How to debug animations and control the timeline using the Animations panel?

Creating smooth and beautiful animations using CSS or web animations requires careful tuning of timing and transition smoothness. However, debugging fast-moving elements visually can be extremely inconvenient, as the developer does not always have time to notice stuttering or movement errors. The special Animations panel in the developer tools allows you to slow down, pause, and frame-by-frame analyze any animations on the page.

To access this panel, open the developer tools, bring up the command menu, and find the animations tool. The panel automatically starts recording all animations on the page at the moment they appear. Each running animation is displayed on the timeline as a separate block indicating the name of the target element and the total execution duration.

Using the controls on the panel, you can completely pause animation playback at any time or change its playback speed. Ten-fold and hundred-fold slow-motion modes are available, which allows you to closely examine each frame and ensure there are no visual artifacts. By clicking on a specific animation on the timeline, you will get access to its visual Bézier curve editor.

This editor allows you to interactively adjust the parameters of the motion easing function by visually moving control points directly in the panel. Changes are applied instantly, allowing you to choose the perfect balance of interface dynamics. This approach eliminates the need to constantly switch between the code editor and the browser to pick the correct numerical animation values.