CSS fade left to right

Question

Is there a way to fade elements (at least just text) in and out going left to right or vice-versa using only CSS?

Here is an example of what I mean:

Actually, if it requires jQuery, I'll accept that too, just as a second priority.

Answer 1

Yes, you can do it with CSS3 animations (check browser support here).

Here's a simple demo for text-fading.

HTML:

.text {
        position:relative;
        line-height:2em;
        overflow:hidden;
    }
    .fadingEffect {
        position:absolute;
        top:0; bottom:0; right:0;
        width:100%;
        background:white;
        -moz-animation: showHide 5s ease-in alternate infinite; /* Firefox */
        -webkit-animation: showHide 5s ease-in alternate infinite; /* Safari and Chrome */
        -ms-animation: showHide 5s ease-in alternate infinite; /* IE10 */
        -o-animation: showHide 5s ease-in alternate infinite; /* Opera */
        animation: showHide 5s ease-in alternate infinite;
    }
    @-webkit-keyframes showHide { /* Chrome, Safari */
        0% {width:100%}
        40% {width:0%}
        60% {width:0%;}
        100% {width:100%;}
    }
    @-moz-keyframes showHide { /* FF */
        0% {width:100%}
        40% {width:0%}
        60% {width:0%;}
        100% {width:100%;}
    }
    @-ms-keyframes showHide { /* IE10 */
        0% {width:100%}
        40% {width:0%}
        60% {width:0%;}
        100% {width:100%;}
    }
    @-o-keyframes showHide { /* Opera */
        0% {width:100%}
        40% {width:0%}
        60% {width:0%;}
        100% {width:100%;}
    }
    @keyframes showHide {
        0% {width:100%}
        40% {width:0%}
        60% {width:0%;}
        100% {width:100%;}
    }

<div class="text">
    There is some text here!
    <div class="fadingEffect"></div>
 </div>

CSS:

​As you can see, there's a sharp contrast on the borders. If you use an image gradient instead of a pure white background it will render better.

Then, you can use a jQuery fallback for IE9 and below.