Overcoming Position Sticky Issues: Solving Overflow Hidden Problems with Overflow Clip
Position sticky is a CSS positioning property that allows an element to “stick” to the viewport when it reaches a certain scroll position, but it is often incompatible with the CSS overflow property, specifically when using “overflow: hidden”. This can cause the element to not “stick” and instead act as if it were “fixed”. However, there is a workaround to this issue: using “overflow: clip” instead.
Let’s dive into the details of this problem and how “overflow: clip” can help to solve it.
Position sticky: a brief overview
To start with, let’s take a brief look at what position sticky does. When you apply position: sticky to an element, it becomes “sticky” when you scroll past a certain point. This allows the element to stay visible in the viewport, even when you’ve scrolled past it. The element then returns to its normal position once you’ve scrolled back up to it. It’s a useful property for creating navigation bars, headers, and other elements that you want to remain visible as the user scrolls through your website.
The problem with overflow: hidden
When using position sticky, you may find that it doesn’t work properly when you also use the CSS overflow property with the value “hidden”. This is because “overflow: hidden” creates a new block formatting context for the element, which essentially means that it acts as a container that restricts the size and position of its child elements.
When an element with position: sticky is inside an element with “overflow: hidden”, it loses its ability to “stick” because it is no longer aware of its position relative to the viewport. Instead, it behaves like a fixed position element, staying in the same position on the screen as you scroll.
The solution: overflow: clip
The good news is that there is a simple workaround for this problem. Instead of using “overflow: hidden”, you can use “overflow: clip”. This property value is similar to “overflow: hidden” in that it clips the content of an element, but it does not create a new block formatting context. This means that any elements inside an element with “overflow: clip” will not be affected by it in the same way as “overflow: hidden”.
By using “overflow: clip” instead of “overflow: hidden”, you can ensure that your elements with position: sticky will work as expected, sticking to the viewport as you scroll past them.
Conclusion
In summary, position sticky is a useful CSS property that can make elements “stick” to the viewport as the user scrolls through your website. However, when using it with “overflow: hidden”, it can cause some unexpected behavior, preventing the element from sticking properly. To solve this problem, you can use “overflow: clip” instead, which will clip the content of the element without creating a new block formatting context. This allows your elements with position: sticky to work as expected and stay visible as the user scrolls past them.