scroll-behavior

Summary

The scroll-behavior CSS property specifies the scrolling behavior for a scrolling box, when scrolling happens due to navigation or CSSOM scrolling APIs. Any other scrolls, e.g. those that are performed by the user, are not affected by this property. When this property is specified on the root element, it applies to the viewport instead.

User agents may ignore this property.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
scroll-behavior: auto;
scroll-behavior: smooth;

/* Global values */
scroll-behavior: inherit;
scroll-behavior: initial;
scroll-behavior: unset;

Values

auto

The scrolling box is scrolled in an instant fashion.

smooth

The scrolling box is scrolled in a smooth fashion using a user-agent-defined timing function over a user-agent-defined period of time. User agents should follow platform conventions, if any.

Formal syntax

auto | smooth

Example

HTML

<div id="scrollContainer">
  This is some long text, which is used to demonstrate the effect of the <code>scroll-behavior</code> CSS property.
</div>
<button class="scroll-auto">auto</button>
<button class="scroll-smooth">smooth</button>

CSS

div {
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  overflow-y: scroll;
}

.auto {
  scroll-behavior: auto;
}

.smooth {
  scroll-behavior: smooth;
}

JavaScript

function scrollElement(behavior) {
  var scrollContainer = document.getElementById("scrollContainer");
  scrollContainer.className = behavior;
  var scrollPosition = scrollContainer.scrollTop === 0 ? scrollContainer.scrollHeight : 0;
  scrollContainer.scrollTo(0, scrollPosition);
}

// Adding event listeners to the buttons.
document.querySelector(".scroll-auto").addEventListener(
  "click",
  function () {
   scrollElement("auto");
  });
document.querySelector(".scroll-smooth").addEventListener(
  "click",
  function () {
   scrollElement("smooth");
  });

Output

Specifications

Browser compatibility

[1] Supported in Chrome and Opera by enabling the "Smooth Scrolling" or "Enable experimental web platform features" flag.