Toolcroft

Color Tools

CSS Scroll Snap Playground - Interactive Demo

Experiment with CSS scroll-snap-type, scroll-snap-align, and scroll-behavior in an interactive playground. Copy the generated CSS for your project.

Snap Type
Snap Align
Scroll Behavior

Live Preview - scroll inside

1
2
3
4
5
6
Container CSS
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
overflow-x: scroll;
scroll-snap-type: x mandatory;
scroll-behavior: smooth;
-webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch;
gap: 1rem;
padding: 1rem;
Item CSS
scroll-snap-align: start;
flex-shrink: 0;
width: 80%;
border-radius: 1rem;

CSS scroll properties

PropertyValuesDescription
scroll-behaviorauto, smoothAnimates scrolling triggered by anchor links or scrollTo()
scroll-snap-typex mandatory, y proximitySnaps scroll position to defined snap points
scroll-snap-alignstart, center, endWhich edge of child items to snap to
overscroll-behaviorcontain, nonePrevents scroll chaining to parent elements
scrollbar-gutterstableReserves space for scrollbar to prevent layout shift

Scroll snap example

To create a full-screen scroll snapping page:

.container {
  height: 100vh;
  overflow-y: scroll;
  scroll-snap-type: y mandatory;
}
.section {
  height: 100vh;
  scroll-snap-align: start;
}

Browser support note

scroll-snap-type has excellent browser support (96%+ global coverage) and requires no vendor prefix in modern browsers. scrollbar-gutter is supported in Chrome 94+, Edge 94+, and Firefox 97+, but has no support in Safari (as of 2025) - use a @supports rule if you need to target Safari. The -webkit- prefix is not needed for any of the core scroll properties in current browsers.

Common scroll UX patterns

  • Full-page scroll snapping: use scroll-snap-type: y mandatory on the container and scroll-snap-align: start on each section for a presentation-style page.
  • Horizontal carousel: scroll-snap-type: x mandatory with horizontal overflow on a flex container of fixed-width cards. Add overscroll-behavior-x: contain to prevent the swipe from scrolling the page.
  • Chat / log sticky-scroll: use overflow-anchor or set scroll-behavior: smooth combined with JavaScript to keep new messages in view.
  • Infinite scroll: use IntersectionObserver to detect when the user approaches the bottom rather than scroll event listeners.

Scroll performance tips

  • Use will-change: scroll-position sparingly - it consumes extra GPU memory and should only be applied to elements where the performance benefit is measurable.
  • Prefer overflow-anchor (the CSS property, which is enabled by default) over JavaScript-based scroll anchoring when content is inserted above the current view.
  • Avoid scroll event listeners for detecting position; use IntersectionObserver or ResizeObserver instead - they fire off the main thread and don't block rendering.