Simple Countdown Timer With Pure HTML CSS (Free Download)

Welcome to a quick tutorial on how to create a countdown timer using pure CSS only. Want to create a countdown timer without any Javascript? Yes, it is possible with modern CSS animations and keyframes – Read on for the example!

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

DOWNLOAD & DEMO

Here is the download link to the example code, so you don’t have to copy-paste everything.

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Click here to download | Example on CodePen

Just click on “download zip” or do a git clone. I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

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CSS COUNTDOWN DEMO

3
2
1
POP!

This demo is set to loop infinitely for convenience. In the example below, the animation will end at “pop”.

 

 

CSS COUNTDOWN TIMER

All right, let us now get into the details of how the HTML CSS countdown timer works.

 

TUTORIAL VIDEO

 

PART 1) THE HTML

css-countdown.html
<div class="cwrap"><div class="cmove">
  <div class="cslide">3</div>
  <div class="cslide">2</div>
  <div class="cslide">1</div>
  <div class="cslide">POP!</div>
</div></div>

  • <div class="cslide"> Start by creating the “countdown number slides”.
  • Wrap the “number slides” in two wrappers.
    • <div class="cwrap"> The outer wrapper will be “fixed”.
    • <div class="cmove"> We will use CSS animation to shift this wrapper upward, so the numbers will appear to “countdown”.

 

PART 2) THE CSS

css-countdown.css
/* (A) OUTER WRAPPER & SLIDES - SAME DIMENSIONS */
.cwrap, .cslide { width: 300px; height: 250px; }
.cwrap { overflow: hidden; }
 
/* (B) SLIDE ANIMATION */
.cmove { position: relative; bottom: 0; }
@keyframes countdown {
  0% { bottom: 0; } 32% { bottom: 0; }
  33% { bottom: 100%; } 65% { bottom: 100%; }
  66% { bottom: 200%; } 99% { bottom: 200%; }
  100% { bottom: 300%; }
}
 
/* (C) ATTACH KEYFRAMES TO INNER WRAPPER */
.cmove { animation: 3s linear countdown forwards; }

This may seem rather intimidating to some beginners, but keep calm and study slowly.

  • (A) First, we set the outer wrapper and all “number slides” to the same dimensions.
  • (A) Hide the scrollbar on the outer wrapper, so it only displays one number at a time.
  • (B) As above, the trick is to use a relative bottom position to shift the inner wrapper.
  • (B) Create a set of keyframes to rotate through the numbers.
  • (C) Attach the keyframes to the wrapper, and let CSS do the magic.

 

 

EXTRAS

That’s all for the tutorial, and here is a small section on some extras and links that may be useful to you.

 

START ON CUE

extra-start.html
<style>
/* (C) START */
/* RENAME .CMOVE TO .GO */
.go { animation: 3s linear countdown forwards; }
</style>
 
<script>
window.addEventListener("load", () => {
  document.querySelector(".cmove").classList.add("go");
});
</script>

If you want the countdown to start on page load:

  • Do not attach the keyframes to the inner wrapper directly, change .cmove { animation... } to .go { animation... }.
  • Attach .go to the inner wrapper on page load… The only way to do this is with Javascript.

 

 

DO SOMETHING ON THE END

extra-start.html
<script>
document
  .querySelector(".cmove")
  .addEventListener("animationend", () => {
    // DO SOMETHING
    console.log("POP!");
  });
</script>

Once again, Javascript is required to “do something” when the countdown has reached the end.

 

INFOGRAPHIC CHEAT SHEET

CSS Countdown Timer (click to enlarge)

 

COMPATIBILITY CHECKS

Works on all modern “Grade A” browsers.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

 

THE END

Thank you for reading, and we have come to the end. I hope that it has helped you to better understand, and if you want to share anything with this guide, please feel free to comment below. Good luck and happy coding!