Element: scroll event

The scroll event fires an element has been scrolled.

Bubbles No
Cancelable No
Interface Event
Event handler property onscroll

Note: In iOS UIWebViews, scroll events are not fired while scrolling is taking place; they are only fired after the scrolling has completed. See Bootstrap issue #16202. Safari and WKWebViews are not affected by this bug.

Examples

Scroll event throttling

Since scroll events can fire at a high rate, the event handler shouldn't execute computationally expensive operations such as DOM modifications. Instead, it is recommended to throttle the event using requestAnimationFrame(), setTimeout(), or a CustomEvent, as follows.

Note, however, that input events and animation frames are fired at about the same rate, and therefore the optimization below is often unnecessary. This example optimizes thescroll event for requestAnimationFrame.

// Reference: http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/speed/animations/

let last_known_scroll_position = 0;
let ticking = false;

function doSomething(scroll_pos) {
  // Do something with the scroll position
}

window.addEventListener('scroll', function(e) {
  last_known_scroll_position = window.scrollY;

  if (!ticking) {
    window.requestAnimationFrame(function() {
      doSomething(last_known_scroll_position);
      ticking = false;
    });

    ticking = true;
  }
});

Note: You can find more examples on the resize event page.

Specifications

Specification Status
CSS Object Model (CSSOM) View Module Working Draft

Browser compatibility

DesktopMobile
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung Internet
scroll eventChrome Full support YesEdge Full support ≤18Firefox Full support YesIE ? Opera ? Safari ? WebView Android Full support YesChrome Android Full support YesFirefox Android Full support YesOpera Android ? Safari iOS ? Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support
Full support
Compatibility unknown
Compatibility unknown

See also