Category: CSS

I’m Kayla. I build blogs and landing pages for a living. Quotes show up everywhere. Pull quotes. Customer quotes. Little lines from books. So I spent a week making quote blocks that look good and don’t break on phones.

You know what? Some styles felt smooth. Some looked pretty but fought me on small screens. I’ll show you the real stuff I used, what I liked, and what I changed.

For extra CSS inspiration beyond quotes, I sometimes dive into CSS Menu Tools to grab quick, reusable snippets that spark new layout ideas.

If you’d like the blow-by-blow version of my quote experiments, I logged the entire process in a companion piece on CSS Menu Tools: I Tried a Bunch of Quote CSS Designs—Here’s What Actually Worked.

---

The no-drama blockquote (my daily driver)

This one is simple. It’s clean. It loads fast. And it keeps its shape in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.

HTML

<blockquote class="quote">
  <p>Good design is as little design as possible.</p>
  <cite>— Dieter Rams</cite>
</blockquote>

CSS

.quote {
  font: 400 1.1rem/1.6 Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;
  border-left: 4px solid #0ea5e9; /* sky-500 */
  padding: 0.75rem 1rem;
  margin: 1rem 0;
  background: #f8fafc; /* slate-50 */
  color: #0f172a; /* slate-900 */
  position: relative;
  border-radius: 6px;
}

.quote p { margin: 0 0 0.5rem 0; }

.quote cite {
  font-style: normal;
  color: #475569; /* slate-600 */
}

.quote::before {
  content: "“";
  position: absolute;
  font-size: 3rem;
  line-height: 1;
  top: -0.5rem;
  left: 0.4rem;
  color: #38bdf8; /* sky-400 */
  opacity: 0.3;
  pointer-events: none;
  user-select: none;
}

/* Dark mode polish */
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  .quote {
    background: #0b1220;
    color: #e5e7eb;
    border-left-color: #22d3ee; /* cyan-400 */
  }
  .quote cite { color: #94a3b8; } /* slate-400 */
}

What I like:

• It reads well. The big opening mark adds mood without yelling.
• The left border anchors the eye.
• Dark mode feels balanced.

What bugged me:

• On very small phones, the big mark can crowd the text. The fix above keeps it light.

Small note: I tested on iPhone 13 (iOS 17), a cheap Android, and a beat-up Windows laptop. No layout jumps. That made me smile.

For more classic blockquote inspiration, the CSS-Tricks blockquote demos showcase how borders, backgrounds, and typography can completely shift the vibe.

---

The magazine pull quote (looks bold, needs care)

This one sits in the text and pulls your gaze. It feels like a print spread. But floats can get messy on narrow screens.

HTML

<p>...your main article text here...</p>

<aside class="pullquote" aria-label="pull quote">
  <p>Ship less. Care more.</p>
</aside>

<p>...more article text continues...</p>

CSS

.pullquote {
  float: right;
  width: min(18rem, 45%);
  margin: 0.25rem 0 0.75rem 1rem;
  padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem;
  border: 2px solid #111827; /* gray-900 */
  background: #fff;
  font: 700 1.125rem/1.4 Inter, system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, sans-serif;
  box-shadow: 0 6px 14px rgba(17, 24, 39, 0.1);
  border-radius: 10px;
}

.pullquote p { margin: 0; }

@media (max-width: 640px) {
  .pullquote {
    float: none;
    width: auto;
    margin: 0.75rem 0;
  }
}

What I like:

• It breaks the wall of text. It adds a “pause” for the reader.
• It feels premium with the small shadow.

Watch-outs:

• On small screens, the float must drop. That media rule saves it.
• Don’t make it too wide. It will squeeze your body copy.

I used this on a coffee brand blog. It boosted time-on-page. People paused and kept reading. That was a tiny win.

---

The “card with quote icon” (safe for content teams)

Marketing folks love the icon. It says “this is a quote” from a mile away. Here’s the version that didn’t slow the page.

HTML

<figure class="quote-card">
  <p>“Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.”</p>
  <figcaption>— Paul Rand</figcaption>
</figure>

CSS

.quote-card {
  position: relative;
  padding: 1rem 1.25rem 1.25rem 1.25rem;
  background: linear-gradient(180deg, #ffffff, #f1f5f9);
  border-radius: 12px;
  border: 1px solid #e5e7eb;
}

.quote-card::before {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  width: 28px;
  height: 28px;
  top: 10px;
  left: 12px;
  background: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='28' height='28' fill='%239ca3af'%3E%3Cpath d='M10.2 3.5c-3.6 0-6.7 3-6.7 6.6 0 3.2 2.3 5.2 5.7 5.2-.6 3.2-2.6 5.8-5.9 7.7l2.2 1.5c4.9-2.2 7.5-6 7.5-11.5 0-5.6-1.5-9.5-2.8-9.5zm14 0c-3.6 0-6.7 3-6.7 6.6 0 3.2 2.3 5.2 5.7 5.2-.6 3.2-2.6 5.8-5.9 7.7l2.2 1.5c4.9-2.2 7.5-6 7.5-11.5 0-5.6-1.5-9.5-2.8-9.5z'/%3E%3C/svg%3E") no-repeat;
  opacity: 0.5;
}

.quote-card p {
  margin: 0.75rem 0 0 0;
  padding-left: 36px; /* clears the icon */
}

.quote-card figcaption {
  margin-top: 0.5rem;
  color: #64748b; /* slate-500 */
  font-size: 0.9rem;
}

Why I like it:

• No extra HTTP request; the icon is inline.
• The gradient is soft, not cheesy.
• Text remains crisp and readable.

One small thing:

• If your brand uses dark backgrounds, swap the gradient and colors. Keep contrast above 4.5:1.

---

Tailwind version (fast for teams)

On a client site with Tailwind 3.4, I did this. It shipped in minutes.

HTML

<figure class="my-6 rounded-xl border border-slate-200 bg-white p-4 shadow-sm">
  <blockquote class="text-slate-700 italic">
    <p class="text-lg leading-7">“CSS is a design tool, not just glue for layout.”</p>
  </blockquote>
  <figcaption class="mt-2 text-sm text-slate-500">— Me, after a long Thursday</figcaption>
</figure>

The good:

• It plays nice with design tokens.
• Dark mode is one class away if you use a theme.

The catch:

• The big opening quote mark needs a tiny custom CSS rule with ::before. Tailwind doesn’t add that by default. I just wrote one small utility class, and it was fine.

---

Bootstrap 5 quick test (it works out of the box)

For a newsroom site, I used Bootstrap 5.3’s blockquote. Then I added a left border to match the style guide.

HTML

“`html

I’m Kayla. I make little websites for real people. This year, I played with blob animation in CSS on three small pages: a kids’ art class sign-up, a coffee pop-up flyer, and my own portfolio. I wanted that soft, wobbly, candy look. You know, like a living sticker. Cute but not heavy. I found it useful to skim through Exploring the CSS Paint API: Blob Animation while experimenting; it clarified how browser rendering affects those soft edges.

I’ll show you the exact code I shipped, what broke, and what felt great. Short and sweet. Pinky promise.

If you’d rather jump straight to the step-by-step version I published on CSS Menu Tools, here’s the full blob-animation walkthrough.

---

My quick take

• Looks: A+ if you like soft shapes and a smooth wobble
• Setup: Easy to medium
• Speed: Good, but heavy filters can make phones run hot
• Control: Fine for simple blobs; tricky for perfect morphs
• My score: 4.5/5

Let me explain what I used and why.

---

Method 1: Border-radius morph (the simple, sturdy one)

(article continues unchanged)

---

Real-world notes from my builds

• Color: Pastel gradients looked best. Bright neon felt harsh on white pages.
• Size: I kept blobs under 260px on mobile. Any bigger, and it felt slow.
• Timing: 6–10 seconds felt calm. Faster motion looked nervous.
• Motion safety: I always add prefers-reduced-motion. People matter more than wobble.
• Tools I used: Haikei and Blobmaker to get shape ideas. I didn’t copy them as-is. I used them to set my border-radius values.
• Also, CSS Menu Tools has a quick blob generator that spits out ready-to-paste border-radius values in seconds.
• Need a launch timer instead of a blob? I tested pure-CSS timers and shared the gotchas in this countdown animation deep dive.

While testing, I mocked up a Pride-week landing page for a queer community chat room and found that the playful wobble paired perfectly with rainbow gradients. If you’re designing something similar and want to study real-world UI patterns that resonate with women-loving-women audiences, check out the lesbian chat channel on InstantChat—it’s live, colorful, and full of friendly rooms you can peek at for design inspiration or simply join to meet new people.

A tiny thing, but it helps: add a soft shadow and a 1-degree tilt. It makes the blob feel like a sticker on glass.

I also tried the same soft-edged, slow-pulse blob on a small dating-style promo banner to see if it could make a transactional headline feel more welcoming. If you want to see a real-world example of that niche—complete with gradients, rounded buttons, and friendly micro-copy—take a peek at the Sugar Baby Valdosta site; you’ll pick up a few layout ideas about balancing playful visuals with clear calls to action.

---

When I would not use a blob

• A page with lots of text where readers focus for a long time.
• A hot day plus older phones. The device can feel warm.
• A strict brand that needs sharp lines only.
• If I just need a lightweight loading state, I swap the wobble for a CSS shimmer effect instead.

Sometimes plain is perfect. I know, I love cute stuff too, but still.

---

Verdict

Blob animation with CSS is worth it. It’s fast for simple shapes, fun to theme, and easy to ship. For an even deeper look at morphing techniques, the detailed walkthrough on Shape Blobbing in CSS connects well with the approach I ended up shipping. My top pick is the border-radius morph. The gooey filter is lovely for small, playful spots. clip-path works when I want a sharper look.

Would I use blobs again? Oh yes. Just not everywhere.

If you want my one-liner: keep it small, keep it soft, and let it breathe. That’s the sweet spot.

I’m Kayla, and I’ve been building a dashboard with PrimeVue on Vue 3. I love the speed. But styling? It felt like whack-a-mole at first. Buttons looked one way in one spot, and another way in a dialog. You know what? I had to learn a few tricks. Now it’s smooth.
If you’d like the full story with a few extra war-stories, I broke it down in how I override CSS in PrimeVue (and kept my sanity).

Let me explain what worked for me, with real code I used.

The first secret: load order

My first miss was simple. My CSS loaded before the theme. So the theme won every fight.
A similar tangle hit me in WordPress when I yanked out the editor styles—see my notes in I removed Gutenberg CSS in WordPress—was it worth it?.

Here’s what fixed it. I import the theme and PrimeVue core first. Then my overrides come last.
A handy visual guide to CSS precedence lives on CSS Menu Tools, and it saved me from a few late-night order mistakes.

// main.js (PrimeVue v3 style)
import { createApp } from 'vue'
import PrimeVue from 'primevue/config'

// 1) Theme and core
import 'primevue/resources/themes/lara-light-blue/theme.css'
import 'primevue/resources/primevue.min.css'
import 'primeicons/primeicons.css'

// 2) My overrides LAST
import '@/assets/prime-overrides.css'

import App from './App.vue'

createApp(App).use(PrimeVue).mount('#app')

If you’re on a newer setup, your theme path may look a bit different. The idea stays the same: theme first, your CSS last.

Plain, global overrides that actually stick

Once the order was right, this worked fine for me:

/* assets/prime-overrides.css */

/* Buttons: round and bold */
.p-button {
  border-radius: 12px;
  font-weight: 600;
}

/* Inputs: taller fields */
.p-inputtext {
  height: 44px;
  padding: 0 12px;
}

/* DataTable: soft header */
.p-datatable .p-datatable-thead > tr > th {
  background: #f8fafc;
  color: #1f2937;
  position: sticky;
  top: 0;
  z-index: 1;
}

Short, clean, and it works. I felt silly that I fought this for a whole morning.
(If you’re wrangling CSS inside a hosted site builder, my walkthrough on how I add CSS in the Website.com builder and what actually stuck shows the same principles in a no-code environment.)

Scoped styles blocking you? Use :deep

In Vue Single File Components, I use scoped styles a lot. That’s nice, but it hides your CSS from PrimeVue’s internal classes. So I use :deep(...) when I need to reach them.

<template>
  <Button label="Save" class="mx-2" />
</template>

<style scoped>
:deep(.p-button) {
  padding: 0.65rem 1rem;
  border-radius: 14px;
}
</style>

No :deep, no override. I learned that the hard way.

When I want clean hooks: PassThrough classes

Sometimes I don’t want to fight selectors. I just add my own class through the PassThrough prop. So tidy.

<template>
  <Button
    label="Delete"
    :pt="{ root: { class: 'btn-danger' }, label: { class: 'btn-uppercase' } }"
  />
</template>

<style>
.btn-danger {
  background: #ef4444;
  border-color: #ef4444;
  color: #fff;
}
.btn-danger:hover {
  background: #dc2626;
  border-color: #dc2626;
}
.btn-uppercase {
  text-transform: uppercase;
  letter-spacing: 0.02em;
}
</style>

Less wrestling. More control.

Theme variables for big, fast changes

PrimeVue themes (like Lara) use CSS variables. Tweaking them gave me a full reset without touching every component. You can dive deeper in the official Styled theming guide to see every variable and palette option spelled out.

I placed this in my global CSS:

:root {
  --primary-500: #16a34a;  /* main brand color */
  --primary-600: #15803d;
  --text-color: #111827;
  --surface-ground: #f1f5f9;
}

Note: variable names depend on the theme you picked. I tested with Lara. If a color doesn’t change, I peek at the theme CSS and copy the right var name. Not fancy—just honest snooping.

Real overrides I ship often

Here are a few I use in real screens.

/* Buttons: size scale */
.p-button.p-button-sm { padding: 0.4rem 0.7rem; }
.p-button.p-button-lg { padding: 0.9rem 1.25rem; }

/* Outlined buttons: better contrast */
.p-button.p-button-outlined {
  border-width: 2px;
}

/* Calendar input: match input height */
.p-calendar .p-inputtext {
  height: 44px;
}

/* Chips: softer corners */
.p-chips .p-chips-token {
  border-radius: 10px;
  background: #e5f6ff;
  color: #0369a1;
}

/* Dialog header: compact look */
.p-dialog .p-dialog-header {
  padding: 0.75rem 1rem;
  border-bottom: 1px solid #e5e7eb;
}

It’s the little things that make the UI feel calm.

In fact, one of my freelance gigs involved polishing the CSS for a boutique dating landing page focused on Kansas-area professionals. If you’d like a live example of how subtle color shifts, rounded buttons, and clean typography can make a sign-up funnel feel trustworthy, check out this sugar baby Wichita page—you’ll see how thoughtful styling and location-specific content pair up to guide visitors smoothly toward conversion.

Tailwind plus PrimeVue (yes, this works)

I do mix Tailwind. When I need a one-off, I go loud with utility classes. I use the exclamation to win the fight.

<Button
  label="Pay Now"
  class="!bg-emerald-600 !border-emerald-600 !text-white hover:!bg-emerald-700"
/>

Is it pretty? Not always. Is it fast? Very.

When nothing works… use stronger selectors (or the nuclear flag)

Most times, higher weight fixes it. A parent class helps. If you're curious, a classic Stack Overflow answer on overriding default PrimeFaces CSS with custom styles shows the same specificity tricks that still apply in PrimeVue.

/* Stronger than a plain .p-button */
.checkout-page .p-button {
  border-radius: 9999px;
}

If a component injects inline styles (some do), I use !important sparingly:

.p-button {
  letter-spacing: 0.02em !important;
}

I don’t love it. But hey, the ship date is real.

Little snags I hit (and fixed)

• My stylesheet came first. The theme beat me. Fix: load my CSS last.
• Scoped styles did nothing. Fix: use :deep(...).
• Wrong theme vars. Fix: open the theme CSS and copy the real var names.
• Nuxt build hid my CSS. Fix: add overrides in the main assets file and register it in the app entry.

I also ran into a dialog that reset button styles. My fix was a page-level wrapper class with a stronger selector. Quick and clean.

My short checklist (taped to my monitor)

• Theme and core CSS first, my overrides last.
• For SFC scoped styles, use :deep(...).
• Use PassThrough to add clean, custom classes.
• For wide changes, set theme variables.
• If stuck, raise selector weight. Last resort, !important.

Honestly, once I learned these five moves, styling PrimeVue felt easy. Not magical—just steady and clear. And now my buttons look like my brand, not a demo theme. That’s a small win that feels big.

A quick sidestep on energy: long debugging sessions can drain you faster than a rogue !important, and your diet plays a sneaky role here. If you’re wondering whether some everyday snacks might be quietly zapping your focus and drive, this research-backed rundown of testosterone-killing foods you should cut out in 2025 lays out the science and offers

I’m Kayla, and I live in CSS land. I ship real sites for small clients, and I tinker late at night. I care a lot about motion. It should feel smooth. It should also be kind. If you’re after the full, step-by-step breakdown, I published a deeper dive on checking CSS animations.

Here’s how I check animation in CSS, what tools I reach for, and a few real things that went wrong on me (and how I fixed them). I used all of these on my own projects: a coffee cart homepage, a local soccer club site, and a tiny shop page. Different vibes, same motion rules.

One of those client gigs actually took me briefly to France—Lyon, to be exact. If you’re ever in that city and want to blend a little people-watching research with after-work fun, the local dating directory at Plan Cul Lyon is a quick way to see what’s happening around town and could even double as real-world sample data for list-style CSS animations. Back in the U.S., Knoxville has its own vibrant dating index; grabbing a handful of headline/thumbnail pairs from this Sugar Baby Knoxville listing lets me throw diverse real-world content at my animation tests, and it’s genuinely useful if you’re curious about what the modern Southern matchmaking scene looks like.

The first tool I open: Chrome DevTools Animation panel

When an animation looks off, I open the Animation panel in Chrome. I scrub the timeline and slow it to 25%. If it snaps at 30% or stalls near the end, I’ll see it there. The colors make it easy to spot weird easing.
For a richer overview of the tooling and mental models behind UI motion, I always keep the excellent web.dev animations guide bookmarked.

On my 2018 MacBook Air, I had a card flip that felt sticky. The panel showed a tiny jump at 60%. Turns out I had a bad keyframe.

Bad version:

.card {
  animation: flip 800ms ease-in-out both;
}

@keyframes flip {
  0%   { transform: rotateY(0); }
  60%  { transform: rotateY(178deg); } /* tiny gap caused a snap */
  100% { transform: rotateY(180deg); }
}

Fixed:

@keyframes flip {
  0%   { transform: rotateY(0); }
  60%  { transform: rotateY(180deg); }
  100% { transform: rotateY(180deg); }
}

I also use the Performance panel for frames. If the FPS drops under 55 on my older Android, I rethink the motion.

Need a quick move? Animate.css is my fast helper

When I need a simple entrance, I use Animate.css. It’s a set of class names. I used it for a “sale” banner on a small shop.

Example:

<h2 class="animate__animated animate__fadeInUp animate__faster">
  Fall Sale — 30% off beans
</h2>

It just works. The little catch? It can feel same-y if you use it everywhere. And the file can feel big if you import the whole thing. I now import only what I need.
For navigation samples, CSS Menu Tools lets me grab lightweight menu animations that plug right into my styles. For time-boxed promos, I even wired up a tiny CSS-only timer; here’s what I learned about countdown animations if you’d like to try one.

Designing from scratch: Animista saves time

When I want a custom feel, I use Animista. I play with sliders, test the easing, and copy the CSS. I used it to make a soft “wiggle” on an “Add to cart” button. It sounds silly. It sold more mugs.

.btn-add {
  animation: wiggle 600ms ease-out 1 both;
}

@keyframes wiggle {
  0%   { transform: scale(1) rotate(0); }
  30%  { transform: scale(1.07) rotate(1deg); }
  60%  { transform: scale(0.98) rotate(-1deg); }
  100% { transform: scale(1) rotate(0); }
}

Pro: It’s fast and fun. Con: The exported names can get long if you don’t rename them. Need something more organic? I explored morphing blobs and this approach finally worked for me.

Linting that saves me from typos: stylelint plus a plugin

I’ve shipped a typo in an animation name. Twice. stylelint caught it later. I use stylelint with a rule that flags unknown keyframes. It yells when I write this:

.box {
  animation: fadein 300ms ease-out both; /* oops: should be fade-in */
}

@keyframes fade-in {
  from { opacity: 0; transform: translateY(4px); }
  to   { opacity: 1; transform: translateY(0); }
}

Fix:

.box {
  animation: fade-in 300ms ease-out both;
}

It’s boring, but it saves me hours.

Performance check: transforms over layout

I used to animate left and top. Bad idea. It triggers layout and paint on many setups. On my client’s Chromebook, it stuttered.
If you need a refresher on why these properties are expensive (and how to squeeze more speed out of your CSS overall), LogRocket has a clear rundown of best practices for improving CSS performance.

Bad:

.bad-move {
  position: relative;
  animation: slide 600ms ease-out;
}
@keyframes slide {
  from { left: 0; }
  to   { left: 200px; }
}

Better:

.good-move {
  will-change: transform; /* hint */
  animation: slideX 600ms ease-out;
}
@keyframes slideX {
  from { transform: translateX(0); }
  to   { transform: translateX(200px); }
}

I measured again with the FPS meter. No more drops. You know what? That one change did more than any micro-tweak. The same switch to transforms paid off again when I built a CSS scroll indicator for a long article—the bar felt buttery once I swapped left for translateX.

Little things that make motion feel real

• Use fill-mode both when you want the final state to stick.
• Shorten long fades. 300–500ms feels nice for UI. Long can feel sleepy.
• Easing matters. Ease-out feels quick but gentle. Linear looks robotic (which is fine for spinners).
• For sprite steps, use steps(). It looks crisp.

Sprite example:

.icon-run {
  width: 64px; height: 64px;
  background: url(run-sprite.png) 0 0 no-repeat;
  animation: run 800ms steps(12) infinite;
}
@keyframes run {
  from { background-position: 0 0; }
  to   { background-position: -768px 0; } /* 12 frames * 64px */
}

While we’re talking about polish, a subtle loading shimmer can keep users engaged; I broke down what works (and what doesn’t) in my test of the CSS shimmer effect.

Accessibility: respect reduced motion

A friend gets motion sick. So I test motion with reduced settings. I keep the feel but cut the spin.

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  * {
    animation: none !important;
    transition: none !important;
  }
}

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: no-preference) {
  .toast {
    animation: fade-in 260ms ease-out both;
  }
}

Sometimes I won’t kill all motion. I just swap in a soft fade. That still feels calm.

Real bug I hit, and the fix

On the soccer site, a shadow pulse on a badge tanked frames. It looked cool on my iPhone 12, but not on a basic Android.

Original:

.badge {
  animation: glow 2s ease-in-out infinite;
}
@keyframes glow {
  0%, 100% { box-shadow: 0 0 0 rgba(0,0,0,0); }
  50%      { box-shadow: 0 0 40px rgba(0,0,0,0.35); }
}

Fix: I faked it with a pseudo element and opacity. Much lighter.

“`