,sine.inOut,"gsap.to('.skeleton', { backgroundPosition: '200% 0', duration: 1.4, ease: 'sine.inOut', repeat: -1 });",Kill the loop tween (tween.kill()) as soon as real content mounts to avoid orphaned repeating animations,Use a CSS gradient background-position sweep rather than opacity pulsing; reads as 'loading' more clearly,Don't run more than one shimmer loop per skeleton group; sync them under one timeline so the wave reads as a single unit,repeat: -1 tweens are cheap but must be explicitly killed on unmount or they leak in SPA route changes
16,Loading / Skeleton,Standard,"progress, spinner, morphing loader",on mount / async wait,800-1200ms loop,power1.inOut,"gsap.timeline({ repeat: -1 }).to('.loader-dot', { y: -8, duration: 0.4, stagger: { each: 0.15, yoyo: true, repeat: 1 } });",Wrap the whole loop timeline in useGSAP with { revertOnUpdate: false } in React so it isn't rebuilt every render,Cap total loop duration under ~1.5s so long waits don't feel like the UI froze on a single beat,Don't use elaborate loaders for sub-300ms waits; they flash and feel worse than no indicator,Pause the timeline (tl.pause()) when the loading tab/view is not visible to save CPU on background tabs
