AnimText: Letter, Word & Line Text Animation JS Library

AnimText is a lightweight JavaScript enhancer for animating text with letter-by-letter, word-by-word, and line-by-line animations to your projects. It's designed to work seamlessly with {css}animation, for robust and customizable text effects.

AnimText is a lightweight, dependency-free JavaScript library designed to make precise letter-by-letter, word-by-word, and line-by-line text animations incredibly simple. Forget complex JavaScript or heavy frameworks; AnimText empowers you to create stunning, dynamic text effects using nothing but intuitive HTML data attributes.

Key Features

• Highly customizable: Control animations directly with HTML attributes.
• Animate Letters, Words, and Lines: Independent control for precise effects.
• Custom CSS Animation Classes: Use any cssanimation class you like.
• Sequential Animation Logic: Units wait for the previous one to complete.
• Random & Reverse Effects: Get creative with animation order.
• Smart Handling: Safely handles whitespace and provides animation class fallbacks.

👉 Live Demo | Download via NPM | Check on jsDelivr | View on unpkg

Installation

You can use AnimText in two ways — via NPM for modern builds, or by including it directly in your HTML using a <script> tag.

Install via NPM

npm i animtext

Then import and initialize AnimText in your JS:

import animtext from "animtext";

Use in Plain HTML (CDN)

Just include the script before the closing </body> tag:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/animtext@latest/dist/animtext.min.js"></script>

AnimText will automatically run on DOMContentLoaded — no manual init needed in most cases.

Animation Classes Powered by {css}animation

AnimText is designed to work hand-in-hand with the animation classes from {css}animation. These CSS classes are required to make the AnimText actually animate elements, so be sure to include them in your project.

Install the animation library:

npm install @hellouxpavel/cssanimation

Then import it in your JavaScript:

import "@hellouxpavel/cssanimation";

Or include it via CDN:

<link
  rel="stylesheet"
  href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@hellouxpavel/cssanimation@latest/dist/cssanimation.min.css" />

Without the cssanimation classes, AnimText can still spilt the text, but no animation will play.

Getting Started

To start using AnimText, all you need is a simple HTML element with the right attributes.

<h1 class="cssanimation" data-at-sequence="ca__fx-fadeIn">Hello AnimText!</h1>

What’s Happening Here

• class="cssanimation" This class is required. It activates the AnimText and ensures the element is styled correctly. It also enables animation styles from the {css}animation library.

• data-at-sequence="ca__fx-fadeIn" This tells AnimText to animate the text letter by letter, using the ca__fx-fadeIn animation class. Letters will appear one after another in sequence.

You can replace ca__fx-fadeIn with any animation class from the {css}animation library. For the animation class check this demo and copy simply.

Once this setup is in place, AnimText handles the rest!

Supported Attributes

Below is a quick reference table for all the data-at-* attributes you can use with AnimText:

| Attribute | Description | | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | data-at-sequence | Animates letter-by-letter, in order from first to last. | | data-at-random | Animates letters in a randomized order. | | data-at-reverse | Animates letters in reverse order (last letter animates first). | | data-at-word | Animates word-by-word, one word at a time. | | data-at-line | Animates line-by-line, based on <br> or \n or custom separators. | | data-at-delay | Sets delay (in ms) before each unit starts animating. Accepts one or multiple values. | | data-at-base-duration | Sets a default animation duration (in ms) for each unit. Overrides CSS or internal defaults. | | data-at-separator | Optional. Use "dot" to split lines on periods (.). Default is <br> or line breaks. |

Example: Full Setup

<h2
  class="cssanimation"
  data-at-word="ca__fx-fadeIn ca__fx-fadeInLeft ca__fx-slinkyDrop ca__fx-jiggleTransform"
  data-at-delay="200 300 400"
  data-at-base-duration="1000">
  Animate each word smoothly
</h2>

In this example:

• Each word gets its own animation class (cycled or repeated).
• Words animate with delays of 200ms, 300ms, then 400ms (last delay repeats if more words).
• Each word’s animation lasts 1000ms, regardless of what's in your CSS.

This lets you easily create custom animation flows without writing JavaScript.

Letter-by-Letter Animation

You can animate text letter by letter using different animation orders.
Just add one of these attributes to your element:

Sequential (First to Last)

Use data-at-sequence to animate each letter one after another in order.

<h1 class="cssanimation" data-at-sequence="ca__fx-fadeIn">Letters Animate</h1>

Randomized order

Use data-at-random to animate the letters in a shuffled, randomized order.

<p class="cssanimation" data-at-random="ca__fx-bounceInTop">
  Randomized entry!
</p>

Reverse Order (Last to First)

Use data-at-reverse to animate the last letter first, moving backward to the start.

<h3 class="cssanimation" data-at-reverse="ca__fx-moveFromTop">
  Backwards Flow
</h3>

💡 You can customize the animation effect by replacing the class (e.g. ca__fx-fadeIn) with any animation class from {css}animation}.

Word-by-Word Animation

To animate each word in your text individually, use the data-at-word attribute:

<h2 class="cssanimation" data-at-word="ca__fx-fadeIn">
  Each word animates uniquely
</h2>

In this example, all the words will animate one by one using the ca__fx-fadeIn animation class.

In this example:

• Each word will animate one after another.
• All words use the same animation class: ca__fx-fadeIn.

💡 You can assign multiple animation classes or delay values if you want each word to behave differently. See Multiple Animation Classes for more.

Line-by-Line Animation

To animate each line of text separately, use the data-at-line attribute:

<p class="cssanimation" data-at-line="ca__fx-fadeIn">
  First line<br />
  Second line<br />
  Third line
</p>

By default, AnimText splits lines using <br> tags or actual line breaks (\n) .

Splitting by Periods (Dot Separator) You can also split text into lines using periods( . ), to do that, just add data-at-separator="dot".

<p class="cssanimation" data-at-line="ca__fx-fadeIn" data-at-separator="dot">
  Step 1. Step 2. Step 3.
</p>

Each sentence (ending in a .) will be treated as a separate line and animated one after another.

Notes

• You don’t need to set data-at-separator if you're using ` or line breaks - that’s the default behavior.
• Just like with words, you can assign multiple animation classes and delay values for lines too!

Multiple Animation Classes

🔥 You can assign different animation classes to each word or line to create more dynamic effects. Just space-separate the class names inside the data-at-word or data-at-line attributes:

Word Example

<h2
  class="cssanimation"
  data-at-word="ca__fx-fadeIn ca__fx-moveFromTop ca__fx-moveFromBottom ca__fx-moveFromRight">
  Each word animates uniquely
</h2>

In this case, each word will use a different animation in order:

• "Each" - animate with ca__fx-fadeIn
• "word" - animate with ca__fx-moveFromTop
• "animates" - animate with ca__fx-moveFromBottom
• "uniquely" - animate with ca__fx-moveFromRight

If there are more words than classes, the last class will automatically be reused for the remaining words.

Line Example

<p
  class="cssanimation"
  data-at-line="ca__fx-blurIn ca__fx-bounceFromTop ca__fx-bounceX">
  First line<br />
  Second line<br />
  Third line
</p>

Here:

• "First line" - animate with ca__fx-blurIn
• "Second line" - animate with ca__fx-bounceFromTop
• "Third line" - animate with ca__fx-bounceX

💡 This lets you mix and match effects to make your animations feel more playful or dramatic.

Animation Delay

You can control the delay between each animated unit (letter, word, or line) using the data-at-delay attribute.
The values are in milliseconds (ms).

The data-at-delay attribute specifies the delay before each animated unit (letter, word, or line) begins its animation. The values are in milliseconds (ms).

Single Value

If you use a single value, that delay will apply to every unit equally.

<h1 class="cssanimation" data-at-sequence="ca__fx-fadeIn" data-at-delay="100">
  Each letter delays by 100ms
</h1>

All letters will animate one after another, each with a 100ms delay.

Multiple Values:

You can also provide multiple delay values, separated by spaces. Each value is used for the next unit in order. If you have more units than delays, the last delay value repeats.

<h2 class="cssanimation" data-at-word="ca__fx-fadeIn" data-at-delay="0 200 400">
  First word, then 200ms, then 400ms, then 400ms
</h2>

This gives you full control over timing rhythm, such as staggered or pulsed animations.

💡 Tip This pattern works with letters, words, and lines. Example: data-at-delay="50 100 100" means:

• First unit → 50ms delay
• Next unit → 100ms
• Remaining units → 100ms

You can create subtle or dramatic timing effects just by changing the delay pattern.

Animation Base Duration

The data-at-base-duration attribute lets you set a default animation duration (in milliseconds) for all animated units — whether they’re letters, words, or lines.

This value overrides any duration found in your CSS animation classes.

<h3
  class="cssanimation"
  data-at-sequence="ca__fx-fadeIn"
  data-at-base-duration="750">
  Global base duration
</h3>

In this example, all letters will animate with a base duration of 750ms - no need to set animation-duration in CSS.

How Duration is Chosen (Precedence)

1. data-at-base-duration (your manual override)
2. CSS-defined duration (auto-detected from your animation class if data-at-base-duration is absent)
3. Internal default (fallback if nothing is defined - usually 1000ms)

This means data-at-base-duration gives you full control: you can set durations directly in HTML without modifying your CSS.

Developer Tips

• The .cssanimation class is required for AnimText to work, it activates the logic and provides default styles.
• You can assign fewer animation classes or delay values than total units, the last value will repeat for the rest.
• If you assign more classes or delay values than units, the extra values are ignored, and a warning is logged to your console to help with debugging.
• All values (delays, durations) are parsed safely — invalid numbers are ignored and fall back to safe defaults.
• Duration logic follows this order:
  • data-at-base-duration
  • CSS-detected animation-duration
  • Internal default (1000ms)

This setup makes AnimText flexible for both quick prototypes and polished production use.

Debugging AnimText

AnimText includes a simple debug mode that logs useful info to the browser console.

Enable Debug Mode Set the following in your browser console or JavaScript file:

window.__ANIMTEXT_DEBUG = true;

This will show:

• Which elements are being processed
• What attributes were parsed
• Fallback warnings (e.g. invalid delay values)

Re-Init on Dynamic Content

If you inject new elements after page load, call:

animtext.init();

This will scan the DOM again and animate any new .cssanimation elements.

Test Example

Put this in your index.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>AnimText Test</title>
    <link
      rel="stylesheet"
      href="node_modules/@hellouxpavel/cssanimation/dist/cssanimation.css" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1 class="cssanimation" data-at-sequence="ca__fx-fadeIn">
      Hello AnimText!
    </h1>

    <script type="module">
      import animtext from "./node_modules/animtext/animtext.js";
      window.__ANIMTEXT_DEBUG = true;
      animtext.init();
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Contribute

We welcome all contributions — whether it’s fixing bugs, adding feature, improving docs, or sharing ideas!

• Found an issue? Open a GitHub Issue
• Want to improve the library? Submit a Pull Request
• Have questions or feature ideas? Start a Discussion

Help us make AnimText even more magical for everyone.

Need Help?

Running into issues while using AnimText in your project?
Whether it's a website, landing page, tool, or framework integration, we're here to help!

• Report bugs or problems via GitHub Issues
• Ask questions or get guidance in GitHub Discussions

We’re happy to assist and make sure everything works smoothly in your setup.

Support This Project

If AnimText has saved you time, added a little magic to your UI, or helped bring your creative vision to life — please consider supporting its development.

This project is built with care, during late nights and weekends, with a passion for open-source and motion design. Your support helps me:

• Keep the library up to date and bug-free
• Add new features and animation triggers

Every coffee counts — thank you for helping me keep creating. 🙏

Become a Community Sponsor

If AnimText helped you ship faster, spark delight in your UI, or just made your day as a developer easier — I’d be honored to have your support.

This isn’t a big team or a funded project. It’s just me — Pavel — building tools I wish existed.
From late nights to early mornings, I pour love into every animation, every feature, every detail — to make the creative process more fun, expressive, and empowering for makers like you.

Your sponsorship helps me:

• Keep the library free and open for everyone
• Push out new triggers, animation packs, and ideas faster
• Write thoughtful dev/design content via my newsletter
  👉 Pixels & Projects with Pavel

As a Community Sponsor, you'll receive:

• A shoutout in the newsletter
• Your name or project proudly featured in the documentation and site
• My sincere gratitude for backing indie creativity on the web

Let’s build a more playful, animated web — together.