Which optimization technique is most appropriate for animations and visual effects to ensure smooth performance?
Animating CSS transform and opacity properties is the most appropriate optimization technique for smooth animations and visual effects. These properties are specifically optimized in modern browsers to run on the GPU rather than the CPU, allowing for hardware acceleration. Unlike properties like width, height, margin, or padding that trigger layout calculations (reflow), transform and opacity only require composition, which is much more efficient. This approach follows the 'cheap to composite' principle of high-performance animations. For smooth animations, also combine this with: 1) Using requestAnimationFrame for JavaScript animations instead of setTimeout/setInterval, 2) Adding will-change hints for browsers when appropriate, and 3) Avoiding properties that trigger layout or paint where possible. This ensures animations run at 60fps even on less powerful devices.