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Field shake, damped

Variant: Damped shake

A field refusing input with six decaying swings — 7px out to 1px, 70ms each. It runs 378ms, past the usual UI ceiling, because a shake is an oscillation and not an entrance: under three reversals it reads as a bump rather than a no. The first kick is ease-out so it leaves rest instantly; the interior swings are ease-in-out, since a pendulum decelerates into every reversal.

errorcontrol

The source

A complete HTML document. Paste it into an empty .html file and it plays — no stylesheet, script, font, or image to fetch.

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <title>Rejection — colour flash</title>
    <style>
      :root {
        --ivory: #faf9f5;
        --slate: #141413;
        --oat: #e3dacc;
        --rust: #b04a3f;
        --paper: #ffffff;
      }

      * {
        box-sizing: border-box;
        margin: 0;
        padding: 0;
      }

      body {
        min-height: 100vh;
        display: grid;
        place-items: center;
        background: var(--ivory);
        font-family:
          system-ui,
          -apple-system,
          'Segoe UI',
          Roboto,
          sans-serif;
        color: var(--slate);
      }

      .stack {
        display: grid;
        gap: 9px;
        justify-items: start;
        width: 184px;
      }

      .field {
        position: relative;
        width: 184px;
        height: 46px;
      }

      /* Nothing in this variant moves — no shake, no rise on the message. It is
         the version for validation that fires on every keystroke: seen dozens
         of times a session, so the motion budget goes to zero and colour does
         all of the work. */
      .surface {
        position: absolute;
        inset: 0;
        border-radius: 10px;
        background: var(--paper);
        border: 1.5px solid var(--oat);
      }

      .wash {
        position: absolute;
        inset: 0;
        border-radius: 10px;
        background: var(--rust);
        opacity: 0;
        animation: wash 2.6s infinite;
      }

      .edge {
        position: absolute;
        inset: 0;
        border-radius: 10px;
        border: 1.5px solid var(--rust);
        opacity: 0;
        animation: edge 2.6s infinite;
      }

      /* A real input, not a row of dots: the whole point of the variant is that
         it is the one you paste into a validation handler, and at card size a
         bordered box with type in it is what reads as a form. */
      .value {
        position: absolute;
        inset: 0;
        width: 100%;
        padding: 0 15px;
        border: 0;
        border-radius: 10px;
        background: none;
        font: inherit;
        font-size: 14px;
        letter-spacing: 0.24em;
        color: var(--slate);
        outline: none;
        animation: value-dim 2.6s infinite;
      }

      .msg {
        font-size: 12.5px;
        letter-spacing: 0.01em;
        color: var(--rust);
        opacity: 0;
        animation: msg 2.6s infinite;
      }

      /* A flash has an envelope, not a fade: it spikes to 15% in 60ms, decays
         to a 6% sustain over the next 140ms, then releases across 260ms. The
         spike is what the eye registers as a flash; the sustain is what keeps
         the field legible as "still wrong" while it is being read. */
      @keyframes wash {
        0%,
        20% {
          opacity: 0;
        }
        22.3% {
          opacity: 0.15;
        }
        27.7%,
        70% {
          opacity: 0.06;
        }
        80%,
        100% {
          opacity: 0;
        }
      }

      @keyframes edge {
        0%,
        20% {
          opacity: 0;
        }
        22.3%,
        70% {
          opacity: 1;
        }
        80%,
        100% {
          opacity: 0;
        }
      }

      @keyframes value-dim {
        0%,
        20% {
          opacity: 1;
        }
        23%,
        70% {
          opacity: 0.45;
        }
        80%,
        100% {
          opacity: 1;
        }
      }

      @keyframes msg {
        0%,
        20% {
          opacity: 0;
        }
        24%,
        70% {
          opacity: 1;
        }
        78%,
        100% {
          opacity: 0;
        }
      }

      @media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
        /* Already travel-free, so nothing is removed — only the spike, which is
           the one abrupt thing here. Even attack, gentler peak. */
        .wash {
          animation: wash-calm 2.6s ease infinite;
        }

        @keyframes wash-calm {
          0%,
          20% {
            opacity: 0;
          }
          28%,
          70% {
            opacity: 0.07;
          }
          82%,
          100% {
            opacity: 0;
          }
        }
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="stack" role="img" aria-label="Field flashing a validation error">
      <div class="field">
        <div class="surface"></div>
        <div class="wash"></div>
        <div class="edge"></div>
        <input class="value" type="text" value="482913" readonly tabindex="-1" aria-hidden="true" />
      </div>
      <p class="msg">Code expired</p>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

The variant family

Same idea, one axis moved. Compare them side by side before you commit.