simple parallax scrolling css background movement

#Simple parallax scrolling css background movement full

Setting ‘ background-attachment‘ to ‘ fixed‘ will cause the item’s background image to be set as fixed to the viewport rather than the item itself. We’re going to use a technique which makes use of the ‘ background-attachment‘ property in CSS to approximate a parallax style effect.

However, we also reckon that words evolve, and so to the average web user ‘parallax’ means anything that looks as if two components are moving at different speeds or in opposing directions, sorry 🙂 We’ll show you two simple parallax-esque techniques which are perfect for small implementations – one using some simple Javascript, and the other using just CSS – wow!ītw, we know that neither of these are technically actual parallax systems, hence the phrase ‘ parallax-esque‘. This doesn’t address the core problem of performance though – if you only want the parallax effect on a small area of your site, or are knocking up a proof of concept then why do you need a weighty, complex component?

#Simple parallax scrolling css background movement full

To get the full parallax effect with no lag or glitchy movement can be complicated and to create your own component from scratch would be time-consuming and difficult, particularly when so many good open-source alternatives are available. Mostly, to achieve this effect on your website you would use a plugin or 3rd party library. Some of the most popular ‘wow’ websites will use parallax in ingenious ways to draw the user’s attention and direct their journey through the site. When done properly *, parallax looks superb and adds engaging movement and dynamism to an otherwise static medium.

There are currently 252 packages for parallax live on NPM – so perhaps it is a little overdone… 😉 That amount of interest does however indicate its popularity. This effect is a big deal in the web design world, and doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Parallax is an web design effect where the background content (usually imagery) moves at a different pace from the content in front of it when the user scrolls.

So, what are our options for adding a basic parallax style effect without any of the baggage? What is parallax? Sadly though, parallax implementations often suffer from being JS heavy and poorly optimised, and can introduce performance problems. Parallax is a popular scrolling effect used on many modern websites, and when done well can look fantastic.