CSS Text Flip Effect? - html

Question

It's been many a year since I used css (there was no such thing as css3 at the time) so I'm struggling to understand how, on the following page;
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2013/01/how-to-build-a-threaded-comment-block-with-html5-and-css3/
The red links do a sort of flip maneuver on hover, I've tried deciphering the underlying css with 'inspect element' but it's like spaghetti, I tried pasting the class in to my file and assigning it with little in the way of results.
Is there a formal name for this effect, or can anyone give me an idea as to how it can be replicated?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

class "roll-link" is doing the magic here. The transition and transform properties are doing the cool effects. When you see -webkit- and -moz- and others that means it is for those browsers because the properties are not standard yet but some browsers want to support them anyway.
/* ROLL LINKS */
.roll-link {
display: inline-block;
overflow: hidden;
vertical-align: top;
-webkit-perspective: 600px;
-moz-perspective: 600px;
-ms-perspective: 600px;
perspective: 600px;
-webkit-perspective-origin: 50% 50%;
-moz-perspective-origin: 50% 50%;
-ms-perspective-origin: 50% 50%;
perspective-origin: 50% 50%;
}
.roll-link:hover {text-decoration:none;}
.roll-link span {
display: block;
position: relative;
padding: 0 2px;
-webkit-transition: all 400ms ease;
-moz-transition: all 400ms ease;
-ms-transition: all 400ms ease;
transition: all 400ms ease;
-webkit-transform-origin: 50% 0%;
-moz-transform-origin: 50% 0%;
-ms-transform-origin: 50% 0%;
transform-origin: 50% 0%;
-webkit-transform-style: preserve-3d;
-moz-transform-style: preserve-3d;
-ms-transform-style: preserve-3d;
transform-style: preserve-3d;
}
.roll-link:hover span {
background: #DD4D42;
-webkit-transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
-moz-transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
-ms-transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
}
.roll-link span:after {
content: attr(data-title);
display: block;
position: absolute;
left: 0;
top: 0;
padding: 0 2px;
color: #fff;
background: #DD4D42;
-webkit-transform-origin: 50% 0%;
-moz-transform-origin: 50% 0%;
-ms-transform-origin: 50% 0%;
transform-origin: 50% 0%;
-webkit-transform: translate3d( 0px, 105%, 0px ) rotateX( -90deg );
-moz-transform: translate3d( 0px, 105%, 0px ) rotateX( -90deg );
-ms-transform: translate3d( 0px, 105%, 0px ) rotateX( -90deg );
transform: translate3d( 0px, 105%, 0px ) rotateX( -90deg );
}
This part for example:
.roll-link:hover span {
background: #DD4D42;
-webkit-transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
-moz-transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
-ms-transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
}
This means that span elements inside an element with the roll-link class when hovered on will apply these styles, but will cease application of these styles when not hovering on them.
The CSS transform property is a little complicated, having several parts. A lot of guys here do not like w3schools but they are a good starting point for introductory education. http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css3_pr_transform.asp

Answer 2

Following is the code responsible for the rotation:
-webkit-transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
-moz-transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
-ms-transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
transform: translate3d( 0px, 0px, -30px ) rotateX( 90deg );
Here is a working JSFiddle