javascript - Is scrollTop, and scrollLeft for overflow hidden elements reliable? - Stack Overflow

I accidentally discovered that scrollTop, and scrollLeft on an element work even when an element is overflow: hidden. Can this behaviour be relied on?

Supposedly scrollTop, and scrollLeft are supposed to be zero for elements without scrollbars, and setting them on such elements is supposed to have no effect.

I accidentally discovered that scrollTop, and scrollLeft on an element work even when an element is overflow: hidden. Can this behaviour be relied on?

Supposedly scrollTop, and scrollLeft are supposed to be zero for elements without scrollbars, and setting them on such elements is supposed to have no effect.

• javascript
• html
• dom
• custom-scrolling

Share Improve this question Follow edited Nov 13, 2015 at 23:17 Quentin Engles asked Nov 13, 2015 at 23:11 Quentin EnglesQuentin Engles 2,83211 gold badge2121 silver badges3333 bronze badges 2

• I created an ultra simple responsive gallery that uses scrollLeft. jsfiddle/swrkeg30/2/embedded/result Interestingly Firefox remembers the scrollposition on Hystory-Back. Chrome does not... at least in jsfiddle... I would bet this was working in chrome too, sadly I don't have the time right now to see what happened to Chrome - or if it's only fiddle's behavior in Chrome... – Roko C. Buljan Commented Nov 14, 2015 at 1:05
• Back or no back - You can use scrollLeft/top as you please. Might not be accelerated as CSS3 transition/animation on transform, but it has it's simplistic use anyways. – Roko C. Buljan Commented Nov 14, 2015 at 1:08

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2 Answers 2

Sorted by: Reset to default 6

Yes, even if an element has CSS overflow set to hidden,
Javascript Element.scrollTop(), Element.scrollLeft() allows you to manipulate the element's scroll position if the element contains overflowing children.

https://developer.mozilla/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element/scrollLeft
https://developer.mozilla/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element/scrollTop

Here's a quick use case:

Animate gallery using scrollLeft

var GAL = $("#gal"),
    n = GAL.find(">*").length;
    c = 0;

$("button").on("click", function(){
  GAL.animate({ scrollLeft: (++c%n) * GAL.width() });
});

#gal {
  
  height:     40vh;
  overflow:   hidden; /* !! */
  white-space:nowrap;
  font-size:  0;
  
} #gal>* {
  
  font-size:      1rem;
  display:        inline-block;
  vertical-align: top;
  width:          100%;
  height:         inherit;
  background:     50% / cover;
  
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis./ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<div id="gal">
  <div style="background-image:url(//placehold.it/800x600/cf5);"></div>
  <div style="background-image:url(//placehold.it/800x600/f0f);"></div>
  <div style="background-image:url(//placehold.it/800x600/444);"></div>
</div>

<button>scrollLeft</button>

_{Not sure yet why Chrome does not do the following but:}
Firefox will remember your gallery scroll-position on historyBack (navigating back to the page where you scrolled your gallery)

Can this behaviour be relied on?

it works for me in MSFT edge on my laptop ; on mobile , logs appear to say that scrollLeft and scrollTop in google chrome mobile are both 0

therefore , not always reliable