Stacked Cards Pattern

Build horizontally cascading card stacks where cards overlap in order, with hover animations that lift cards in place without breaking the cascade.

Why This Pattern?

Stacked cards have three common bugs:

1. Wrong stacking order - Later cards in the array appear on top
2. Hover breaks cascade - Changing z-index on hover disrupts the visual order
3. Tooltip trapped in stacking context - Tooltips inside cards can't escape their parent's z-index

This pattern solves all three.

Core Concept

First card (front)    Last card (back)
     ↓                      ↓
┌─────┐
│     │┌─────┐
│  1  ││     │┌─────┐
│     ││  2  ││     │
└─────┘│     ││  3  │
       └─────┘│     │
              └─────┘

• First item in array = front (highest z-index)
• Each subsequent item = behind and offset right
• Hover lifts card UP without changing z-index

Core Implementation

"use client";

import { useState } from "react";
import Image from "next/image";

interface Card {
  id: string;
  imageUrl: string;
  title: string;
}

function StackedCards({ cards }: { cards: Card[] }) {
  const [hoveredIndex, setHoveredIndex] = useState<number | null>(null);

  const spacing = 40;      // Horizontal offset between cards
  const cardSize = 130;    // Card width
  const stackWidth = (cards.length - 1) * spacing + cardSize;

  return (
    <div className="relative h-[180px] w-full flex items-center justify-center">
      {/* CRITICAL: Reverse render order so first card renders LAST in DOM (appears on top) */}
      {[...cards].reverse().map((card, renderIndex, arr) => {
        // Convert render index back to actual card index
        const cardIndex = arr.length - 1 - renderIndex;

        // Center the stack horizontally
        const translateX = -stackWidth / 2 + cardIndex * spacing + cardSize / 2;

        // Z-index: first card (index 0) has HIGHEST z-index
        const zIndex = arr.length - cardIndex;

        // Hover: lift UP only, do NOT change z-index
        const translateY = hoveredIndex === cardIndex ? -20 : 0;

        return (
          <div
            key={card.id}
            className="absolute left-1/2 cursor-pointer transition-all duration-300 ease-out"
            style={{
              transform: `translateX(calc(-50% + ${translateX}px)) translateY(${translateY}px)`,
              zIndex,
            }}
            onMouseEnter={() => setHoveredIndex(cardIndex)}
            onMouseLeave={() => setHoveredIndex(null)}
          >
            <div className="relative w-[130px] h-[130px] rounded-2xl overflow-hidden shadow-xl">
              <Image
                src={card.imageUrl}
                alt={card.title}
                fill
                className="object-cover"
              />
            </div>
          </div>
        );
      })}

      {/* Tooltip rendered OUTSIDE the stack to escape z-index stacking context */}
      {hoveredIndex !== null && cards[hoveredIndex] && (() => {
        const translateX = -stackWidth / 2 + hoveredIndex * spacing + cardSize / 2;
        const card = cards[hoveredIndex];

        // Position: center (50%) - half card - lift - gap
        const tooltipTop = 'calc(50% - 95px)';

        return (
          <div
            className="absolute px-3 py-2 rounded-xl whitespace-nowrap shadow-lg z-50 pointer-events-none bg-white/95 backdrop-blur-md border border-zinc-200/80"
            style={{
              left: '50%',
              top: tooltipTop,
              transform: `translateX(calc(-50% + ${translateX}px)) translateY(-100%)`,
            }}
          >
            <p className="text-sm font-semibold text-zinc-900">{card.title}</p>
          </div>
        );
      })()}
    </div>
  );
}

Key Elements

1. Reverse Render Order

// CORRECT - First card renders LAST in DOM, appears on top
{[...cards].reverse().map((card, renderIndex, arr) => {
  const cardIndex = arr.length - 1 - renderIndex;
  // ...
})}

// WRONG - First card renders first, appears BEHIND others
{cards.map((card, index) => {
  // ...
})}

Why? DOM order determines stacking when z-index values are the same within a parent. By rendering in reverse, the first logical card is the last DOM element, appearing on top.

2. Z-Index Without Hover Change

// CORRECT - Z-index based only on position, unchanged on hover
const zIndex = arr.length - cardIndex;

// WRONG - Changing z-index on hover breaks the cascade
const zIndex = hoveredIndex === cardIndex ? 20 : arr.length - cardIndex;

Why? When you change z-index on hover, the card jumps to the front, breaking the visual illusion of a physical stack. Real cards lift UP in place while staying behind cards in front.

3. Hover Lift Only (No Scale)

// CORRECT - Only translateY, preserves cascade illusion
const translateY = hoveredIndex === cardIndex ? -20 : 0;

// AVOID - Scale makes card "pop out" visually
const scale = hoveredIndex === cardIndex ? 1.05 : 1;

4. Tooltip Outside Stacking Context

// WRONG - Tooltip inside card div is trapped by parent's z-index
<div style={{ zIndex: 3 }}>
  <div className="card">...</div>
  {hovered && <div className="tooltip z-50">...</div>}  {/* z-50 doesn't help! */}
</div>

// CORRECT - Tooltip as sibling, outside all card divs
{cards.map(...)}
{hoveredIndex !== null && (
  <div className="absolute z-50" style={{ /* calculated position */ }}>
    Tooltip content
  </div>
)}

Why? A child element cannot escape its parent's stacking context. Tooltips inside cards with lower z-index will be covered by sibling cards with higher z-index.

5. Centering Formula

const spacing = 40;      // Gap between card left edges
const cardSize = 130;    // Card width
const stackWidth = (cards.length - 1) * spacing + cardSize;

// For each card, calculate horizontal offset from center
const translateX = -stackWidth / 2 + cardIndex * spacing + cardSize / 2;

Then use left-1/2 with translateX(calc(-50% + ${translateX}px)) for centering.

6. Clear Hover State on Navigation

const handleSelectCard = (index: number) => {
  setHoveredIndex(null);  // Clear before view change
  setSelectedCard(index);
  setView("detail");
};

const handleBack = () => {
  setHoveredIndex(null);  // Clear when returning
  setView("list");
};

Why? Without clearing, the previously hovered card stays elevated when returning to the list view.

Tooltip Position Calculation

Position the tooltip above the lifted card:

// Container height: 180px, card height: 130px, lift: 20px
// Card top when lifted = center - halfCard - lift = 90 - 65 - 20 = 5px

// Tooltip should be above this with gap
// Position: center (50%) - halfCard (65px) - lift (20px) - gap (10px) = 50% - 95px
const tooltipTop = 'calc(50% - 95px)';

// translateY(-100%) moves tooltip up by its own height
style={{
  top: tooltipTop,
  transform: `translateX(...) translateY(-100%)`,
}}

Sizing Variations

Light/Dark Variants

Checklist

• Render order reversed with [...array].reverse().map()
• Card index calculated from render index: arr.length - 1 - renderIndex
• Z-index decreases with card index: arr.length - cardIndex
• Z-index does NOT change on hover
• Hover only applies translateY, no scale
• Tooltip rendered OUTSIDE the card loop as sibling
• Tooltip has pointer-events-none to avoid hover interference
• Hover state cleared on view transitions
• Container has relative with fixed height
• Cards use absolute left-1/2 with calculated translateX