Question

I have a form that functions as a settings page. When form elements are modified, they are marked as unsaved and have a different border color. When the form is saved, they are marked as saved by having another border color.

What I want is that when the form is saved, the border will gradually fade out.

The order will go:

<input type='text' class='unsaved' /> Not saved yet, border is yellow
<input type='text' class='saved' />   Saved, so the border is green
<input type='text' class='' />        Fade out if coming from class saved

If I can get a CSS3 transition to fire when the class saved is removed, then it could fade out and everything would be hunky-dory. Currently, I have to manually animate it (using a plug-in, of course), but it looks choppy, and I would like to move the code to CSS3 so it will be smoother.

I only need this to work in Chrome and Firefox 4+, though others would be nice.

CSS:

Here’s the associated CSS:

.unsaved {
    border: 3px solid #FFA500;
    padding: 0;
}
.saved {
    border: 3px solid #0F0;
    padding: 0;
}

I would like to work in the following transition (or something like it):

border-color: rgba(0,0,0,0);
-webkit-transition: border-color .25s ease-in;  
-moz-transition: border-color .25s ease-in;  
-o-transition: border-color .25s ease-in;  
transition: border-color .25s ease-in;

Note:

Personally, I don’t agree with this scheme of user interaction, but that’s how our software lead wants it. Please don’t suggest that I change the way it functions currently. Thanks!

Answer 1

CSS transitions work by defining two states for the object using CSS. In your case, you define how the object looks when it has the class "saved" and you define how it looks when it doesn’t have the class "saved" (it’s normal look). When you remove the class "saved", it will transition to the other state according to the transition settings in place for the object without the "saved" class.

If the CSS transition settings apply to the object (without the "saved" class), then they will apply to both transitions.

We could help more specifically if you included all relevant CSS you’re using to with the HTML you’ve provided.

My guess from looking at your HTML is that your transition CSS settings only apply to .saved and thus when you remove it, there are no controls to specify a CSS setting. You may want to add another class ".fade" that you leave on the object all the time and you can specify your CSS transition settings on that class so they are always in effect.