how to move elements around web page using jQuery?

December 21, 2021

I’ve created three shapes(circles) on my webpage that are positioned in the background of other elements on the page using z-index in CSS and the position is absolute.

I’m trying to move them around my page as soon as my page loads.

The following is the code I wrote attempting to do the above. I’m not sure what I’m getting wrong. Assistance will be greatly appreciated.

$(function() {
  $("shape-1").animate({
    "margin-top": "+= 200px"
  }, 2000);
  $("shape-2").animate({
    "margin-right": "+= 200px"
  }, 2000);
  $("shape-3").animate({
    "margin-bottom": "+= 200px"
  }, 2000);
});

.shape-1,
.shape-2,
.shape-3 {
  position: absolute;
  border-radius: 50%;
  background: linear-gradient(to right bottom, rgba(197, 96, 223, 0.904), rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.37));
  z-index: 1;
}

.shape-1 {
  top: 1%;
  left: 13%;
  height: 3rem;
  width: 3rem;
}
.shape-2 {
  top: 21%;
  right: 17%;
  height: 6rem;
  width: 6rem;
}
.shape-3 {
  width: 10rem;
  height: 10rem;
  bottom: 25%;
  left: 40%;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div class="shape-1"></div>
<div class="shape-2"></div>
<div class="shape-3"></div>

>Solution :

You need to select the elements with a proper CSS selector. $("shape-1") selects nothing, $(".shape-1") does.
You need to animate the properties that determine the position of the element. Animating margin-bottom will do nothing for you. The elements are pinned into place by top, bottom, left, and right. You need to animate those.
You need to animate percentages as absolute values, you can’t do += 50%. You can animate an element from its original absolute position (e.g. 1%) to a new absolute position (e.g. 50%).

$(function() {
  $(".shape-1").animate({top: "50%", left: "50%"}, 2000);
  $(".shape-2").animate({right: "50%"}, 2000);
  $(".shape-3").animate({bottom: "10%"}, 2000);
});

.shape-1,
.shape-2,
.shape-3 {
  position: absolute;
  border-radius: 50%;
  background: linear-gradient(to right bottom, rgba(197, 96, 223, 0.904), rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.37));
  z-index: 1;
}
.shape-1 {
  top: 1%;
  left: 13%;
  height: 3rem;
  width: 3rem;
}
.shape-2 {
  top: 21%;
  right: 17%;
  height: 6rem;
  width: 6rem;
}
.shape-3 {
  width: 10rem;
  height: 10rem;
  bottom: 25%;
  left: 40%;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div class="shape-1"></div>
<div class="shape-2"></div>
<div class="shape-3"></div>