A UI background starting as white at the top with gray grid lines, fading into a vibrant teal-to-purple gradient at the bottom.

Fading Grid Gradient Background

demo & code

This Fading Grid Gradient Background creates a clean, architectural aesthetic suitable for SaaS landing pages or documentation sites. It features a technical vertical grid pattern that gently dissolves into a vibrant teal-and-purple gradient at the bottom. The effect mimics a “horizon” line, adding depth and structure to an otherwise flat page without using any images.

Level: Beginner
Browser Support: Chrome 80+, Edge 80+, Firefox 53+, Safari 15.4+
Equilateral triangular images with soft rounded corners achieved through CSS masking and trigonometric math, overlapping on a vibrant background.

Rounded Triangle CSS Image Mask

demo & code

This Rounded Triangle CSS Image Mask offers a mathematically perfect way to shape visuals into equilateral triangles with soft, professional edges. It is an ideal choice for high-end portfolio galleries, creative team sections, or landing pages where standard rectangular or circular crops feel too conventional. By leveraging modern CSS math, the shape remains perfectly symmetrical regardless of the image dimensions.

Level: Intermediate
Browser Support: Chrome 105+, Edge 105+, Firefox 121+, Safari 15.4+
Holographic trading card with 3D tilt effect and iridescent gradients using CSS @property and mask-image for shimmering lines.

Holographic 3D Interactive Card

demo & code

This Holographic 3D Interactive Card is a premium UI component inspired by rare physical trading cards. It features a sophisticated depth effect where the logo floats independently from the iridescent background, reacting dynamically to mouse movements or touch input. The use of modern CSS APIs ensures high-performance rendering of complex gradients and masks, creating a truly immersive “collectible” feel for digital assets.

Level: Advanced
Browser Support: Chrome 85+, Edge 85+, Safari 16.4+, Firefox 128+
Five distinct range slider designs arranged vertically: a red square thumb, a pill shape with a hollow center, a triangular pointer, and a circular button style

Geometric Custom Range Sliders

demo & code

These Geometric Custom Range Sliders push the boundaries of form styling by abandoning the standard “circle on a line” look. Created by CSS math wizard Ana Tudor, this set utilizes SCSS trigonometry to generate complex thumb shapes (like triangles and hollow pills) and CSS Mask Composition to carve out negative space. The result is a set of distinct, scalable inputs that rely on a single HTML <input> tag without any wrapper divs.

Level: Advanced
Browser Support: Chrome 84+, Edge 84+, Firefox 70+, Safari 15.4+
Dark UI cards with angled bottom corners and a passing light beam effect on the border, demonstrating CSS corner-shape.

Beveled Corner Glow Cards

demo & code

This Beveled Corner Glow Card component demonstrates the bleeding edge of CSS UI styling. It primarily utilizes the new corner-shape property to create chamfered (angled) edges without complex clip-paths, while implementing a sophisticated CSS Mask fallback for older engines. The interaction features a “scanning” light beam effect on the border, powered by CSS Houdini for buttery smooth interpolation.

Level: Advanced
Browser Support: Chrome 120+, Edge 120+, Firefox 120+, Safari 17+
Elegant glassmorphism profile card with a blurred image background and fading overlay effect using CSS masks

Glassmorphism Profile Info Card

demo & code

This Glassmorphism Profile Info Card is a high-end UI component that replicates the sleek, frosted-glass aesthetic found in modern operating systems like iOS and macOS. It features a sophisticated interplay between background imagery and foreground content, using advanced CSS masking and backdrop filters to create a natural sense of depth and hierarchy.

Level: Intermediate
Browser Support: Chrome 76+, Edge 79+, Firefox 103+, Safari 9.1+
A sleek dark card UI with a central logo and a dynamic background of randomized characters revealed by a radial gradient mask following the mouse.

Hyperplexed Evervault Card Hover Effect

demo & code

This Hyperplexed Evervault Card Hover Effect utilizes dynamic character generation and CSS masking to create a high-tech “decryption” visual. It replicates the sophisticated card interactions found on the Evervault website, blending procedural text with mouse-responsive radial gradients.

Level: Intermediate
Browser Support: Chrome 80+, Edge 80+, Firefox 75+, Safari 13+
Retro 80s scene with a neon sun, scrolling grid floor, palm trees, and the back of a DeLorean car driving into the horizon

Pure CSS Synthwave 80s Animation

demo & code

This Pure CSS Synthwave 80s Animation captures the nostalgic aesthetic of the 1980s retrowave genre. It features a complete animated scene: an infinite neon grid, a setting sun with scanlines, shaking palm trees, and a DeLorean driving into the distance. The scene is brought to life with a driving synthwave audio track and intricate CSS-only motion.

Level: Advanced
Browser Support: Chrome 60+, Edge 79+, Firefox 55+, Safari 11+
A spotlight effect where the mouse cursor reveals hidden text and a colorful gradient background.

GSAP Mask Mouse Effect

An intriguing user experience where hidden messages and a vibrant gradient background are revealed only under a “spotlight” following the cursor, featuring expansion animations upon interaction.

See the Pen GSAP Mask Mouse Effect.

An image framed by a decorative, wavy border created with pure CSS masks and gradients.

Images Inside Wiggly Boxes

A decorative image frame created entirely with CSS mask compositing. It combines radial-gradient layers with conic-gradient and the intersect composite operator to sculpt a scalloped, wavy border, while the CSS round() function ensures perfect pattern alignment along the edges.

See the Pen Images Inside Wiggly Boxes.

A full-screen image slider where images transition with a diagonal wipe effect as the user scrolls.

Scroll-Triggered Image Stack with Gradient Mask Reveal

As the user scrolls down, images transition not by simple sliding or fading, but through a complex diagonal “wiping” animation controlled by dynamic gradients, all while the text content remains fixed over the changing background.

A gallery of images framed to look like interlocking jigsaw puzzle pieces.

Wavy Image Gallery

Images appear as jigsaw puzzle pieces with interlocking edges that can visually fit together.

See the Pen Wavy Image Gallery.

Wall of Text: Blogged

Wall of Text: Blogged

A futuristic, interactive blog card featuring AI-generated content fetched dynamically via JavaScript. The layout utilizes advanced CSS techniques like :has() for expandable sections, masking and blend modes for rich graphical elements, and variable-driven cursor tracking animations, creating a dynamic and engaging reading experience.

See the Pen Wall of Text: Blogged.

5¼-Inch Floppy Disk

5¼-Inch Floppy Disk

A purely CSS-generated skeuomorphic representation of a vintage 5.25-inch floppy disk.

See the Pen 5¼-Inch Floppy Disk.

Single Element Progress

Single Element Progress

Elegant, segmented radial charts that smoothly fill upon page load, showcasing the capabilities of modern CSS without JavaScript.

See the Pen Single Element Progress.

Fancy Corner Decoration for Images

Fancy Corner Decoration for Images

A border effect for an <img> tag - the size of the decorative edge, created with repeating-conic-gradient and -webkit-mask, is dynamically calculated via a complex calc() function controlled by CSS variables.

Dissolving Image Edges

Dissolving Image Edges

Creating a “grainy” edge effect for a circular image using SVG filters. The effect is achieved through a complex combination of feGaussianBlur and feTurbulence primitives with multiple feComposite operations to control the alpha channel.

See the Pen Dissolving Image Edges.

GSAP Sprite Mask Animation

GSAP Sprite Mask Animation

The demo uses GSAP to programmatically control the CSS mask property and applies the ease: steps() function for precise, frame-by-frame switching between 20 sprite mask states, creating a drawing or layered revelation effect.

See the Pen GSAP Sprite Mask Animation.

Pure CSS Loader #11/2020 - Ripples

Pure CSS Loader #11/2020 - Ripples

Spectacular animated ring loader built on the advanced capabilities of CSS Houdini to define and smoothly transition custom properties, enabling complex and dynamically changing geometry via conic and radial gradients.

Smooth Corners with CSS

Smooth Corners with CSS

A progressive technique for creating complex UI shapes using the CSS Houdini Paint API - a squircle is generated by the smooth-corners worklet, surpassing the capabilities of border-radius. The shape’s curvature is dynamically controlled via the --smooth-corners CSS Custom Property, while the effect itself is built with a combination of pseudo-elements, mask, and clip-path.

See the Pen Smooth Corners with CSS.

Scroll Mask Indicatorsexternal link

A modern and clean way to indicate scrollability: the “fade-to-mist” effect is implemented using mask-image and linear-gradient, while key parameters of the fade phase are precisely tuned using @property.

CSS Bookmarkexternal link

A state-driven animation, controlled via the “checkbox hack,” showcases the power of CSS @property (Houdini) for smoothly animating gradients and mask properties. A complex multi-layered bookmark shape is created with an SVG mask, while the entire activation effect choreography is built on synchronized @keyframes.

CSS Cutout Button with Mask Compositeexternal link

A creative button demonstrating the power of CSS masking and mask-composite to create a custom geometric “notch” effect. This snippet utilizes SVG masks within pseudo-elements to achieve a futuristic UI interaction with zero extra HTML markup, perfect for modern web design.