How To Use CSS Transform Property

Without the transition, transform property is able just to turn over the object it is applied to. So, in the most real-life situations (real-life?), these two options are applied together.

Just Transform

Powers which this property posses are:

rotate(angle),
skew(angle),
translate(x,y),
scale(x,y),
matrix(n,n,n,n,n,n).

All values are pretty self-explainable accept maybe the matrix.

rotate

and

skew

options use angle degree values (values can be negative and you can type more than 360, such as 1080deg, for three full rotations).

The

translate

option uses

px

The

scale

option uses just numbers and they define how much the object is going to increase/decrease according to parameters given to the width and height.

All of these properties accept the matrix (which is still maybe not self-explained) have special options with X and Y added to syntax in which case, just one parameter is needed and property in

rotate

and

skew

cases, becomes relative to x or y-axis (e.g. translateX(), scaleY()...).

The

matrix

option does EVERYTHING (did you expect less?). The exact syntax is

matrix(scaleX(),skewY(),skewX(),scaleY(),translateX(),translateY())

Even thought there is no rotate option inside, it is shown to me that it can rotate too.

I can't say more that this (because it's math... something... function... something).

Check this post for more.

It's also possible to combine multiple transforms by defining them under one transform.

div {
transform: rotate(90deg) scale(2) translateY(-50%) translateX(50%);
}

The most popular effect that this property is used for recently, is rotating navigation, social and other information on left side mostly, and making them vertical.

3D Transform

2D property values

rotate

translate

scale

and

matrix

have its parallel 3D values with z-axis added. Extra 3D property is

perspective

which defines a perspective view for a 3D transformed element.

Perspective

uses one value which defines how far the element is placed from the view.

rotate3d(x,y,z,angle),
translate3d(x,y,z),
scale3d(x,y,z),
matrix3d(n,n,n,n,n,n,n,n,n,n,n,n,n,n,n,n),
perspective(n).

I believe that all those are really self-explained after we understood 2D options.

Transition + Transform

The

transform

property is used for defining the transition between two states of an element. With the

transition

, they make a powerful couple, as mentioned at the beginning.

.box {
         ...
         background-color: #0000FF;
         -webkit-transition:background-color 2s, -webkit-transform 2s;
         transition:background-color 2s, transform 2s;
    }
    .box:hover {
         background-color: #FFCCCC;
         -webkit-transform: rotate(180deg);
         transform: rotate(180deg);
    }

This kind of combination is the most common usage of both,

transform

and

transition

property. It's important to remember to define transition in the first state with transform as value and to define transform in the second state.

Previously published at kolosek.com/css-transform/