Droplet
React + Tailwind
const css = `
@keyframes loader-droplet-fall {
0% { transform: translateY(0) scaleY(0.6); opacity: 0; }
10% { transform: translateY(4px) scaleY(1); opacity: 1; }
42% { transform: translateY(58px) scaleY(1.25); opacity: 1; }
44%, 100% { transform: translateY(62px) scaleY(0.3); opacity: 0; }
}
@keyframes loader-droplet-ripple {
0%, 42% { transform: scale(0.1); opacity: 0; }
44% { opacity: 1; }
100% { transform: scale(1); opacity: 0; }
}
@keyframes loader-droplet-crown {
0%, 43% { transform: translate(0, 0) scale(0); opacity: 0; }
45% { transform: translate(0, 0) scale(1); opacity: 1; }
62% { transform: translate(calc(var(--x) * 0.6), -14px) scale(1); opacity: 1; }
78%, 100% { transform: translate(var(--x), 0) scale(0.6); opacity: 0; }
}
.loader-droplet { position: relative; width: 120px; height: 100px; }
.loader-droplet__drop {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 4px;
width: 12px;
height: 16px;
margin-left: -6px;
border-radius: 50% 50% 50% 50% / 62% 62% 38% 38%;
background: light-dark(#373a40, #f1f2f3);
transform-origin: 50% 100%;
animation: loader-droplet-fall 1.8s cubic-bezier(0.55, 0, 0.9, 0.5) infinite;
}
.loader-droplet__surface {
position: absolute;
left: 6px;
right: 6px;
top: 78px;
height: 1px;
background: linear-gradient(90deg, transparent, light-dark(#5f626a, #a7abb2), transparent);
}
.loader-droplet__ripple {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 78px;
width: 108px;
height: 20px;
margin: -10px 0 0 -54px;
border-radius: 50%;
border: 1.5px solid light-dark(#373a40, #f1f2f3);
opacity: 0;
animation: loader-droplet-ripple 1.8s cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1) infinite;
}
.loader-droplet__ripple:nth-of-type(2) { animation-delay: 0.22s; border-color: light-dark(#5f626a, #a7abb2); }
.loader-droplet__bead {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 74px;
width: 5px;
height: 5px;
margin-left: -2.5px;
border-radius: 50%;
background: light-dark(#373a40, #f1f2f3);
opacity: 0;
animation: loader-droplet-crown 1.8s cubic-bezier(0.3, 0.6, 0.5, 1) infinite;
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
.loader-droplet__drop, .loader-droplet__ripple, .loader-droplet__bead { animation-duration: 5s; }
}
`;
const BEADS = ['-16px', '-8px', '9px', '17px'];
export function DropletLoader() {
return (
<>
<style>
{css}
</style>
<div className="loader-droplet" role="status" aria-label="Loading">
<span className="loader-droplet__surface" aria-hidden="true" />
<span className="loader-droplet__ripple" aria-hidden="true" />
<span className="loader-droplet__ripple" aria-hidden="true" />
<span className="loader-droplet__drop" aria-hidden="true" />
{BEADS.map((x) => (
<span key={x} className="loader-droplet__bead" style={{ '--x': x } as React.CSSProperties} aria-hidden="true" />
))}
</div>
</>
);
}Markup where the component goes, CSS in your stylesheet. No JavaScript.
HTML
<div class="loader-droplet" role="status" aria-label="Loading">
<span class="loader-droplet__surface" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span class="loader-droplet__ripple" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span class="loader-droplet__ripple" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span class="loader-droplet__drop" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span class="loader-droplet__bead" style="--x:-16px" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span class="loader-droplet__bead" style="--x:-8px" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span class="loader-droplet__bead" style="--x:9px" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span class="loader-droplet__bead" style="--x:17px" aria-hidden="true"></span>
</div>CSS
@keyframes loader-droplet-fall {
0% { transform: translateY(0) scaleY(0.6); opacity: 0; }
10% { transform: translateY(4px) scaleY(1); opacity: 1; }
42% { transform: translateY(58px) scaleY(1.25); opacity: 1; }
44%, 100% { transform: translateY(62px) scaleY(0.3); opacity: 0; }
}
@keyframes loader-droplet-ripple {
0%, 42% { transform: scale(0.1); opacity: 0; }
44% { opacity: 1; }
100% { transform: scale(1); opacity: 0; }
}
@keyframes loader-droplet-crown {
0%, 43% { transform: translate(0, 0) scale(0); opacity: 0; }
45% { transform: translate(0, 0) scale(1); opacity: 1; }
62% { transform: translate(calc(var(--x) * 0.6), -14px) scale(1); opacity: 1; }
78%, 100% { transform: translate(var(--x), 0) scale(0.6); opacity: 0; }
}
.loader-droplet { position: relative; width: 120px; height: 100px; }
.loader-droplet__drop {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 4px;
width: 12px;
height: 16px;
margin-left: -6px;
border-radius: 50% 50% 50% 50% / 62% 62% 38% 38%;
background: light-dark(#373a40, #f1f2f3);
transform-origin: 50% 100%;
animation: loader-droplet-fall 1.8s cubic-bezier(0.55, 0, 0.9, 0.5) infinite;
}
.loader-droplet__surface {
position: absolute;
left: 6px;
right: 6px;
top: 78px;
height: 1px;
background: linear-gradient(90deg, transparent, light-dark(#5f626a, #a7abb2), transparent);
}
.loader-droplet__ripple {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 78px;
width: 108px;
height: 20px;
margin: -10px 0 0 -54px;
border-radius: 50%;
border: 1.5px solid light-dark(#373a40, #f1f2f3);
opacity: 0;
animation: loader-droplet-ripple 1.8s cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1) infinite;
}
.loader-droplet__ripple:nth-of-type(2) { animation-delay: 0.22s; border-color: light-dark(#5f626a, #a7abb2); }
.loader-droplet__bead {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 74px;
width: 5px;
height: 5px;
margin-left: -2.5px;
border-radius: 50%;
background: light-dark(#373a40, #f1f2f3);
opacity: 0;
animation: loader-droplet-crown 1.8s cubic-bezier(0.3, 0.6, 0.5, 1) infinite;
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
.loader-droplet__drop, .loader-droplet__ripple, .loader-droplet__bead { animation-duration: 5s; }
}Goal: Create a "Droplet" loader.
Visual behavior: A drop falls, stretching as it speeds up, splashes a crown of beads up off the surface and sends two ripples spreading outward.
Technique:
- The drop is a rounded teardrop shape that falls on an ease-in keyframe, stretching on scaleY as it accelerates and squashing as it hits.
- At impact (44% of the cycle) two elliptical ripple rings scale out and fade, the second a little behind.
- Four beads jump up and out from the impact point and fall back as a crown; each gets its spread in --x.
Accessibility: The root has role="status" and aria-label="Loading"; everything inside is decorative. Under prefers-reduced-motion the cycle slows to 5s.
My stack: {{USER_STACK}}
My styling: {{USER_STYLING}}
My constraints: {{USER_CONSTRAINTS}}
My colors: neutral only. Black, white and grays, no hues. Use the color values above as written, or my project's closest neutral tokens.
Return a single self-contained component. No dependencies.Goal: Create a "Droplet" loader.
Visual behavior: A drop falls, stretching as it speeds up, splashes a crown of beads up off the surface and sends two ripples spreading outward.
Technique:
- The drop is a rounded teardrop shape that falls on an ease-in keyframe, stretching on scaleY as it accelerates and squashing as it hits.
- At impact (44% of the cycle) two elliptical ripple rings scale out and fade, the second a little behind.
- Four beads jump up and out from the impact point and fall back as a crown; each gets its spread in --x.
Accessibility: The root has role="status" and aria-label="Loading"; everything inside is decorative. Under prefers-reduced-motion the cycle slows to 5s.
My stack: {{USER_STACK}}
My styling: {{USER_STYLING}}
My constraints: {{USER_CONSTRAINTS}}
My colors: use my project's existing color tokens. The color values above are grayscale placeholders. Map each one by its role (surface, text, border, accent, glow) to my theme, and keep their relative lightness so contrast and the effect still read.
Return a single self-contained component. No dependencies.Paste into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor after filling in {{USER_STACK}}, {{USER_STYLING}} and {{USER_CONSTRAINTS}}. Neutral keeps the greys you see here; Match my project asks the model to map them onto your own colour tokens.
Free to use in any project, commercial included. MIT-0, no attribution required. Licence
About this component
A drop falls, stretching as it speeds up, splashes a crown of beads up off the surface and sends two ripples spreading outward.
- Dependencies
- None
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Triggers
- continuous, loop, spring
- Techniques
- keyframes, css variables, transform only
- Reduced motion
- Respected
- Theme
- Light and dark (follows your page's color-scheme)
The root has role="status" and aria-label="Loading"; everything inside is decorative. Under prefers-reduced-motion the cycle slows to 5s.