Spotlight Text

A moving-highlight text effect that guides attention across selected words, metrics, and short product claims.

Published On: February 10, 2026
Last Updated: August 17, 2026
Spotlight Text

Overview

Spotlight Text helps important words arrive with intent: a highlight moves across the words.

Best on short, high-emphasis text: headlines, launch lines, section openers, proof points. Avoid it on body copy, errors, legal text, or instructions, where legibility cannot be negotiable.

The thing to watch is the text disappearing into the effect. Ship the final phrase as genuine HTML, keep per-character motion out of the accessibility tree, and serve the settled, legible text immediately when motion is reduced.


Install Command

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Usage Code

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Component Code

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This is a Pro Effect.

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Example Production Use Case

Use this as text-animation implementation guidance. Verify the shipped component API, splitting strategy, accessible text exposure, duplicated span handling, layout reservation, and reduced-motion behavior before relying on exact props, defaults, imports, or installation steps.


Best Used For

  • Short claims, metrics, or product phrases where one phrase needs guided emphasis.
  • Text moments where the highlight supports attention without hiding the sentence.
  • Spotlight Text makes a short phrase arrive with timing while keeping the final text readable and indexable.

Not For

Avoid it on body copy, labels, error and legal text, or any wording that has to be read on sight.


Performance Budget

Move only the words that carry weight, pre-reserve their space to avoid shift, and skip costly filters on large text blocks.


Accessibility and Mobile

Assistive technology should hear the phrase once, not character by character; visually split fragments are hidden from the accessibility tree with aria-hidden.


Common Mistakes

  • Using Spotlight Text on long body copy.
  • Removing the readable text from the DOM.
  • Letting split text cause layout shift.

Changelog

v1.1.0

Jul 30, 2026
Removed text and width-style content controls and added working base color, spotlight color, lerp, spotlight size, and smoothness controls.

Props

PropTypeDefaultDescription
baseTextColorstring#525252Dim base text color.
spotlightColorstring#ffffffText color inside the spotlight.
lerpnumber0.08Pointer-follow smoothing amount; higher values track faster.
spotlightSizenumber220Spotlight radius in pixels.
smoothnessnumber0.12Spotlight opacity smoothing amount.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I use Spotlight Text?

Use it when a headline needs a highlight moving across the words.

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