A framer motion animation on an element entering a container with overflow:auto does not work

by

Summary

The issue at hand is that a framer motion animation on an element entering a container with overflow:auto does not work as expected. Specifically, when moving items from one container to another, the animation is only visible when entering the second container, which has an overflow property set to auto, scroll, or hidden.

Root Cause

The root cause of this issue is due to the way framer motion handles animations and the overflow property. When an element is moved from one container to another, framer motion tries to animate the element’s position and size. However, if the target container has an overflow property set, the animation is clipped, and only the final position of the element is visible.

Why This Happens in Real Systems

This issue occurs in real systems because of the following reasons:

  • Overflow property is commonly used to create scrollable containers
  • Framer motion animations are widely used in React applications
  • The combination of these two technologies can lead to unexpected behavior

Real-World Impact

The impact of this issue is that the animation is not visible, which can affect the user experience. The reasons for this impact include:

  • Loss of visual feedback: The user does not see the animation, which can make the interaction feel abrupt
  • Difficulty in understanding the application’s behavior: The user may not understand what is happening to the element being moved

Example or Code

import { useState } from "react";
import { motion, LayoutGroup } from "framer-motion";

const styles = {
  wrapper: {
    display: "flex",
    gap: "24px",
    padding: "20px",
  },
  container: {
    width: "260px",
    minHeight: "200px",
    border: "2px solid #d1d5db",
    borderRadius: "10px",
    padding: "12px",
    boxSizing: "border-box",
  },
  column: {
    display: "flex",
    flexDirection: "column",
    gap: "12px",
  },
  horizontalScroll: {
    overflowX: "auto",
    overflowY: "hidden",
    whiteSpace: "nowrap",
  },
  row: {
    display: "flex",
    gap: "10px",
  },
  item: {
    minWidth: "80px",
    background: "#6366f1",
    color: "#fff",
    padding: "10px",
    borderRadius: "8px",
    cursor: "pointer",
    textAlign: "center",
    userSelect: "none",
    flexShrink: 0,
  },
};

function TwoContainerMotion() {
  const [containerA, setContainerA] = useState([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);
  const [containerB, setContainerB] = useState([]);

  const moveToB = (item) => {
    setContainerA((prev) => prev.filter((i) => i !== item));
    setContainerB((prev) => [...prev, item]);
  };

  return (
    
      

        {/* Container A */}
        

          
Container A

          {/* Column wrapper adds vertical spacing */}
          

            {containerA.map((item) => (
               moveToB(item)}
                transition={{ duration: 0.4, ease: "easeInOut" }}
                style={styles.item}
              >
                Item {item}
              
            ))}
          

        

        {/* Container B (horizontal scroll) */}
        
          
Container B

          

            {containerB.map((item) => (
              
                Item {item}
              
            ))}
          

        
      

    
  );
}

How Senior Engineers Fix It

To fix this issue, senior engineers can use the following approaches:

  • Use a wrapper element: Wrap the container with an overflow:auto property in another element with overflow:visible. This will allow the animation to be visible outside the container.
  • Use a different animation library: Some animation libraries, such as react-spring, may handle this situation better than framer motion.
  • Adjust the animation: Adjust the animation to only animate the element’s position within the container, rather than trying to animate it outside the container.

Why Juniors Miss It

Junior engineers may miss this issue because:

  • Lack of experience: They may not have encountered this issue before and may not know how to troubleshoot it.
  • Limited knowledge of CSS: They may not fully understand how the overflow property affects the animation.
  • Insufficient testing: They may not test the application thoroughly enough to catch this issue.