Why You Should Start Using View Transitions in 2025

The modern web is fast, but it still often feels disjointed. Links snap between pages. Route changes in SPAs blink from one view to the next. In 2025, there is no reason to accept this as the default. The View Transitions API gives you smooth, native, highly-performant page and route transitions with just a little CSS and progressive enhancement.

This article explains what View Transitions are, why they belong in your stack this year, and exactly how to adopt them without sacrificing accessibility or performance.

What is the View Transitions API?

The View Transitions API is a browser feature that:

• Captures a visual snapshot of the current UI
• Lets you make DOM changes (like navigating or swapping routes)
• Cross-fades or animates between the “old” and “new” views
• Optionally executes “shared element” transitions for elements with matching names across views

It works in two major modes:

• Same-document (SPA): animate route changes within a single page app.
• Cross-document (MPA): animate full page navigations between distinct URLs.

In both cases, animations run on the compositor for smoothness, and you style them with CSS pseudo-elements and the view-transition-name property.

Why adopt View Transitions in 2025

• Perceived performance: Even when data fetching is fast, abrupt swaps feel jarring. Transitions preserve context and make changes feel instant.
• UX and conversion: Smoother flows reduce cognitive load, improve task completion, and increase engagement on content and commerce sites.
• Brand polish: Subtle motion reinforces brand quality without heavy animation libraries.
• Lightweight: No large JS dependencies. You opt into native primitives and a bit of CSS.
• Progressive enhancement: Browsers that support it get polish. Others degrade to regular navigation.

Support in Chromium-based browsers has been solid for same-document transitions for some time, with cross-document transitions broadly available as well. Other engines have made progress; where support is partial or behind a flag, your progressive enhancement strategy ensures graceful fallback.

How it works at a glance

Same-document (SPA) skeleton:

// Feature detect
function withTransition(updateDOM) {
  if (!document.startViewTransition) {
    updateDOM();
    return;
  }
  document.startViewTransition(async () => {
    await updateDOM();
  });
}

// Example: navigate to a route
withTransition(() => router.navigate('/settings'));

Cross-document (MPA) pattern:

document.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
  const a = e.target.closest('a[href]');
  if (!a || a.target || a.hasAttribute('download') || e.metaKey || e.ctrlKey) return;
  if (a.origin !== location.origin) return;

  e.preventDefault();

  const prefersReduced = matchMedia('(prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)').matches;
  if (!document.startViewTransition || prefersReduced) {
    location.href = a.href;
    return;
  }

  document.startViewTransition(() => {
    location.href = a.href;
  });
});

To create shared element transitions, give matching elements a stable name:

<!-- Listing page -->
<a href="/product/42" class="card">
  <img src="/img/42.jpg" alt="Product 42" style="view-transition-name: product-42-hero;">
</a>

<!-- Detail page -->
<img src="/img/42-large.jpg" alt="Product 42" style="view-transition-name: product-42-hero;">

Styling transitions with CSS

Page-level fade:

/* Keep it quick and subtle */
::view-transition-old(root),
::view-transition-new(root) {
  animation-duration: 200ms;
  animation-timing-function: ease;
}

::view-transition-old(root) { animation-name: vt-fade-out; }
::view-transition-new(root) { animation-name: vt-fade-in; }

@keyframes vt-fade-out { to { opacity: 0.98; } }
@keyframes vt-fade-in { from { opacity: 0.98; } }

Shared element emphasis:

/* Customize animation for a named element */
::view-transition-image-pair(product-42-hero) {
  animation: hero-zoom 240ms ease both;
  transform-origin: center center;
}

@keyframes hero-zoom {
  from { filter: saturate(0.9); }
  to   { filter: none; }
}

Exclude fixed UI (e.g., your header) from root transitions:

header { view-transition-name: none; }

Or disable the whole page cross-fade if you only want shared elements:

::view-transition-old(root),
::view-transition-new(root) { animation: none; }

Respect motion preferences:

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  ::view-transition-* { animation: none !important; }
}

Practical use cases

• Content sites and blogs: Smooth page-to-page fades for uninterrupted reading flow.
• E-commerce: Shared image transitions from listing to detail build continuity and trust.
• Dashboards: Subtle route transitions reduce context switches and help orientation.
• Galleries and portfolios: Shared element transitions shine for image navigation.

Progressive enhancement checklist

• Feature detect document.startViewTransition and fall back to normal DOM updates or navigation.
• Respect prefers-reduced-motion both in JS and CSS.
• Avoid animating layout-affecting properties; prefer transform/opacity.
• Keep durations short (150–300ms).
• Provide focus management and maintain semantics; transitions should not trap focus.

Accessibility considerations

• Do not rely on motion alone to convey state. Ensure headings, labels, and live regions provide context.
• Ensure focus remains predictable after route changes. Programmatically set focus to the main heading or landmark on new views.
• Give users an escape hatch: honoring reduced motion is the baseline; also avoid excessive motion by default.

Performance tips

• Keep shared elements simple. Avoid giant images or complex filters during transitions.
• Pre-size images and avoid layout shifts; CLS during or after a transition feels worse than a simple fade.
• Debounce rapid navigations; cancel stale transitions if the user moves on quickly.

Framework and tooling notes

• Astro: Has built-in support for cross-page transitions using the View Transitions API. You can enable it project-wide and opt into shared element naming in your templates. See the Astro docs for current guidance.
• React/SPA routers: Use a small wrapper around route changes to start transitions. Libraries and examples exist for React Router, Remix, and others.
• SvelteKit, Vue/Nuxt, SolidStart: Each offers route hooks where you can call document.startViewTransition and apply view-transition-name in components.

Where native framework abstractions exist, prefer them; otherwise, the plain API is simple enough to integrate yourself.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Jumpy headers and footers: Set view-transition-name: none on persistent chrome to prevent the root cross-fade from affecting it.
• Mismatched shared elements: Ensure the same, stable view-transition-name exists on both views. Derive it from an ID present on both pages.
• Overpowering animations: Keep motion minimal. The goal is continuity, not spectacle.
• Assuming universal support: Always ship a fallback path; treat transitions as polish, not a dependency.

Getting started today

1. Add a tiny feature-detect wrapper for navigation and route changes.
2. Add a short, subtle root fade to your CSS.
3. Pick one high-impact shared element (like a hero image) and name it consistently.
4. Test with reduced motion and across browsers, then iterate.

View Transitions let you deliver a modern, cohesive feel with less code than most custom animation stacks. Adopt them incrementally, respect user preferences, and your site will feel faster and more delightful starting now.