Marker Highlight Text
A felt marker swipes across one word, then comes back lower in the other direction, and the overlap goes darker like real ink. Two skewed pseudo-elements with ragged rounded ends.
Also known as: hand drawn highlight css, highlighter pen effect, marker pen text animation.
Ship it today
HTML
<div class="txt-marker-highlight-text">Ship it <span class="txt-marker-highlight-text-mark">today</span></div>
CSS
.txt-marker-highlight-text {
--c: var(--txt-color, #3b82f6);
font-size: var(--txt-size, 32px);
font-family: system-ui, sans-serif;
font-weight: 700;
line-height: 1.2;
white-space: nowrap;}
.txt-marker-highlight-text-mark {
position: relative;
isolation: isolate;
}
.txt-marker-highlight-text-mark::before,
.txt-marker-highlight-text-mark::after {
content: "";
position: absolute;
z-index: -1;
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--c) 40%, transparent);
border-radius: 0.6em 0.25em 0.5em 0.2em / 0.5em 0.35em 0.6em 0.3em;
}
/* first pass, left to right */
.txt-marker-highlight-text-mark::before {
inset: 0.14em -0.16em 0.34em -0.12em;
transform: rotate(-2deg) skewX(-14deg) scaleX(0);
transform-origin: 0 50%;
animation: txt-marker-highlight-text-there 0.45s cubic-bezier(0.5, 0, 0.25, 1) 0.3s forwards;
}
/* return pass, lower and shorter, right to left */
.txt-marker-highlight-text-mark::after {
inset: 0.5em -0.2em 0.02em 0.06em;
transform: rotate(1deg) skewX(-14deg) scaleX(0);
transform-origin: 100% 50%;
animation: txt-marker-highlight-text-back 0.4s cubic-bezier(0.5, 0, 0.25, 1) 0.72s forwards;
}
@keyframes txt-marker-highlight-text-there {
to { transform: rotate(-2deg) skewX(-14deg) scaleX(1); }
}
@keyframes txt-marker-highlight-text-back {
to { transform: rotate(1deg) skewX(-14deg) scaleX(1); }
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
.txt-marker-highlight-text, .txt-marker-highlight-text *, .txt-marker-highlight-text::before, .txt-marker-highlight-text::after, .txt-marker-highlight-text *::before, .txt-marker-highlight-text *::after {
animation-duration: 0.01ms !important;
animation-iteration-count: 1 !important;
transition-duration: 0.01ms !important;
}
}Customizing this snippet
- Color: set
--txt-coloron the element or a parent. Currently previewing#3b82f6. - Font size: set
--txt-size. Every other dimension is inem, so the whole thing scales together. Currently previewing40px. - Speed: change the duration on the
transitionoranimationshorthand. Staggered delays are relative, so they keep their rhythm. - Reduced motion: the rule at the end of the CSS turns the motion off for people who asked their OS for less of it. Keep it.