Even simplest .scrollTop() example returns 0

Question

I need to find vertical position of element relative to viewport. I found that jquery .scrollTop() function is for this, but it returns 0. It does return correct value when checking $(document)'s scrollTop instead, but I need element's position, not window position. Am I doing something wrong?

HTML:

1<br>
<span>2</span>
<div style="height:10000px"></div>

JavaScript:

$(window).scroll(function() {
    console.log($("span").scrollTop())
})

Jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/kwVC7/

I guess I can make this work with this:

$("span").offset().top - $(document).scrollTop()

but still I'm interested why element.scrollTop does not work as is supposed.

Last I checked, that isn't [what it does](http://api.jquery.com/scrolltop/). — Daedalus, Dec 26 '13 at 23:52

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 26 '13 at 23:54

2

It is returning the correct value. As I noted in my comment above, .scrollTop() is for retrieving the position of the scroll bar for the matched element... It has nothing to do with retrieving the position of the matched element in relation to the viewport.

answered Dec 26 '13 at 23:54

Daedalus

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So you advise to use my second approach instead? – gadelat Dec 26 '13 at 23:59
@gadelat Yes, I do. Looking through [other answers](http://stackoverflow.com/a/13930064/785241) on SO, that seems to be the best method. – Daedalus Dec 27 '13 at 00:03

Even simplest .scrollTop() example returns 0

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