Chrome Browser Gains 'Scroll Anchoring' to Prevent Annoying Web Page Jumps

Wednesday April 12, 2017 2:27 AM PDT by Tim Hardwick
Google yesterday announced a new feature in the latest update to its Chrome browser that aims to make the progressive loading of web pages less jumpy and annoying.

The idea behind progressive loading is to allow users to begin consuming web content immediately before the page has fully loaded, but the offscreen loading of pictures and so on can cause unexpected page jumps and push down what's already on screen, making for a frustrating experience, especially on mobile devices. Google's answer to this problem is something called Scroll Anchoring.
Similar to other features designed to protect our users from bad experiences, starting in version 56 Chrome prevents these unexpected page jumps with a new feature called scroll anchoring. This feature works by locking the scroll position on an on-screen element to keep our users in the same spot even as offscreen content continues to load.

Google claims scroll anchoring is already preventing about three page jumps per page-view, but says it understands there might be some content for which scroll anchoring is either unwanted or misbehaving. For this reason, the feature ships alongside a CSS property to override it.

While the focus of this feature is on mobile, scroll anchoring is actually also on by default on Chrome for Mac. Meanwhile, Google is encouraging web developers to participate in a community group to discuss the feature's functionality, offer feedback, and learn how to design websites or services "with a no-reflow mindset".

Google Chrome is available to download for free on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: Chrome
18 comments


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Porco
17 months ago
I already have something like this, it's called an ad-blocker.
Rating: 16 Votes
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soupcan
17 months ago
God yes. There's nothing worse than seeing your content on screen jump around like a rabbit on crack because stuff (usually images) is loading off-screen.
Rating: 12 Votes
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JosephAW
17 months ago
The whole idea of page jumping is to get a user to accidentally click a link.
This is an old trick we've been using for years to generate ad revenue. In fact most apps use this trick. You go to open a feature or play a game and boom, an ad appears and you clicked a link.
Rating: 6 Votes
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NinjaHERO
17 months ago
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Rating: 3 Votes
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TonyC28
17 months ago

The whole idea of page jumping is to get a user to accidentally click a link.
This is an old trick we've been using for years to generate ad revenue. In fact most apps use this trick. You go to open a feature or play a game and boom, an ad appears and you clicked a link.

The Weather Channel app does this. I figured it was intentional to generate clicks.
Rating: 2 Votes
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one more
17 months ago
Good idea, especially for sites with active comment feeds!
[doublepost=1491994257][/doublepost]

I already have something like this, it's called an ad-blocker.


Does not help much when pages jump every time somebody posts a new comment.
Rating: 2 Votes
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macs4nw
17 months ago
That annoying page-jumping happens with Safari sometimes as well, for me anyway.
Rating: 2 Votes
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mkeeley
17 months ago

The whole idea of page jumping is to get a user to accidentally click a link.
This is an old trick we've been using for years to generate ad revenue. In fact most apps use this trick. You go to open a feature or play a game and boom, an ad appears and you clicked a link.


It does seem to be on some sites.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Alenore
17 months ago
What an amazin idea to release CSS properties from nowhere.
This is exactly how IE became terrible.
Rating: 1 Votes
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Sasparilla
17 months ago

What an amazin idea to release CSS properties from nowhere.
This is exactly how IE became terrible.


Well, there is almost certainly a difference in intent here. Microsoft literally wanted to make the web proprietary to themselves (like they wanted to with their version of Java etc..) to lock everyone in.

I don't think Google is trying to do that. However point is well taken, the more of this stuff there is the harder it is for developers to build stuff the main browsers can use.
Rating: 1 Votes
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