Motion & interaction
Keyboard actions stay instant
Keyboard-driven actions are repeated constantly. Do not animate shortcuts, command palettes, or focus movement in ways that delay the result.
panel 0ms · keypress 90ms — the result is the feedback
panel 240ms · keypress 90ms — your keystroke waits for a cartoon
Keyboard panel: 0ms
Keyboard panel: 240ms
How to apply it
- 1
Land the shortcut result on the same frame as the keypress by updating state before, or independent of, any animation.
- 2
Never gate command palette open or close on a transition-end event.
- 3
Move focus synchronously and animate only the focus ring afterward, not the move itself.
- 4
Test rapid repeated keypresses to confirm no animation backlog queues up.
Why it works
Keyboard input assumes near-zero perceived latency, since repetition amplifies any added delay into visible lag. Shortcuts, palette toggles, and focus moves must resolve without waiting on a transition to finish.
What breaks
A shortcut that waits for a slide-in transition before revealing its result trains users to distrust the keyboard path, and they fall back to slower mouse navigation.
Review questions
- 1
Does pressing a shortcut show its result instantly, with no visible wait?
- 2
Does the command palette open on keypress without a delay?
- 3
Does focus move immediately when triggered from the keyboard?