How to CSS animate a hand-made carousel?

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Summary

The issue at hand is creating a smooth animation for a hand-made horizontal carousel component in React when clicking the chevron images to slide the carousel. The current implementation lacks this animation, resulting in an abrupt change when navigating through the carousel items.

Root Cause

The root cause of this issue is the lack of CSS animation or transition properties applied to the carousel component. Specifically, the .itemsListContainer class, which contains the carousel items, does not have any animation or transition effects defined.

Why This Happens in Real Systems

This happens in real systems because:

  • Developers might overlook the importance of animations in enhancing the user experience.
  • The focus is often on functional requirements, leaving non-functional requirements like animations to be implemented later.
  • Animations can be complex to implement, especially when dealing with dynamic content like a carousel.

Real-World Impact

The real-world impact of not having animations in a carousel component includes:

  • A less engaging user experience
  • Reduced usability, as the abrupt change can be disorienting for users
  • Potential negative impact on user retention and conversion rates

Example or Code

.itemsListContainer {
  /* Existing styles */
  transition: transform 0.5s ease-in-out;
}

.carouselContainer {
  /* Existing styles */
  overflow-x: hidden;
}

/* Add a new class to handle the animation */
.animate-slide {
  transform: translateX(-100%);
}

/* Update the JavaScript code to add the animate-slide class */
const onRightClick = () => {
  // ...
  document.querySelector('.itemsListContainer').classList.add('animate-slide');
  // ...
}

const onLeftClick = () => {
  // ...
  document.querySelector('.itemsListContainer').classList.remove('animate-slide');
  // ...
}

How Senior Engineers Fix It

Senior engineers fix this issue by:

  • Identifying the need for animations to enhance the user experience
  • Applying CSS transitions or animations to the relevant components
  • Ensuring a smooth and consistent animation experience across different devices and browsers
  • Testing and refining the animation to ensure it meets the desired user experience

Why Juniors Miss It

Juniors might miss this issue because:

  • Lack of experience with CSS animations and transitions
  • Focus on functional requirements over non-functional requirements like animations
  • Limited understanding of the importance of user experience in software development
  • Insufficient testing and debugging to identify and fix animation-related issues