Big News for Animations: Framer Motion Evolves into Motion !

Tejas_More — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 13:37:44 +0000

After six incredible years, Framer Motion, the go-to React animation library with over 4.5 million weekly downloads, is getting a glow-up. It’s spinning off into its own independent project, simply called Motion!

This shift is monumental not just for me, but for the entire animation community. Here's everything you need to know about this exciting next chapter:

Why the Change?

Six years ago, Framer acquired my project Popmotion to fuel smooth, flexible animations in React. Since then, Framer Motion has become a vital tool for developers and a core part of Framer’s platform.

But Motion’s appeal goes beyond just React or Framer—it’s become a community favorite for animations across the web. To better serve the entire web development world, we decided it’s time for Motion to step out on its own.

What’s New in Motion?

A New Home
motion.dev
now lives at its brand-new website: motion.dev. It’s got a fresh design and—finally—a much-requested search feature for better documentation navigation!

Not Just for React Anymore
This is a game-changer. Motion is expanding beyond React and now offers vanilla JavaScript APIs, making it possible to integrate Motion’s magic with:

Plain JS Vue And more frameworks to come!
Expect continued updates as more features migrate to the vanilla API.

What About Framer Users?

No need to worry—

Framer sites will continue using Motion’s powerful animation capabilities.
In fact, Framer is Motion’s first official sponsor, ensuring the library stays strong for years to come.

What’s Next for Motion?

The future is packed with exciting plans, including:

New APIs leveraging emerging browser features (like View Transitions).
Industry-leading layout animations for the vanilla API.
High-level components that are beautiful and accessible.
Improved developer tools and plugins for popular design platforms.
And that's just the start.

How Can You Help?

For Motion to thrive as an open-source project, it needs support. Sponsors are crucial for sustainability. If you love Motion and use it in your projects, consider sponsoring the project on GitHub Sponsors.

Sponsorship perks include:

Private access to a Motion Discord server.
Exclusive wallpapers.
High-tier sponsors get featured on the Motion homepage (with over 110k monthly visitors)! Huge shoutout to Tailwind CSS, Motion’s second sponsor, for helping power this new journey.

A Big Thank You
This is the natural next step for Motion and a thrilling opportunity to expand its reach. It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I’m beyond excited for what’s ahead.

Here’s to the next six years of building the web’s smoothest, most accessible animations.