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Tilt Dock

Five glass tiles in a dock that rotate in 3D toward the pointer — up to 34° on the far ones, the nearest lifting 22px toward you — with a sheen that slides across each face as it turns; a virtual pointer sweeps the row in a slow figure when nobody is over it.

cssmedium complexitymoderate motionpointer

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When to use it

Launchers and hero navs that want tactile depth without magnification; showcases for a small set of apps or tools.

When not to

Touch-only interfaces (nothing to tilt toward) and busy backgrounds where the sheen reads as glare.

Working with an AI agent

Every component ships agent-ready metadata. An example instruction for this one:

Tame the effect by lowering MAX_Y (34) and LIFT (22); widen the reach with RANGE (1.6 item-widths); change the tile colours through --g1…--g5; kill the sheen by removing the .c16-item::after rule. Theme: dark tokens live in :root, the light variant in :root[data-theme="light"]; ?theme=light or a {type:'forever:theme'} postMessage switches at runtime.

Safe to edit

  • tilt limits and lift (MAX_Y, MAX_X, LIFT)
  • reach (RANGE) and perspective (260px on .c16-dock)
  • sheen strength (--sheen) and its radius (46%)
  • sweep speed (the 0.9 and 1.7 in loop())
  • tile gradients (--g1…--g5) and size (--sz clamp)
  • theme tokens (:root dark defaults + [data-theme=light] overrides)

Keep intact

  • measure() caching centres on load + resize (never getBoundingClientRect per frame)
  • update() writing only custom properties (transform + gradient position resolve in CSS)
  • IIFE wrapper
  • visibilitychange stop/start of the rAF loop
  • prefers-reduced-motion guard (a still lit pose)
  • lastInput pause so the sweep never fights the real pointer
  • theme hook (?theme= bootstrap + forever:theme message listener + theme tokens)

Known limitations

  • Pointer-only — no touch equivalent; the sweep is what mobile visitors see
  • mix-blend-mode:screen on the sheen is a per-tile compositing cost; drop it on very low-end targets
  • Light re-theme via the [data-theme=light] token block; catalog bg/accent describe the dark default

docktilt3dperspectivesheennavigationparallaxpointer

More Navigation components

  • Magnify DockmacOS-style frosted-glass dock of six gradient tiles that scale up and lift toward the cursor; idle auto-sweep keeps it animated when untouched.
  • Hamburger MorphThree-line hamburger button spring-morphs into a glowing teal X on click; button border gains teal glow when open. Auto-cycles as demo.
  • Gooey Tab BarPill-shaped tab bar with a vermillion blob that slides between tabs using a spring easing and SVG goo filter for liquid merge effect on dark surface.
  • Radial Fan MenuA core button rotates to an X and fans five glowing stone-toned icon petals outward in a staggered spring arc; auto-cycles open/close as a demo.
  • Slide-in DrawerHamburger icon morphs to an X while a side panel slides in over a dark scrim, revealing four nav items with staggered fade-in animations.
  • Underline FollowA glowing emerald-to-tan gradient underline slides and resizes to follow hovered nav links; wanders idly across links when unhovered.