Special effects such as smooth scrolling, page transitions or CSS animations can add some welcome personality to your WordPress website. Use them to call attention to important information, enhance UX and take your designs up a notch.

Here are some free WordPress plugins you can use to add a variety of effects to your site:

Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks

If you’re looking for an easy way to draw attention to an element of your page, Blocks Animation is worth a look. It works natively with the Gutenberg block editor, allowing you to add animation to any block via a settings panel. Choose your desired animation style, delay, and speed.

Animator – Scroll Triggered Animations

Scroll-triggered animations are very popular these days but can be tricky to set up. Animator provides a slick GUI that takes the pain out of the process. The plugin features a selection of ready-to-use animations, but you may also create your own. Pick an animation, set the scroll position, and you’re good to go.

Image Hover Effects Ultimate

Image Hover Effects Ultimate includes several handy and compelling animations for your images. The image comparison effect, for example, allows visitors to compare “before” and “after” versions of an image. Also included are hover animations for buttons, flip boxes, captions, and more.

Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks

Greenshift is built with an eye toward performance. Rather than use large frameworks to power animation, elements are generated on-the-fly. The plugin also utilizes CSS3 and SVG, allowing for flexibility without hurting your site’s load time.

Animate It!

Adding CSS3 animations to your site is easy with Animate It!. The plugin combines the Animate.css and Animo.js libraries in one package containing over 50 animations. Animations can be applied on user events like scroll, hover and click.

Page Animations and Transitions

Page Animations and Transitions offer a selection of nine different “in” and “out” page transitions. You can also set duration times for transitions.

Easy Textillate

Add animations to any text on your site with Easy Textillate. The plugin includes the textillate.js, animate.css and lettering.js libraries to provide all sorts of excellent effects for your typography. Generate Shortcodes with the animation styles you want, place them into your content and watch them go!

Ultimate Hover Effects

Use Ultimate Hover Effects to add some life to your image captions. Select an image from the WordPress Media Library and set up the hover effects you want to use. Then it’s just a matter of embedding it into a post or page. A Shortcode generator is also included.

Page scroll to id

Page scroll to id adds smooth-scrolling effects to in-page navigation using CSS ID elements. You can set the scroll duration and easing – with over 30 easing types to choose from. Both vertical and horizontal scrolling is supported and offsets can be configured for individual links.

CSS3 Rotating Words

CSS3 Rotating Words is a handy plugin with a simple function: Rotating a word or words in a sentence using animation. For example, you might have a sentence where you want to change one word:

• WordPress is Fun
• WordPress is Awesome

Choose from five animation styles and also set the font color and size.

Make Your Site Special

The right mix of special effects can bring elements of both fun and utility to your WordPress website. Of course, it’s best to pick and choose carefully when deciding what to use.

A good rule of thumb is to always keep the best interests of users in mind. If a feature increases usability or makes your site more enjoyable to use, then it might be worth your while.