Webflow interactions with GSAP glossary

Updated

 

A

Action
A response to a trigger that changes something on your page. Actions can be instant (like toggling a class) or animated over time (like fading in an element).

Action preset
A saved, reusable action configuration that can be applied when adding new actions to the timeline.

Animation
A type of action that changes properties (position, opacity, scale, etc.) over a specified duration, creating smooth visual transitions.

Auto-Alpha
A special visibility property that combines opacity and visibility settings. When set to 0, the element becomes both transparent and hidden from screen readers.

B

Block
A visual representation of an action on the timeline. Each block shows the duration and timing of an animation.

C

Click

The clicks on which you want the trigger to fire

Control

Controls the playback of the animation

Controls “Scrub on scroll”

Runs through the animation in an exact timing ratio with the scroll trigger (it will also play the animation backwards when someone scrolls up in the viewport). You can adjust the smoothing which determines how long it takes for the action to catch up to the browser’s scroll.

Controls “Trigger actions”

Lets you have more precise control over how the animation plays in response to the target element’s position

Custom event
A trigger that responds to custom JavaScript events, enabling integration with other scripts or third-party tools.

D

Delay
Time in seconds before an animation starts after being triggered.

Duration
How long an animation takes to complete, measured in seconds or milliseconds.

E

Easing
Controls the acceleration and deceleration of an animation. This is sometimes referred to as the “feel” of an animation. Common types include:

  • Linear: Constant speed

  • Power 1-4: Varying degrees of ease-in-out

  • Back: Overshoots then settles

  • Bounce: Bounces at the end

  • Elastic: Springs back and forth

  • Expo: Exponential acceleration/deceleration

  • Circ: Circular motion easing

End

Determines the placement of the target element in relation to the viewport, and where that element is when the trigger stops firing

G

GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform)
The professional-grade JavaScript animation library that powers IX3, providing high-performance animations with extensive features.

I

Interaction
A complete animation sequence that connects triggers with actions. An interaction defines what happens when a user or system event occurs.

Interpolation
The calculation of intermediate values between keyframes to create smooth transitions.

J

Jump
A timeline control that moves the playhead to a specific time position instantly.

L

Loop
See "Repeat"

M

Masking (SplitText)
In text animations, defines which split elements (chars, words, or lines) remain visible while others animate.

O

Origin (Transform Origin)
The point around which transformations (rotation, scale) occur. Can be set to corners, center, or custom positions.

P

Playhead
The visual indicator on the timeline showing the current time position. Can be dragged to scrub through animations.

Position (Timeline Position)
Where an action starts on the timeline. In Webflow Interactions with GSAP, position are all absolute.

Property
An animatable characteristic of an element (opacity, position, scale, rotation, color, etc.).

R

Repeat
Number of times an animation plays.

Reverse
Plays an animation backward from its current position.

S

Scope
Limits where targets are found, providing precise control over which elements get animated.

Simple scopes (no additional selector needed):

  • All matching elements (default): Targets every element on the page that matches your selector

  • Children: Only targets direct children of the matching elements

  • Siblings: Targets elements that share the same parent

  • Parent: Targets the parent element

  • Next sibling: Targets the immediately following sibling

  • Previous sibling: Targets the immediately preceding sibling

Advanced scopes (requires an additional selector):

  • Descendants: All descendants that match a selector you specify

  • Ancestors: All ancestors that match a selector you specify

  • First descendant: The first descendant matching your selector

  • First ancestor: The first ancestor matching your selector

Example:
You have a button with class .trigger-btn inside a card. When clicked, you want to animate:

  1. The card's title (.card-title) –– use scope "First ancestor" with selector .card

  2. All icons inside the card –– target .icon with scope "Descendants" and selector .card

  3. The next card in the list –– target .card with scope "Next sibling"

This way, clicking any button only affects elements related to that specific card, not all cards on the page.

Scroll trigger
Scroll-based animations that include:

  • Start/End positions: Define scroll boundaries

  • Scrubbing: Animation progress tied to scroll position

  • Pinning: Fix elements during scroll

  • Toggle actions: Trigger different actions on enter/leave

Scrub

Manual dragging of the timeline playhead to preview animations.

Show scroll markers

Visually displays where the scroll trigger begins and ends on the canvas

Speed

The speed of the animation (multiplied by the number chosen. For example, if you set “Speed” to 2, your animation will move at 2x speed)

SplitText
Breaks text into animatable pieces:

  • Letters: Individual characters

  • Words: Individual words

  • Lines: Individual lines of text

Stagger
Applies animations to multiple elements with a delay between each, creating cascading effects.

Start

Determines the placement of the target element in relation to the viewport, and where that element is when the trigger fires

T

Target
The element(s) that receive an action or trigger.

Timeline

The visual interface showing the sequence and timing of actions.

  • Time Markers: Show seconds/milliseconds

  • Tracks: Organize actions by element or purpose

  • Blocks: Represent individual animations

  • Playhead: Shows current time and allows scrubbing

  • Controls: Play, pause, and speed controls

Track
A horizontal row in the timeline that organizes related animation blocks.

Transform
Properties that change an element's position, size, or orientation:

  • Move (X/Y): Position changes

  • Scale: Size changes

  • Rotate: Orientation changes

  • Skew: Slanting distortion

Trigger
An event that starts an interaction:

  • Click: Mouse click or tap

  • Hover: Mouse enter/leave

  • Scroll: Scroll-based events

  • Load: Page load

  • Custom: JavaScript events

Trigger snippet

Your custom code creating the trigger

Tween
Short for "in-between," a single animation that transitions from one state to another.

Type (hover)

Whether you want the trigger to fire when the mouse enters or leaves the element

V

Visibility
See "Auto-Alpha"

Y

Yoyo (Repeat back and forth)
Makes an animation play forward then backward on each repetition, creating a back-and-forth effect.

 

The Webflow Way

Want to learn best practices for how to get the most out of this feature? Check out The Webflow Way article on this topic.