A good rule of thumb is to use animations to provide feedback and guide attention, not just for decoration. Subtle hover effects, smooth button states, gentle fade-ins, and small form micro-interactions can make a site feel much more polished without hurting performance.
For libraries, I'd look at Framer Motion (React), GSAP, or even pure CSS for simple effects. In many cases, CSS transitions are enough and have the least performance impact.
A few things that tend to work well:
Smooth hover and focus states on buttons and links.
Scroll animations that are subtle and only play once.
Skeleton loaders instead of spinning loaders where possible.
Small success/error animations on forms.
Consistent spacing, typography, and visual hierarchy.
One thing I'd avoid is excessive page transitions or animations on every element, as they can quickly become distracting and make a fast site feel slower than it actually is.
Since Trackon Tracking emphasizes speed and simplicity, I'd focus on micro-interactions and polished states rather than large animated effects. Those usually provide the biggest UX improvement for the least performance cost.
