Comparison
CompositingvsView transition
Compositing
the animation stays smooth even while your JavaScript is busy, because it never touches the main thread.
The final stage, where painted layers are assembled into the image on screen, usually on the GPU and on a separate thread. `transform` and `opacity` can be changed at this stage alone, which is why animating them stays at sixty frames per second while animating `top` or `width` does not. Compositing is the escape hatch from the main thread, and the reason every animation guide tells you to use those two properties.
Full entry →View transition
the element animated smoothly from its position on one page into its position on the next.
A browser API that snapshots the old and new states of a document and animates between them, including across real navigations. It replaces the elaborate machinery applications used to build to fake continuity between screens. It needs matching `view-transition-name` values on both sides, and every transition adds time before the new state is usable, so restraint is part of using it well.
Full entry →