Create Spinning, Fading Icons with CSS3 and MooTools

A goal of my latest blog redesign was to practice what I preached a bit more;  add a bit more subtle flair.  One of the ways I accomplished that was by using CSS3 animations to change the display of my profile icons (RSS, GitHub, etc.)  I didn't want to abandon CSS animations completely though;  I added a bit of MooTools to randomize the icon's initial display position and rotation.  Let me show you how to use CSS3 and MooTools to create dymanic, rotating elements.

The HTML

We'll use the standard, accessible, SEO-friendly HTML for link creation:

<div id="followIcons">
	<a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Bludice" rel="nofollow" id="iconRSS">RSS Feed</a>
	<a href="http://twitter.com/davidwalshblog" rel="nofollow" id="iconTwitter">@davidwalshblog Twitter</a>
	<a href="http://github.com/darkwing" rel="nofollow" id="iconGitHub">@davidwalshblog Twitter</a>
	<a href="http://del.icio.us/dwizzlestar" rel="nofollow" id="iconDelicious">dwizzlestar de.licio.us</a>
	<a href="http://facebook.com/davidwalsh83" rel="nofollow" id="iconFacebook">David Walsh Facebook</a>
	<a href="http://linkedin.com/in/davidjameswalsh" rel="nofollow" id="iconLinkedIn">David Walsh LinkedIn</a>
	<a href="skype:davidwalsh83?chat" id="iconSkype">David Walsh Skype</a>
	<a href="mailto:david@davidwalsh.name" id="iconMail">David Walsh Email</a>
	<a href="http://mootools.net/forge/profile/davidwalsh" rel="nofollow" id="iconForge">David Walsh MooTools Forge</a>
</div>

CSS will make these links pretty.

The CSS

The first part of the process is using standard CSS to move the text off screen and instead use the icons as background images for the link:

#followIcons a	{ 
	display:inline-block; 
	width:48px; 
	height:48px; 
	text-indent:-3000px; 
	background-position:0 0; 
	background-repeat:no-repeat; 
	z-index:2000; 
	overflow:hidden; 
	position:absolute;
}

Once we've done that time-tested practice, it's time to put a few initial CSS3 settings into place.  As you probably know, at this point all CSS transform properties are browser-specific, so our CSS will get a bit lengthy:

#followIcons a	{ 
	transition-duration: 0.8s;
	transition-property: transform;
}

The transition duration will be 0.8 seconds and transition property will be a basic transform.  You can change the transform duration to any duration you'd like.  Too fast or too slow will ruin the effect (that's what she said).

The MooTools JavaScript

The first part is randomly positioning each node/icon within the container.  It's important to know the container's width and height, then subtract the icon width and height from that to know the true area you can fit the icon into.  Nothing would be more lame than a piece of the icon hidden. The next step of the process is adding mouseenter and mouseleave events to make the images rotate and fade in during each respective event.

// "Globals" - Will make things compress mo-betta
var $random = function(x) { return Math.random() * x; };
var availableWidth = 200, availableHeight = 40;

// Find the appropriate prefix icon
var cssPrefix = false;
switch(Browser.name) {
	case "safari":
		cssPrefix = "webkit";
		break;
	case "chrome":
		cssPrefix = "webkit";
		break;
	case "firefox":
		cssPrefix = "moz";
		break;
	case "opera":
		cssPrefix = "o";
		break;
	case "ie":
		cssPrefix = "ms";
		break;
}

// The Icons
var icons = $$("#followIcons a");
// Apply opacity
var zIndex = 1000;

// Randomize each link
icons.each(function(element,index) {
	// Generate the random rotation amount
	var startDeg = $random(360);
	// Place the image at the default rotation and opacity
	var resetPlace = function() {
		element.fade(0.6).setStyle("-" + cssPrefix + "-transform","rotate(" + startDeg + "deg)");
	};
	// Randomly position the element
	element.set("style","top:" + $random(availableHeight) + "px; left:" + $random(availableWidth) + "px; z-index:" + zIndex);
	// Rotate the image initially
	resetPlace();
	// Add events
	element.addEvents({
		mouseenter: function() {
			element.fade(1).setStyle("z-index",++zIndex).setStyle("-" + cssPrefix + "-transform","rotate(0deg)");
		},
		mouseleave: resetPlace
	});
});

When the mouseenter event occurs, the rotation is animated to 0, no rotation.  When the mouse leaves the element, the element animates to its initial random rotation.  You'll also note that I've used opacity to add to the subtle effect.

And there you have it:  spinning, fading, animated elements.  What's the alternative?  Static, boring, traditional icons.   What do you think?  Too much?  Too little?  Share your ideas!