SMRTR ProgrammingFeb 18, 2026Daily.dev

Spiral Scrollytelling in CSS With sibling-index()

SMRTR summary

A developer recreates a JavaScript-based text vortex scrolling effect using CSS's new sibling-index() function and scroll-timeline animation. The original JavaScript version struggled with mobile performance, requiring desktop-only deployment. This CSS approach uses sibling-index() and sibling-count() to calculate gradual property changes for each character, creating a spiral animation that performs smoothly across devices without main-thread JavaScript calculations.

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