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I am trying to keep an element from scrolling past left: 0 using position: sticky. This works fine in some cases, but I have noticed that if the element width increases it stops working. For example, the following works:
#header {
position: sticky;
left: 0;
width: 50%;
background-color: #888;
}
#page {
height: 80vh;
width: 120vw;
background-color: #000;
}<div>
<div id="header">
Where is my mind?
</div>
<div id="page">
</div>
</div>But if I increase the witdth of header element to 100% it stops working.
#header {
position: sticky;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
background-color: #888;
}
#page {
height: 80vh;
width: 120vw;
background-color: #000;
}<div>
<div id="header">
Where is my mind?
</div>
<div id="page">
</div>
</div>Why does this happen? And is there any way to use position: sticky to prevent the header element from scrolling when it's width is 100%? I prefer not to use position: fixed in this case.
982
I now understand what is happening. The issue is the different way the browser treats the width and height of a <div>. The default values of auto mean that the width of the <div> is 100% while the height is set by the content. If the content is wider than 100%, then on horizontal scroll the sticky element hits the end of the container <div> and, since it cannot leave the confines of the container, begins to scroll. This doesn't happen in the same situation for vertical scrolling since the container <div> is as tall as the content by default.
To prevent this happening, we have to ensure that the container <div> is as wide as its content. This can be done in most browsers (not Edge or Explorer) by including width: max-content in the container style. Alternatively, as proposed in mfluehr's answer, putting overflow: auto creates a new block formatting context that is as wide as the content. Another option is to use display: inline-block or inline-flex etc. to cause the container <div> to base its width on the content.
For example, using two of these techniques, you can create headers, sidebars and footers that stick for a page that can scroll vertically and horizontally:
body {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}
#app {
overflow: auto;
height: 100vh;
}
#header {
background: blue;
width: 100%;
height: 40px;
position: sticky;
top: 0;
left: 0;
z-index: 10;
color: white;
}
#sidebar {
position: sticky;
background: green;
width: 200px;
height: calc(100vh - 40px);
top: 40px;
left: 0;
color: white;
flex-grow: 0;
flex-shrink: 0;
}
#container {
display: inline-flex;
}
#content {
background: #555;
height: 200vh;
width: 200vw;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cc2, #a37);
flex-grow: 0;
flex-shrink: 0;
}
#footer {
background: #000;
height: 100px;
z-index: 100;
left: 0;
position: sticky;
color: white;
}<div id="app">
<div id="header" ref="header">
Header content
</div>
<div id="container">
<div id="sidebar" ref="sidebar">
Sidebar content
</div>
<div id="content" ref="content">
Page content
</div>
</div>
<div id="footer" ref="footer">
Footer content
</div>
</div>This is an interesting problem. I don't know why, but putting overflow: auto on the container around the <div>s seems to fix the issue.
You can add height: 100vh to the container to let the content inside overflow with scrollbars.
body {
margin: 0;
}
#container {
overflow: auto;
height: 100vh;
}
#header {
position: sticky;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
background-color: #888;
}
#page {
height: 200vh;
width: 120vw;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cc2, #a37);
}<body>
<div id="container">
<div id="header">
This is the header.
</div>
<div id="page">
Page content goes here.
</div>
</div>
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