Focus Text
Four corner brackets glide from word to word through a paragraph and resize to fit each one. The framed word stays sharp while the rest of the text softens, so your statement reads one word at a time as people scroll or hover.
One of 120 GSAP components in React, Vue and HTML.
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How it's built.
The first version framed each word by its box, and the brackets floated well clear of the letters, mostly above them, because a word's box carries the space between the lines. So the frame now fits the letters themselves. It sits right on a short word like "for", drops a little lower for one like "pace" and leaves the same gap on every side. The brackets are sized from the text too, so they grow and shrink with it.
The blur doesn't switch on at the edge of the frame. It builds over the next few words, so the words around the focus stay almost readable and only the far end of the paragraph goes fully soft. When the frame moves, the corners on the side it's heading to set off first and the others follow, so it leans into each move instead of sliding across as one block. Scroll picks the word but the glide runs on its own time, so the frame never stops halfway between two words.
Run it on scroll or on hover, swap the blur for a plain fade, and pick the colour, length and line of the brackets and how much room they leave around the word.
What you'll need.
Install
- GSAP
- ScrollTrigger
- SplitText
- CustomEase
Attributes, tips, use cases and full code are part of access.
The preview and provenance stay public. Tune-it docs, the data-anm-* attribute table, real-world use cases and the copy-ready code unlock the moment you sign in.
Frequently asked
- Does Focus Text work with React and Vue?
- Focus Text ships as React (Next.js included), Vue 3 (Nuxt included), plain HTML/CSS/JS - the same animation in each format. The React version uses the official useGSAP hook with cleanup handled; the Vue version is a real single-file component with <script setup>.
- Do I need GSAP to use Focus Text?
- Yes. Focus Text is built on GSAP directly, and GSAP has been 100% free for commercial use, including every plugin, since version 3.13. The component page lists exactly what to install.
- Can I customize Focus Text without editing code?
- Focus Text exposes 11 tunable controls in the Customize panel on this page - drag the values, watch the live preview respond, and the code you copy carries your exact settings.
- Is Focus Text free?
- Focus Text is part of the Annnimate Library, a paid subscription (from EUR 29/month billed quarterly, or EUR 240/year). The live preview and customization run free on this page; the paste-ready code is for members.
- What if Focus Text is not right for my project?
- Annnimate comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee. If Focus Text or the library does not fit your project, reply to your receipt within 14 days for a full refund of your first payment. The refund policy has the details.
- Can I use Focus Text in client projects?
- Yes. The Annnimate license covers commercial and client work - ship Focus Text on as many projects as you build, with no attribution required.
- Does Focus Text respect prefers-reduced-motion?
- Yes. Every Annnimate component handles prefers-reduced-motion via gsap.matchMedia, so users who opt out of motion get an effectively instant, readable state.
