Posted on

Clipping Scrollable Areas On The inline-start Side

On a default left-to-right web page, “hanging” an element off the right side of the page (e.g. position: absolute; right: -100px;) triggers a horizontal scrollbar that scrolls as far as needed to make that whole element visible. But if you hang an element of the left side of the page, it’s just hidden (no scrollbar is triggered). That’s called “data loss” in CSS terms, if you’re fancy. The same is true for the top edge of the page (hidden) and bottom of the page (scrolling happens).

Ahmad puts a point on this. It’s just one of those CSS things that you just need to know. I love how Ahmad uses logical directions like inline-start direction (and block-start direction) to describe the issue because those directions change when the direction or writing mode of the page changes. If the page is right-to-left (RTL) like <html dir="rtl">, then horizontal edges where the data loss occurs are flipped (except in Firefox 🤷‍♀️).

Direct Link to Article — Permalink

The post Clipping Scrollable Areas On The inline-start Side appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

You can support CSS-Tricks by being an MVP Supporter.

Posted on

A “new direction” in the struggle against rightward scrolling

You know those times you get a horizontal scrollbar when accidentally placing an element off the right edge of the browser window? It might be a menu that slides in or the like. Sometimes we to overflow-x: hidden; on the body to fix that, but that can sometimes wreck stuff like position: sticky;.

Well, you know how if you place an element off the left edge of a browser window, it doesn’t do that? That’s “data loss” and just how things work around here. It actually has to do with the direction of the page. If you were in a RTL situation, it would be the left edge of the browser window causing the overflow situation and the right edge where it doesn’t.

Emerson Loustau leverages that idea to solve a problem here. I’d be way too nervous messing with direction like this because I just don’t know what the side effects would be. But, hey, at least it doesn’t break position: sticky;.

Direct Link to Article — Permalink

The post A “new direction” in the struggle against rightward scrolling appeared first on CSS-Tricks.