How TO - CSS Loader


Learn how to create a preloader with CSS.


How To Create a Loader

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Step 1) Add HTML:

Example

<div class="loader"></div>
Step 2) Add CSS:

Example

.loader {
  border: 16px solid #f3f3f3; /* Light grey */
  border-top: 16px solid #3498db; /* Blue */
  border-radius: 50%;
  width: 120px;
  height: 120px;
  animation: spin 2s linear infinite;
}

@keyframes spin {
  0% { transform: rotate(0deg); }
  100% { transform: rotate(360deg); }
}
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Example Explained

The border property specifies the border size and the border color of the loader. The border-radius property transforms the loader into a circle.

The blue thing that spins around inside the border is specified with the border-top property. You can also include border-bottom, border-left and/or border-right if you want more "spinners" (see example below).

The size of the loader is specified with the width and height properties.

At last, we add an animation that makes the blue thing spin forever with a 2 second animation speed.

Note: You should also include a -webkit- prefix for browsers that do not support animation and transform properties. Click on the example to see how.



Add more spinners

Example

.loader {
  border-top: 16px solid blue;
  border-bottom: 16px solid blue;
}
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Example

.loader {
  border-top: 16px solid blue;
  border-right: 16px solid green;
  border-bottom: 16px solid red;
}
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Example

.loader {
  border-top: 16px solid blue;
  border-right: 16px solid green;
  border-bottom: 16px solid red;
  border-left: 16px solid pink;
}
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Another Example

An example of how to place the loader in the middle of the page and show "page content" when loading is complete:

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