Marquee Lights Text
Letters light up in the chase pattern of a theater marquee: every third bulb on, stepping along the sign. The delay is the letter index times one step, so any word chases without extra CSS.
Also known as: chasing lights text, theater marquee text, light bulb letters.
HTML
<div class="txt-marquee-lights-text" aria-label="Showtime"><span aria-hidden="true"><span style="--i: 0">S</span><span style="--i: 1">H</span><span style="--i: 2">O</span><span style="--i: 3">W</span><span style="--i: 4">T</span><span style="--i: 5">I</span><span style="--i: 6">M</span><span style="--i: 7">E</span></span></div>
CSS
.txt-marquee-lights-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;
display: inline-block;
padding: 0.25em 0.5em;
color: var(--c);
letter-spacing: 0.08em;
border: 0.12em dotted color-mix(in srgb, var(--c) 55%, transparent);
border-radius: 0.3em;}
.txt-marquee-lights-text span span {
display: inline-block;
color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--c) 40%, transparent);
animation: txt-marquee-lights-text-chase 0.9s linear infinite;
/* one 0.3s step per letter; minus three cycles so all are running on load */
animation-delay: calc(var(--i) * 0.3s - 2.7s);
}
@keyframes txt-marquee-lights-text-chase {
0%, 30%, 100% { color: var(--c); text-shadow: 0 0 0.3em color-mix(in srgb, var(--c) 70%, transparent); }
36%, 94% { color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--c) 40%, transparent); text-shadow: 0 0 0 transparent; }
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
.txt-marquee-lights-text, .txt-marquee-lights-text *, .txt-marquee-lights-text::before, .txt-marquee-lights-text::after, .txt-marquee-lights-text *::before, .txt-marquee-lights-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.