How can I make a div stick to the top of the screen once it's been scrolled to?

Question

I would like to create a div, that is situated beneath a block of content but that once the page has been scrolled enough to contact its top boundary, becomes fixed in place and scrolls with the page.

Answer 1

You could use simply css, positioning your element as fixed:

.fixedElement {
    background-color: #c0c0c0;
    position:fixed;
    top:0;
    width:100%;
    z-index:100;
}

Edit: You should have the element with position absolute, once the scroll offset has reached the element, it should be changed to fixed, and the top position should be set to zero.

You can detect the top scroll offset of the document with the scrollTop function:

$(window).scroll(function(e){ 
  var $el = $('.fixedElement'); 
  var isPositionFixed = ($el.css('position') == 'fixed');
  if ($(this).scrollTop() > 200 && !isPositionFixed){ 
    $el.css({'position': 'fixed', 'top': '0px'}); 
  }
  if ($(this).scrollTop() < 200 && isPositionFixed){
    $el.css({'position': 'static', 'top': '0px'}); 
  } 
});

When the scroll offset reached 200, the element will stick to the top of the browser window, because is placed as fixed.

Answer 2

You've seen this example on Google Code's issue page and (only recently) on Stack Overflow's edit page.

CMS's answer doesn't revert the positioning when you scroll back up. Here's the shamelessly stolen code from Stack Overflow:

function moveScroller() {
    var $anchor = $("#scroller-anchor");
    var $scroller = $('#scroller');

    var move = function() {
        var st = $(window).scrollTop();
        var ot = $anchor.offset().top;
        if(st > ot) {
            $scroller.css({
                position: "fixed",
                top: "0px"
            });
        } else {
            $scroller.css({
                position: "relative",
                top: ""
            });
        }
    };
    $(window).scroll(move);
    move();
}

<div id="sidebar" style="width:270px;"> 
  <div id="scroller-anchor"></div> 
  <div id="scroller" style="margin-top:10px; width:270px"> 
    Scroller Scroller Scroller
  </div>
</div>

<script type="text/javascript"> 
  $(function() {
    moveScroller();
  });
</script> 

And a simple live demo.

A nascent, script-free alternative is position: sticky, which is supported in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. See the article on HTML5Rocks and demo, and Mozilla docs.

Answer 3

As of January 2017 and the release of Chrome 56, most browsers in common use support the position: sticky property in CSS.

#thing_to_stick {
  position: sticky;
  top: 0;
}

does the trick for me in Firefox and Chrome.

In Safari you still need to use position: -webkit-sticky.

Polyfills are available for Internet Explorer and Edge; https://github.com/wilddeer/stickyfill seems to be a good one.

Answer 4

And here's how without jquery (UPDATE: see other answers where you can now do this with CSS only)

var startProductBarPos=-1;
window.onscroll=function(){
  var bar = document.getElementById('nav');
  if(startProductBarPos<0)startProductBarPos=findPosY(bar);

  if(pageYOffset>startProductBarPos){
    bar.style.position='fixed';
    bar.style.top=0;
  }else{
    bar.style.position='relative';
  }

};

function findPosY(obj) {
  var curtop = 0;
  if (typeof (obj.offsetParent) != 'undefined' && obj.offsetParent) {
    while (obj.offsetParent) {
      curtop += obj.offsetTop;
      obj = obj.offsetParent;
    }
    curtop += obj.offsetTop;
  }
  else if (obj.y)
    curtop += obj.y;
  return curtop;
}

* {margin:0;padding:0;}
.nav {
  border: 1px red dashed;
  background: #00ffff;
  text-align:center;
  padding: 21px 0;

  margin: 0 auto;
  z-index:10; 
  width:100%;
  left:0;
  right:0;
}

.header {
  text-align:center;
  padding: 65px 0;
  border: 1px red dashed;
}

.content {
  padding: 500px 0;
  text-align:center;
  border: 1px red dashed;
}
.footer {
  padding: 100px 0;
  text-align:center;
  background: #777;
  border: 1px red dashed;
}

<header class="header">This is a Header</header>
<div id="nav" class="nav">Main Navigation</div>
<div class="content">Hello World!</div>
<footer class="footer">This is a Footer</footer>

Answer 5

I had the same problem as you and ended up making a jQuery plugin to take care of it. It actually solves all the problems people have listed here, plus it adds a couple of optional features too.

Options

stickyPanelSettings = {
    // Use this to set the top margin of the detached panel.
    topPadding: 0,

    // This class is applied when the panel detaches.
    afterDetachCSSClass: "",

    // When set to true the space where the panel was is kept open.
    savePanelSpace: false,

    // Event fires when panel is detached
    // function(detachedPanel, panelSpacer){....}
    onDetached: null,

    // Event fires when panel is reattached
    // function(detachedPanel){....}
    onReAttached: null,

    // Set this using any valid jquery selector to 
    // set the parent of the sticky panel.
    // If set to null then the window object will be used.
    parentSelector: null
};

https://github.com/donnyv/sticky-panel

demo: http://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/donnyv/sticky-panel/blob/master/jquery.stickyPanel/Main.htm

Answer 6

The simplest solution (without js) : demo

.container {
  position: relative;
}
.sticky-div {
    position: sticky;
    top: 0;
}

<div class="container">
  <h1>
    relative container & sticky div
  </h1>
  <div class="sticky-div"> this row is sticky</div>
  <div>
    content
  </div>
</div>

Answer 7

This is how i did it with jquery. This was all cobbled together from various answers on stack overflow. This solution caches the selectors for faster performance and also solves the "jumping" issue when the sticky div becomes sticky.

Check it out on jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/HQS8s/

CSS:

.stick {
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
}

JS:

$(document).ready(function() {
    // Cache selectors for faster performance.
    var $window = $(window),
        $mainMenuBar = $('#mainMenuBar'),
        $mainMenuBarAnchor = $('#mainMenuBarAnchor');

    // Run this on scroll events.
    $window.scroll(function() {
        var window_top = $window.scrollTop();
        var div_top = $mainMenuBarAnchor.offset().top;
        if (window_top > div_top) {
            // Make the div sticky.
            $mainMenuBar.addClass('stick');
            $mainMenuBarAnchor.height($mainMenuBar.height());
        }
        else {
            // Unstick the div.
            $mainMenuBar.removeClass('stick');
            $mainMenuBarAnchor.height(0);
        }
    });
});

Answer 8

As Josh Lee and Colin 't Hart have said, you could optionally just use position: sticky; top: 0; applying to the div that you want the scrolling at...

Plus, the only thing you will have to do is copy this into the top of your page or format it to fit into an external CSS sheet:

<style>
#sticky_div's_name_here { position: sticky; top: 0; }
</style>

Just replace #sticky_div's_name_here with the name of your div, i.e. if your div was <div id="example"> you would put #example { position: sticky; top: 0; }.

Answer 9

Here is another option:

JAVASCRIPT

var initTopPosition= $('#myElementToStick').offset().top;   
$(window).scroll(function(){
    if($(window).scrollTop() > initTopPosition)
        $('#myElementToStick').css({'position':'fixed','top':'0px'});
    else
        $('#myElementToStick').css({'position':'absolute','top':initTopPosition+'px'});
});

Your #myElementToStick should start with position:absolute CSS property.

Answer 10

Here's one more version to try for those having issues with the others. It pulls together the techniques discussed in this duplicate question, and generates the required helper DIVs dynamically so no extra HTML is required.

CSS:

.sticky { position:fixed; top:0; }

JQuery:

function make_sticky(id) {
    var e = $(id);
    var w = $(window);
    $('<div/>').insertBefore(id);
    $('<div/>').hide().css('height',e.outerHeight()).insertAfter(id);
    var n = e.next();
    var p = e.prev();
    function sticky_relocate() {
      var window_top = w.scrollTop();
      var div_top = p.offset().top;
      if (window_top > div_top) {
        e.addClass('sticky');
        n.show();
      } else {
        e.removeClass('sticky');
        n.hide();
      }
    }
    w.scroll(sticky_relocate);
    sticky_relocate();
}

To make an element sticky, do:

make_sticky('#sticky-elem-id');

When the element becomes sticky, the code manages the position of the remaining content to keep it from jumping into the gap left by the sticky element. It also returns the sticky element to its original non-sticky position when scrolling back above it.

Answer 11

My solution is a little verbose, but it handles variable positioning from the left edge for centered layouts.

// Ensurs that a element (usually a div) stays on the screen
//   aElementToStick   = The jQuery selector for the element to keep visible
global.makeSticky = function (aElementToStick) {
    var $elementToStick = $(aElementToStick);
    var top = $elementToStick.offset().top;
    var origPosition = $elementToStick.css('position');

    function positionFloater(a$Win) {
        // Set the original position to allow the browser to adjust the horizontal position
        $elementToStick.css('position', origPosition);

        // Test how far down the page is scrolled
        var scrollTop = a$Win.scrollTop();
        // If the page is scrolled passed the top of the element make it stick to the top of the screen
        if (top < scrollTop) {
            // Get the horizontal position
            var left = $elementToStick.offset().left;
            // Set the positioning as fixed to hold it's position
            $elementToStick.css('position', 'fixed');
            // Reuse the horizontal positioning
            $elementToStick.css('left', left);
            // Hold the element at the top of the screen
            $elementToStick.css('top', 0);
        }
    }

    // Perform initial positioning
    positionFloater($(window));

    // Reposition when the window resizes
    $(window).resize(function (e) {
        positionFloater($(this));
    });

    // Reposition when the window scrolls
    $(window).scroll(function (e) {
        positionFloater($(this));
    });
};

Answer 12

Here is an extended version to Josh Lee's answer. If you want the div to be on sidebar to the right, and float within a range (i.e., you need to specify top and bottom anchor positions). It also fixes a bug when you view this on mobile devices (you need to check left scroll position otherwise the div will move off screen).

function moveScroller() {
    var move = function() {
        var st = $(window).scrollTop();
        var sl = $(window).scrollLeft();
        var ot = $("#scroller-anchor-top").offset().top;
        var ol = $("#scroller-anchor-top").offset().left;
        var bt = $("#scroller-anchor-bottom").offset().top;
        var s = $("#scroller");
        if(st > ot) {
            if (st < bt - 280) //280px is the approx. height for the sticky div
            {
                s.css({
                    position: "fixed",
                    top: "0px",
                    left: ol-sl
                }); 
            }
            else
            {
                s.css({
                    position: "fixed",
                    top: bt-st-280,
                    left: ol-sl
                }); 
            }
        } else {
            s.css({
                position: "relative",
                top: "",
                left: ""
            });

        }
    };
    $(window).scroll(move);
    move();
}

Answer 13

I came across this when searching for the same thing. I know it's an old question but I thought I'd offer a more recent answer.

Scrollorama has a 'pin it' feature which is just what I was looking for.

http://johnpolacek.github.io/scrollorama/

Answer 14

The info provided to answer this other question may be of help to you, Evan:

Check if element is visible after scrolling

You basically want to modify the style of the element to set it to fixed only after having verified that the document.body.scrollTop value is equal to or greater than the top of your element.

Answer 15

I used some of the work above to create this tech. I improved it a bit and thought I would share my work. Hope this helps.

jsfiddle Code

function scrollErrorMessageToTop() {
    var flash_error = jQuery('#flash_error');
    var flash_position = flash_error.position();

    function lockErrorMessageToTop() {
        var place_holder = jQuery("#place_holder");
        if (jQuery(this).scrollTop() > flash_position.top && flash_error.attr("position") != "fixed") {
            flash_error.css({
                'position': 'fixed',
                'top': "0px",
                "width": flash_error.width(),
                "z-index": "1"
            });
            place_holder.css("display", "");
        } else {
            flash_error.css('position', '');
            place_holder.css("display", "none");
        }

    }
    if (flash_error.length > 0) {
        lockErrorMessageToTop();

        jQuery("#flash_error").after(jQuery("<div id='place_holder'>"));
        var place_holder = jQuery("#place_holder");
        place_holder.css({
            "height": flash_error.height(),
            "display": "none"
        });
        jQuery(window).scroll(function(e) {
            lockErrorMessageToTop();
        });
    }
}
scrollErrorMessageToTop();​

This is a little bit more dynamic of a way to do the scroll. It does need some work and I will at some point turn this into a pluging but but this is what I came up with after hour of work.

Answer 16

In javascript you can do:

var element = document.getElementById("myid");
element.style.position = "fixed";
element.style.top = "0%";

Answer 17

Here's an example that uses jquery-visible plugin: http://jsfiddle.net/711p4em4/.

HTML:

<div class = "wrapper">
    <header>Header</header>
    <main>
        <nav>Stick to top</nav>
        Content
    </main>
    <footer>Footer</footer>
</div>

CSS:

* {
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
}

body {
    background-color: #e2e2e2;
}

.wrapper > header,
.wrapper > footer {
    font: 20px/2 Sans-Serif;
    text-align: center;
    background-color: #0040FF;
    color: #fff;
}

.wrapper > main {
    position: relative;
    height: 500px;
    background-color: #5e5e5e;
    font: 20px/500px Sans-Serif;
    color: #fff;
    text-align: center;
    padding-top: 40px;
}

.wrapper > main > nav {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    right: 0;
    font: 20px/2 Sans-Serif;
    color: #fff;
    text-align: center;
    background-color: #FFBF00;
}

.wrapper > main > nav.fixed {
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    right: 0;
}

JS (include jquery-visible plugin):

(function($){

    /**
     * Copyright 2012, Digital Fusion
     * Licensed under the MIT license.
     * http://teamdf.com/jquery-plugins/license/
     *
     * @author Sam Sehnert
     * @desc A small plugin that checks whether elements are within
     *       the user visible viewport of a web browser.
     *       only accounts for vertical position, not horizontal.
     */
    var $w = $(window);
    $.fn.visible = function(partial,hidden,direction){

        if (this.length < 1)
            return;

        var $t        = this.length > 1 ? this.eq(0) : this,
            t         = $t.get(0),
            vpWidth   = $w.width(),
            vpHeight  = $w.height(),
            direction = (direction) ? direction : 'both',
            clientSize = hidden === true ? t.offsetWidth * t.offsetHeight : true;

        if (typeof t.getBoundingClientRect === 'function'){

            // Use this native browser method, if available.
            var rec = t.getBoundingClientRect(),
                tViz = rec.top    >= 0 && rec.top    <  vpHeight,
                bViz = rec.bottom >  0 && rec.bottom <= vpHeight,
                lViz = rec.left   >= 0 && rec.left   <  vpWidth,
                rViz = rec.right  >  0 && rec.right  <= vpWidth,
                vVisible   = partial ? tViz || bViz : tViz && bViz,
                hVisible   = partial ? lViz || rViz : lViz && rViz;

            if(direction === 'both')
                return clientSize && vVisible && hVisible;
            else if(direction === 'vertical')
                return clientSize && vVisible;
            else if(direction === 'horizontal')
                return clientSize && hVisible;
        } else {

            var viewTop         = $w.scrollTop(),
                viewBottom      = viewTop + vpHeight,
                viewLeft        = $w.scrollLeft(),
                viewRight       = viewLeft + vpWidth,
                offset          = $t.offset(),
                _top            = offset.top,
                _bottom         = _top + $t.height(),
                _left           = offset.left,
                _right          = _left + $t.width(),
                compareTop      = partial === true ? _bottom : _top,
                compareBottom   = partial === true ? _top : _bottom,
                compareLeft     = partial === true ? _right : _left,
                compareRight    = partial === true ? _left : _right;

            if(direction === 'both')
                return !!clientSize && ((compareBottom <= viewBottom) && (compareTop >= viewTop)) && ((compareRight <= viewRight) && (compareLeft >= viewLeft));
            else if(direction === 'vertical')
                return !!clientSize && ((compareBottom <= viewBottom) && (compareTop >= viewTop));
            else if(direction === 'horizontal')
                return !!clientSize && ((compareRight <= viewRight) && (compareLeft >= viewLeft));
        }
    };

})(jQuery);

$(function() {
    $(window).scroll(function() {
        $(".wrapper > header").visible(true) ?
            $(".wrapper > main > nav").removeClass("fixed") :
            $(".wrapper > main > nav").addClass("fixed");
    });
});

Answer 18

The accepted answer works but doesn't move back to previous position if you scroll above it. It is always stuck to the top after being placed there.

  $(window).scroll(function(e) {
    $el = $('.fixedElement');
    if ($(this).scrollTop() > 42 && $el.css('position') != 'fixed') {
      $('.fixedElement').css( 'position': 'fixed', 'top': '0px');

    } else if ($(this).scrollTop() < 42 && $el.css('position') != 'relative') {
      $('.fixedElement').css( 'relative': 'fixed', 'top': '42px');
//this was just my previous position/formating
    }
  });

jleedev's response whould work, but I wasn't able to get it to work. His example page also didn't work (for me).

Answer 19

You can add 3 extra rows so when the user scroll back to the top, the div will stick on its old place:

Here is the code:

if ($(this).scrollTop() < 200 && $el.css('position') == 'fixed'){
    $('.fixedElement').css({'position': 'relative', 'top': '200px'});
}

Answer 20

I have links setup in a div so it is a vertical list of letter and number links.

#links {
    float:left;
    font-size:9pt;
    margin-left:0.5em;
    margin-right:1em;
    position:fixed;
    text-align:center;
    width:0.8em;
}

I then setup this handy jQuery function to save the loaded position and then change the position to fixed when scrolling beyond that position.

NOTE: this only works if the links are visible on page load!!

var listposition=false;
jQuery(function(){
     try{
        ///// stick the list links to top of page when scrolling
        listposition = jQuery('#links').css({'position': 'static', 'top': '0px'}).position();
        console.log(listposition);
        $(window).scroll(function(e){
            $top = $(this).scrollTop();
            $el = jQuery('#links');
            //if(typeof(console)!='undefined'){
            //    console.log(listposition.top,$top);
            //}
            if ($top > listposition.top && $el.css('position') != 'fixed'){
                $el.css({'position': 'fixed', 'top': '0px'});
            }
            else if ($top < listposition.top && $el.css('position') == 'fixed'){
                $el.css({'position': 'static'});
            }
        });

    } catch(e) {
        alert('Please vendor admin@mydomain.com (Myvendor JavaScript Issue)');
    }
});

Answer 21

I had a similar problem - I had a div that was already floating in 'fixed' position above other content, defined by CSS. What I wanted to achieve was when I scrolled the page down, the div would start scrolling down with content but then stick to the top of the page (i.e. would never disappear).

The style of my div is:

.inProjectNavigation {
  width: 60.5%;
  max-width: 1300px;
  position: fixed; top: 60%;
  display: block;
}

I simply put this div somewhere on the page and it appears on top of content. There are no special requirements for the style of its parents.

The the JS to make it stick to the top is:

const MIN_TOP_POSITION = 30;

/**
 * Make the project navigation initially scroll down with the page, but then stick to the top of the browser
 */
$(window).scroll(function(e){ 
  let $navigationDiv = $('.inProjectNavigation');
  let originalTopPosPx = $navigationDiv.attr('data-originalTopPosPx');
  //-- on first scroll, save the original px position in the element, as defined by CSS
  if (originalTopPosPx == null) {
    let cssValue = $navigationDiv.css('top');
    originalTopPosPx = cssValue.substring(0, cssValue.length - 2); // get rid of the 'px'
    $navigationDiv.attr('data-originalTopPosPx', originalTopPosPx); 
  }
  //-- follow the scroll, but stick to top
  $navigationDiv.css({'top': Math.max(MIN_TOP_POSITION, (originalTopPosPx - $(this).scrollTop())) + 'px'});
});

Tested on a Mac - Safari, Firefox, Chrome. Hopefully should work in IE too :)

Answer 22

You can make it without using javascript by using :

.element_to_stick {
  position: sticky;
  top: 0px; // Top calculated from div Parent, not top screen !
}

In Safari you still need to use position: -webkit-sticky.

Answer 23

Not an exact solution but a great alternative to consider

this CSS ONLY Top of screen scroll bar. Solved all the problem with ONLY CSS, NO JavaScript, NO JQuery, No Brain work (lol).

Enjoy my fiddle :D all the codes are included in there :)

CSS

#menu {
position: fixed;
height: 60px;
width: 100%;
top: 0;
left: 0;
border-top: 5px solid #a1cb2f;
background: #fff;
-moz-box-shadow: 0 2px 3px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.16);
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 2px 3px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.16);
box-shadow: 0 2px 3px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.16);
z-index: 999999;
}

.w {
    width: 900px;
    margin: 0 auto;
    margin-bottom: 40px;
}<br type="_moz">

Put the content long enough so you can see the effect here :) Oh, and the reference is in there as well, for the fact he deserve his credit

CSS ONLY Top of screen scroll bar

Answer 24

sticky till the footer hits the div:

function stickyCostSummary() {
    var stickySummary = $('.sticky-cost-summary');
    var scrollCostSummaryDivPosition = $(window).scrollTop();
    var footerHeight = $('#footer').height();
    var documentHeight = $(document).height();
    var costSummaryHeight = stickySummary.height();
    var headerHeight = 83;
    var footerMargin = 10;
    var scrollHeight = 252;
    var footerPosition = $('#footer').offset().top;

    if (scrollCostSummaryDivPosition > scrollHeight && scrollCostSummaryDivPosition <= (documentHeight - footerHeight - costSummaryHeight - headerHeight - footerMargin)) {
        stickySummary.removeAttr('style');
        stickySummary.addClass('fixed');

    } else if (scrollCostSummaryDivPosition > (documentHeight - footerHeight - costSummaryHeight - headerHeight - footerMargin)) {
        stickySummary.removeClass('fixed');
        stickySummary.css({
          "position" : "absolute",
          "top" : (documentHeight - footerHeight - costSummaryHeight - headerHeight - footerMargin - scrollHeight) + "px"
      });
    } else {
        stickySummary.removeClass('fixed');
        stickySummary.css({
            "position" : "absolute",
            "top" : "0"
        });
    }
}

$window.scroll(stickyCostSummary);