Looping and Controlling Animations


Animations become more powerful when you control how many times they run and in which direction.

You can make animations:

  • Run once  
  • Loop forever  
  • Reverse direction
  • Pause at the end  

These controls help you design better user experiences.

Animation-iteration-count set to infinite makes the animation loop forever.

This is useful for loaders and background effects.

Animation-direction set to alternate makes the animation reverse each time.

This creates smooth back and forth motion.

Animation-fill-mode set to forwards keeps the final state of the animation.

This is commonly used for banners and modals.

Important animation controls

  1. animation-iteration-count controls how many times it runs 
  2. animation-direction controls forward or reverse  
  3. animation-fill-mode controls what happens after animation  
  4. animation-play-state can pause or play animations  

This example shows how animations can be paused using animation-play-state.

This is useful for interactive elements.

Practice task

Create an animation that:
- Loops infinitely  
- Uses alternate direction  
- Stops when hovered  
- Keeps its final state when finished

Next lesson

In the next page, you will learn how to animate UI elements like buttons and loaders.