Follow the Leader

A pure CSS orbital spinner where dots rotate around a centre point with staggered delays and fading opacity, creating a follow-the-leader trailing effect.

Generated using Grepped's AI UI component generator — created from scratch, not pulled from a library.

spinnerorbittraildotsloaderfade

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Design Intent

An orbiting dots spinner where each dot follows the previous one with a fading trail effect.

CSS

css
body { margin: 0; min-height: 100vh; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; background: #0f0f0f; }

    @keyframes follow-the-leader {
      0%       { transform: rotate(0deg)   translateY(-200%); }
      60%, 100%{ transform: rotate(360deg) translateY(-200%); }
    }

    .follow-the-leader-line {
      height: 14px;
      position: relative;
      width: 14px;
    }
    .follow-the-leader-line div {
      animation: follow-the-leader 1.25s infinite backwards;
      background-color: #ffffff;
      border-radius: 100%;
      height: 100%;
      width: 100%;
      position: absolute;
    }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(1) { animation-delay: 0.15s; opacity: 0.9; }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(2) { animation-delay: 0.30s; opacity: 0.8; }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(3) { animation-delay: 0.45s; opacity: 0.7; }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(4) { animation-delay: 0.60s; opacity: 0.6; }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(5) { animation-delay: 0.75s; opacity: 0.5; }

HTML

html
<div class="follow-the-leader-line">
    <div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>
  </div>

Full Source

html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <style>
    body { margin: 0; min-height: 100vh; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; background: #0f0f0f; }

    @keyframes follow-the-leader {
      0%       { transform: rotate(0deg)   translateY(-200%); }
      60%, 100%{ transform: rotate(360deg) translateY(-200%); }
    }

    .follow-the-leader-line {
      height: 14px;
      position: relative;
      width: 14px;
    }
    .follow-the-leader-line div {
      animation: follow-the-leader 1.25s infinite backwards;
      background-color: #ffffff;
      border-radius: 100%;
      height: 100%;
      width: 100%;
      position: absolute;
    }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(1) { animation-delay: 0.15s; opacity: 0.9; }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(2) { animation-delay: 0.30s; opacity: 0.8; }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(3) { animation-delay: 0.45s; opacity: 0.7; }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(4) { animation-delay: 0.60s; opacity: 0.6; }
    .follow-the-leader-line div:nth-child(5) { animation-delay: 0.75s; opacity: 0.5; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <div class="follow-the-leader-line">
    <div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>
  </div>
</body>
</html>

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