LayerwiseLayerwise
  • Features
  • Pricing
  • Templates
  • Docs
DownloadDownload
FeaturesPricingTemplatesDocsAI Website BuilderVibe CodingPersonal Software
DownloadDownload
  1. Glossary
  2. /
  3. States & patterns

Affordance

Also called perceived affordance or visual affordance

The visual cues that tell people what they can do with an element, like a raised button that looks pressable or a grip that says "drag me".

export function InviteCard() {
  return (
    <form className='w-96 rounded-2xl border bg-background p-6'>
      <h2 className='font-semibold'>Invite your team</h2>
      <p className='mt-1 text-sm text-muted-foreground'>
        Teammates can edit every project.{' '}
        {/* Links inside text stay underlined. */}
        <a
          href='/docs/roles'
          className='text-blue-600 underline underline-offset-2'
        >
          Learn about roles
        </a>
      </p>
      {/* A visible border says "type here". */}
      <input
        type='email'
        aria-label='Email address'
        placeholder='name@company.com'
        className='mt-4 h-10 w-full rounded-lg border bg-background px-3 text-sm'
      />
      <div className='mt-4 flex justify-end gap-2'>
        {/* Secondary: a border still reads as a button. */}
        <button
          type='button'
          className='h-10 cursor-pointer rounded-lg border px-4 text-sm font-medium hover:bg-muted'
        >
          Copy invite link
        </button>
        {/* Primary: a solid fill and a soft shadow look pressable. */}
        <button
          type='submit'
          className='h-10 cursor-pointer rounded-lg bg-primary px-4 text-sm font-medium text-primary-foreground shadow-md active:translate-y-px active:shadow-sm'
        >
          Send invite
        </button>
      </div>
    </form>
  );
}
Review the interface for affordance: make every primary action a filled button at least 40px tall, give secondary actions a visible border, underline links inside body text, give text inputs a visible border, and add a six-dot drag handle with cursor: grab to every reorderable row. Don’t rely on hover alone, since touch screens have none.

Paste into Layerwise or any AI coding tool.

What is Affordance?

Strictly, an affordance is what an object lets you do; in interface design the word usually means how clearly an element shows it. A button with a fill, rounded corners, and a soft shadow looks pressable. A row with a six-dot grip looks draggable. The same word as plain text, or the same row without the grip, might work exactly the same, but few people will try.

Designers also call these visible hints signifiers. Common ones are filled or raised buttons, colored and underlined links, text fields with a border, drag handles, and a pointer that changes to a hand (cursor: pointer) or a grabbing hand (cursor: grab).

Weak affordances are a common problem in minimal and flat designs, where buttons turn into bare text and inputs lose their borders. If people hesitate or miss a feature, add a cue. Touch screens have no hover or cursor, so the cue has to be visible without them.

Related terms

All terms

Button variants

A set of button styles, such as primary, secondary, outline, ghost, destructive, and link, that shows which action on a screen matters most.

Hover effect

A visual change, such as a lift, glow, or zoom, that happens when the mouse pointer moves over an element to show it can be clicked.

Drag to reorder

A list you can rearrange by dragging an item to a new spot while the other items slide aside to make room.

Flat design

A design style that uses solid colors, simple shapes, and clean type, with no gradients, textures, or realistic shadows.

Build it with Layerwise

Describe your app, watch it run in a live preview, and publish it with a database, storage, and sign-in built in.

DownloadDownloadRead the docs
LayerwiseLayerwise

Build full-stack web apps in minutes with AI.

Product

  • Features
  • Pricing
  • Download
  • Templates

Solutions

  • AI Website Builder
  • Vibe Coding
  • Personal Software

Resources

  • Documentation
  • Changelog
  • Blog
  • Vibe Coding Glossary
  • llms.txt
  • llms-full.txt

Company

  • About
  • Contact

Legal

  • Privacy
  • Analytics Privacy
  • Terms
  • Security
  • Abuse

© 2026 Layerwise. All rights reserved.

Entrances & exits

  • Fade in
  • Slide in
  • Scale in
  • Pop in
  • Blur in
  • Reveal animation
  • Enter and exit animations

Timing & sequencing

  • Duration
  • Delay
  • Keyframes
  • Tweening
  • Stagger
  • Orchestration
  • Fill mode
  • Stepped animation
  • Looping animation
  • Yoyo animation

Easing

  • Easing
  • Linear easing
  • Ease-in
  • Ease-out
  • Ease-in-out
  • Cubic-bezier
  • Asymmetric easing
  • Overshoot easing

Springs & physics

  • Spring animation
  • Stiffness
  • Damping
  • Mass
  • Bounce
  • Velocity
  • Momentum
  • Interruptible animation
  • Rubber-banding

Transforms

  • Translate
  • Scale
  • Rotate
  • Skew
  • 3D flip
  • Perspective
  • Transform origin
  • Origin-aware animation

State transitions

  • Crossfade
  • Morph
  • Shared element transition
  • Layout animation
  • Height auto animation
  • Direction-aware transition
  • Continuity transition
  • Page transition
  • View Transitions API

Scroll effects

  • Scroll reveal
  • Scroll-driven animation
  • Parallax scrolling
  • Scrollytelling
  • Scroll pinning
  • Horizontal scroll section
  • Scroll progress bar
  • Scroll snap
  • Smooth scrolling

Interaction feedback

  • Hover effect
  • Press feedback
  • Ripple effect
  • Shake animation
  • Hold to confirm
  • Drag gesture
  • Drag to reorder
  • Swipe to dismiss
  • Pull to refresh
  • Magnetic button
  • Custom cursor
  • 3D tilt card
  • Spotlight card

Text effects

  • Typewriter effect
  • Text scramble
  • Split text animation
  • Text morph
  • Rotating words
  • Gradient text
  • Shimmer text
  • Number ticker
  • Tabular numbers
  • Underline animation

Loops & ambient motion

  • Marquee
  • Pulse animation
  • Float animation
  • Orbit animation
  • Idle animation
  • Particle background
  • Border beam
  • Confetti
  • Animated gradient

Visual effects

  • Blur
  • Clip-path
  • Mask
  • Before/after slider
  • SVG line drawing
  • Lottie animation

Motion principles

  • Purposeful animation
  • Anticipation
  • Follow-through
  • Squash and stretch
  • Perceived performance
  • Frequency of use
  • Spatial consistency
  • Reduced motion

Animation performance

  • Frame rate (FPS)
  • Jank
  • GPU acceleration
  • will-change
  • Layout thrashing

Layout

  • Hero section
  • Above the fold
  • Sticky header
  • Sidebar
  • Bento grid
  • Card
  • Flexbox
  • CSS Grid
  • Padding vs margin
  • Responsive design
  • Container
  • Masonry layout
  • Split screen
  • Z-index
  • Overflow

Components

  • Button variants
  • Modal
  • Drawer
  • Popover
  • Tooltip
  • Dropdown menu
  • Context menu
  • Toast notification
  • Tabs
  • Segmented control
  • Accordion
  • Carousel
  • Command palette
  • Combobox
  • Toggle switch
  • Checkbox
  • Radio button
  • Date picker
  • Breadcrumb
  • Pagination
  • Infinite scroll
  • Badge
  • Avatar stack
  • Empty state
  • Skeleton screen
  • Spinner
  • Progress bar
  • Data table
  • Stepper
  • Floating label
  • Inline validation
  • Alert banner
  • Tag input

States & patterns

  • Interaction states
  • Focus ring
  • Loading state
  • Optimistic UI
  • Debounce
  • Lazy loading
  • Dark mode
  • Micro-interaction
  • Affordance
  • Undo
  • Drag and drop
  • Keyboard shortcut

Visual styles

  • Glassmorphism
  • Liquid glass
  • Neumorphism
  • Claymorphism
  • Neo-brutalism
  • Skeuomorphism
  • Flat design
  • Mesh gradient
  • Aurora background
  • Grain texture
  • Glow effect
  • Drop shadow
  • Border radius
  • Grid background
  • Typographic hierarchy
  • Accent color
  • Color contrast

Vibe coding & AI

  • Vibe coding
  • Prompt
  • Context window
  • Token
  • AI agent
  • Tool call
  • Hallucination
  • Diff
  • Live preview
  • Checkpoint
  • Git commit
  • Deploy
  • Frontend and backend
  • API
  • Database
  • Rules file
  • MCP
  • Plan mode
  • Visual edit

Clear

Unclear

Save
Design review
Team sync
Design review
Team sync