How I Fixed a CSS Animation Bug in an Open Source React Library

📰 Dev.to · Rahul Mall

Learn how to fix a CSS animation bug in a React library by swapping transition-all for transition-colors to prevent conflicts with GSAP transform animations

intermediate Published 27 May 2026
Action Steps
  1. Identify the source of the animation delay using browser developer tools
  2. Analyze the CSS classes used in the React component to find potential conflicts
  3. Swap transition-all for transition-colors to prevent conflicts with GSAP transform animations
  4. Test the fix to ensure the animation delay is resolved
  5. Refactor the code to ensure the fix is applied consistently throughout the library
Who Needs to Know This

Frontend developers and designers who work with React and CSS animations can benefit from this lesson to improve their debugging skills and knowledge of animation performance optimization

Key Insight

💡 Using transition-all can cause conflicts with GSAP transform animations, leading to noticeable delays

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💡 Fix CSS animation bugs in React by swapping transition-all for transition-colors to prevent conflicts with GSAP transform animations

Full Article

Title: How I Fixed a CSS Animation Bug in an Open Source React Library

URL Source: https://dev.to/rahul_mall_dd8da223f1af3d/how-i-fixed-a-css-animation-bug-in-an-open-source-react-library-23c6

Published Time: 2026-05-27T06:37:55Z

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Posted on May 27

# How I Fixed a CSS Animation Bug in an Open Source React Library

[#css](https://dev.to/t/css)[#opensource](https://dev.to/t/opensource)[#performance](https://dev.to/t/performance)[#react](https://dev.to/t/react)

A few months back I contributed a fix to react-bits, an open source library of animated React components.

The bug was subtle — enableMagnetism and enableTilt animations had a 300ms delay because the component used transition-all in its base CSS class. This caused GSAP transform animations to fight against the CSS transition, creating a noticeable lag.

The fix was straightforward: swap transition-all for transition-colors. This lets GSAP
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