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Indeterminate progress bar

Written byPhuoc Nguyen
Created
02 Oct, 2022
It is a variant of a progress bar. It is often used to inform users that a particular task is being processed but it's not possible to know when it will complete.

Layout

The progress bar is constructed by two elements, a container, and an inner bar:
<div class="progress-bar">
<div class="progress-bar__progress"></div>
</div>
The container has a background and rounded border:
.progress-bar {
/* Color */
background-color: #d1d5db;

/* Rounded border */
border-radius: 9999px;

/* Size */
height: 0.75rem;
}
The inner bar has similar styles with a different background color:
.progress-bar__progress {
/* Different background color */
background-color: #3b82f6;

/* Rounded border */
border-radius: 9999px;
}

Animation

We are going to position the inner bar absolutely to the container. The inner bar also occupies the half-width of its container:
.progress-bar {
position: relative;
}

.progress-bar__progress {
/* Absolute position */
position: absolute;
bottom: 0;
top: 0;

width: 50%;
}
To make the inner bar move from the left to the right side, we will use multiple keyframes indicating its positions at the beginning and end times:
@keyframes indeterminate {
from {
left: -50%;
}
to {
left: 100%;
}
}
Finally, run the animation without any delay:
.progress-bar__progress {
animation-duration: 2s;
animation-iteration-count: infinite;
animation-name: indeterminate;
}
The `animation-iteration-count: infinite` declaration tells the browser that the animation will loop forever, making the indeterminate effect.

See also

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Phước Nguyễn