Understanding and Working with Otter Blocks Animations

Animations are a powerful way to add visual interest and engagement to your WordPress site. The 'Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE' plugin includes a suite of animation options powered by the third-party Animate.css library. This guide explains how these animations work and how to address common questions and limitations.

How Otter Blocks Animations Work

The animation effects, such as 'fade-in-up', are predefined within the Animate.css library. This means the specific behavior of each animation—like the exact distance an element moves—is fixed and cannot be fine-tuned directly through the plugin's settings. Users can typically adjust global settings like animation speed and delay, but the core animation trajectory is not customizable.

Common Questions and Solutions

1. Can I fine-tune an animation's movement?

Answer: No. The distance and path of movement for animations like 'fade-in-up' are predefined and cannot be adjusted to move, for example, "slightly from below" versus "from far below." The available controls are generally limited to speed and delay.

2. Can I trigger animations on hover?

Answer: Not currently. Based on user feedback, the Otter Blocks team has indicated that adding hover-based triggers is a feature they are considering for a future release. For now, animations are primarily triggered when an element scrolls into the viewport.

3. Why can't I use decimal values for animation delay?

Answer: This is a confirmed bug. If the input field only accepts whole numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 3 seconds) and not decimals (e.g., 0.5, 1.7), this is a known issue that the development team has acknowledged and is working to resolve.

4. How do animations work with accessibility?

Answer: The plugin supports the 'prefers-reduced-motion' media query. If a site visitor has enabled the reduced motion setting on their operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux), animations will be disabled on the site for that user. This is a standard and recommended approach for web accessibility. However, the underlying library hides elements initially, which can cause issues for some screen readers. Because the animations are managed by the third-party Animate.css library, this core behavior cannot be overridden through Otter Blocks.

5. Can a progress bar trigger another event?

Answer: No. The Progress Bar block is a display element only. It is not designed to be interactive or to trigger other actions (like revealing text) when it reaches 100%.

Conclusion

While Otter Blocks provides a convenient way to add common animations, its capabilities are bound by the features of the Animate.css library. Understanding that certain fine-tuning and trigger options are not currently possible can help set realistic expectations. For advanced animation needs that require precise control or different triggers, a dedicated animation plugin might be necessary.