True parallax with CSS-only is now possible

kevinpowell.co/courses?... 👈 Interested in levelling up your CSS game? I’ve got courses!
Parallax effects can be cool, but I’m always told the CSS-only solutions aren’t “true” parallax. Well, thanks to scroll-timeline: scroll(), we can now create true parallax effects without one line of JS and have complete control over the speed of each layer.
🔗 Links
✅ The original site: moco.supercell.com/en/
✅ The polyfill: github.com/flackr/scroll-time...
✅ Web Dev Simplified’s video: • This Simple Trick Make...
✅ The code from this video: github.com/kevin-powell/css-p...
⌚ Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
01:10 - How we need to set up our HTML
02:45 - Stacking everything with CSS
04:45 - Creating the animation for the parallax
05:44 - Applying the animation to when the user scrolls with animation-timeline scroll()
08:00 - Changing the “speed” of each element
12:15 - Making sure the elements don’t go in front of other content
13:40 - Overflow hidden doesn’t work
15:08 - Browser support and a polyfill
#css
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[@KevinPowell]

Instead of the overflow issue I showed, as a commenter said below, we can use contain: paint; and it works!. Also, I have a general rule that I won't make videos about a CSS feature until it's supported by at least two browsers, but with a polyfill available (linked in the description) I decided to break my own rule 🙂

[@z3rocodes]

Firefox is slacking.. They still don't have the view transitions or navigation API available after a year either :(

[@KevinPowell]

@z3rocodes it's definitely a little frustrating, specially considering they used to be the browser that was most often at the forefront. Even more frustrating is the for-profit side of the company that owns the non-profit (it's all a bit of a mess imo) seems to be doing extremely well, so even less reason for the gutting of the team who works on the browser itself.

[@rand0mtv660]

@@z3rocodes If I didn't look at it wrong now on caniuse, both Firefox and Safari are missing both of these features. So yeah it's not just Firefox that's slacking.

[@KevinPowell]

@@rand0mtv660 Safari has put out a positive signal on this though, so it's something that they'll be working on, or might already be working on.

[@Remeroska]

I'm sure safari and Firefox will catch up in 6 months or so. Scroll transitions will be a game changer for many applications, they won't pass on

[@dreejz]

Can't wait for that deep dive on the animation-timeline, thanks as always Kevin!

[@rumbazumba3189]

This is insane,opens up so much possibilities not just with parallax but a lot of other stuff that we previously did with JS

[@richardhindle1663]

This will be perfect for my next project. I'll be trying this tomorrow. This video earns a beer on me.

[@KevinPowell]

Thank you so much!

[@mianmohsin5542]

following kevin for like 1 year and whenever i stuck in any css problem . i jumped right in to your channel without a thought.. youre amazing sir❤❤

[@Yojmb0]

13:41 I believe you can use overflow:hidden if you instruct the CSS scroll function to bind to the root element - using scroll(root)

[@dannievinther]

In regards to the issue pointed out about setting overflow to 'hidden', you could easily just pass 'root' in the scroll() function, which I guess would create a similar result

[@etzbetz]

I was about to say this as well :)

[@noahr1545]

Dang, this looks so easy to use as well. Great video as always!! You're the css master 😎

[@spatialoptic]

Inspiration for my next website project starting next week! Thank you!!!

[@kingshanaman]

I can't believe how easy this thing is. Thanks for the great explanation 👌

[@abdelhaktamraoui2562]

you are my insperation Kevin, you actually made me change my view on css for the better 😁

[@NiceChange]

Thanks Kevin. This really helps turn CSS in to art and a very interactive site.

[@mocostartup]

Great video Kevin! Couldn't think of a better example 🤙

[@mrd.j.2303]

Hey Kevin I’m really enjoying your videos! I’m excited to apply it to my site.

[@heavylog1c]

This is like the most awesome thing in CSS I've seen in years. Cuz I like parallax a lot. Fingers crossed for Safari, I hope they will add support for this eventually.

[@hoobler08]

Excellent excellent excellent. Thank you, Kevin.

[@diegomartinezgarcia6961]

00:01 True parallax with CSS-only is now possible. 01:47 Create a parallax effect with CSS-only 03:32 True parallax with CSS-only is now possible 05:19 Using CSS animation timeline for parallax effect 06:56 True parallax can be achieved using CSS-only 08:44 Adjusting the Parallax speed 10:34 True parallax with CSS-only allows for moving different elements at different speeds 12:25 To solve the issue of elements escaping, a new stacking context is created within the parallax area using position relative and z-index. 14:21 True parallax effect with CSS-only is possible 16:09 True parallax with CSS-only is now possible

[@adnanamin3666]

Awesome as always! ❤ Kevin, will you create a navigation menu like Apple's website? Mega menu, sub menu style?

[@zackmalaysia5384]

This is gold..out of the box.. genius

[@christianlorenz1696]

Attention: if you use npm build tools, the css properties in the live-built (not in dev) get sometimes sorted like for me in Nuxt. The "animation" short-handle overrides then animation-timeline and nothing happens. At least I think it was the sorting. However: You need to setup it step by step: animation-name: parallax; animation-timing-function: linear; animation-timeline: scroll(); to make it work.

[@NotJayUU]

It's an exciting time to be a web developer!

[@adnanreddy1616]

Very well explained, thank you

[@proudyy]

I really like the idea of implementing a speed var to modify each single child in there, so that's a mandatory advantage compared to lots of libs doing which create parallax effects. Thanks Kevin 😊

[@nilaallj]

The Webkit team has given this spec a positive standards position, so we can count on Safari getting support at some point. Hopefully not too far in the future.

[@nomadshiba]

no need for background on the main content to overcome overflow: hidden issue and no need for adding position: relative and z-index: 0 to main .parallax element to overcome stacking issue. you can just use, isolation: isolate and contain: paint like this: .parallax { isolation: isolate; contain: paint; min-height: 75vh; display: grid; grid-template-areas: "stack"; } tbh when you mentioned overflow: hidden issue, i thought you would mention contain: paint, because i know you know it. i think you just forgot about it.

[@KevinPowell]

You don't even need the isolation, just the contain: paint and it works. Didn't even cross my mind while I was working on it either! Added it to the pinned comment though.

[@nomadshiba]

@@KevinPowell oh didnt even realize, i should have read the pinned comment first😅

[@jamesgulland]

Brill video, thanks Kevin

[@studyhard354]

Wonderful 👍

[@tonyblox]

It's a great concept. And that's all it is at the moment. Not supported in firefox, nor safari

[@TheRalic]

Love it ☺ thanks for this

[@TheRalic]

Just love this moment 😂😂 While watching tutorial from Kevin Powell I receive an email, toaster popup that says "Kevin Powell loves your comment"

[@Atractiondj]

This video inspires me, how I can create a smooth scroll library with only vanilla CSS

[@ramocreative]

Thank you! ❤

[@AjajRajguruAJ]

After reviewing the comments, it seems that not many people including me knows 'contain: paint' versus 'overflow: hidden' well and @Kevin, this could make for valuable video material and would also be beneficial in similar cases. Thank you

[@KevinPowell]

Already planned a video to compare them after this ☺️

[@ManWhoLostTheWar]

this makes me excited to mess with parallax effects now on my website :D

[@gE0013]

The only downside of your approach is the fact that you have to set up things outside the hero area (content background), making it less modular. Not a big deal though, especially considering the root suggestion(s) of the other comments. Brilliant video! It's so cool seeing big CSS improvements with a few lines of code. Thank you!

[@Mahmoudery]

So close to 1 Million subs🎉

[@Remeroska]

Instead of overflow hidden, could you use contain: paint?

[@KevinPowell]

Great question... and it works! I didn't even think of that, very awesome!

[@DeepJasoliya]

Thank you i didn't even know something called contain exist!

[@kevinfisher7032]

Terrific technique, Anytime I can do all my fine tuning live in the browser through the CSS!!! So much of this parallax stuff is about the small details and this gives you so much control. Love it!

[@krzysztofprzygoda7635]

You could calc --parallax-speed based on z-index as var.

[@megavolkan]

How amazing nowadays css is evolving faster than before :)

[@pratikkore7947]

more animation-timeline please 🎉

[@clevermissfox]

I’d love to “get into it” re animation-timeline!

[@clevermissfox]

How did I miss this video?! Maybe I thought I’ve already watched because the project was the same. Very cool. Thanks KP!

[@Wolfeur]

Regarding the overflow issue: have you tried either using `scroll(root)` or `view()`?

[@norboost]

It would be neat to use css variables for the depth of the individual elements and use that to both set the z-index and the parallax speed. That way moving something to the front or back will make sense speed wise as well

[@nekture]

Just use 3D if you want that.

[@Stabruder]

You could scss instead (Sass) It got exactly this feature too, to create variables

[@bramus]

As you mentioned, the problem with `overflow: hidden` is that it creates a scroller. Instead of creating a named scroll-timeline as a way out of this, an easier way is to simply set `overflow` to `clip`. It does the same as `overflow: hidden`, but where it differs is that `overflow: clip` does not create a scroller. Furthermore, have you checked out `animation-range`? For this demo I’d go for `animation-range: 0vh 100vh` so that the animations are no longer affected by the page length.

[@RondellKB]

CSS is getting so exciting.

[@DrVolodya]

Very nice, thanks! Are you aware that Peelonion channel reposts your videos? It was just suggested to me by YT.

[@ousssika5359]

thanks for everthing , it will be great if you do a full dashboard admin , with scss , and give your approche to make it happen

[@user-st7fn3be1f]

From where your getting those cool images you used in background

[@danstevens1974]

Hi Kevin. Excellent video. In your intro you mention background-attachment > fixed. This does not work on IOS. I was wondering if you have some CSS to make it work? I've been hunting hi and low! So i can have the nice "sort of" parallax effect on desktop, but sadly not on mobile. There must be a work around?

[@avneet12284]

You can probably use overflow: hidden if you use scroll(root) not just scroll()

[@gardiner_bryant]

Why not clip-path the parallax container?

[@KevinPowell]

Would probably work 😃 . An even simpler solution that some mentioned in the comments is to use 'contain: paint;'.

[@Technoph1le]

12:45 Would using `isolation: isolate` work as well instead of `z-index: 0`?

[@TAHppled]

Can you set the z-index to a vet like you do with your colors? Make a private property on the parallax that controls the x-index and multiplier, and can be set at the item level. Then you just set the one property, let’s call it __parallax-position or some such thing, and it sets the z-index to 5 and multiples the scroll speed by 5. So it’s going 5 times faster than the background. Not sure if that made sense, but seems a way that you can set it up and only have to fudge a couple numbers on the main parallax instead of on every item.

[@KelvinYong77]

Would you not use `isolation: isolate` for creating new stacking context?

[@anthony_s_tech]

Hello, can you do a video about how to do a customised select option.

[@fantomtracks]

awsome

[@helmuthpetelin4613]

hey kevin wouldnt the pixel offset break the site on mobile and how would you fix it? Of course there is allways the way to build it for certain displays with media querries. Isnt there a easier solution?

[@KevinPowell]

The multiplier could just as easily be a viewport unit. You could even have the base be 1vh, and then the --parallax-speed: ; values be in vh as well, so it's always adjusting to the space available.

[@lukaschylik9131]

Hi Kevin, why don't you use isolate: isolate to create a new stacking context? Wouldn't that work?

[@bhishek_]

Cool 😎

[@VaracolacidVesci]

This is very nice idea. But in real life the parallax fx move the closer items way faster than the one far away (like when on a train, the mountains almost dont move but the trees on the side of the road pass fast. It is like the perspective

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

that's set by the parallax scroll/animation multiplier he set for each layer. set them however you like for the desired effect (I agree, I want the farthest back layers barely moving, and forward layers flying past, as on a train)

[@VaracolacidVesci]

@@joeldcanfield_spinhead I do understand the code, I was just saying that the parallax fx is a visual effect due the perspective. and Ofc you can set your fx however you want, but real parallax has rules.

[@GrantGryczan]

If you want to move them, you could just use `position: relative;` on the children instead of `position: absolute;` on the children and then `position: relative;` on the parent.

[@rizkimaulanakusuma2497]

Sir how to make background move smooth without scrolling only like one view and add some character picture with smooth up and down animation like he is flying/floating?

[@tomilipin]

Hi @KevinPowell, are you welcoming everybody at the beginning of the video by saying "hello my friend and friends"? What does it mean? Why do you welcome a friend (singular) and friends (plural)? I'm not a native Engish speaker, so please explain. Thanks!

[@KevinPowell]

It's actually "hello my front-end friends" :) - KZbin's auto-captions always get is as "friend and friends" though 😊

[@tomilipin]

@@KevinPowell Oh my gosh... yeah... It makes sense now. Thank you so much!

[@mrt8bit692]

Even if it’s now possible with css, it’s been so easy for years with just a few lines of Javascript

[@WoWUndad]

i only implement my full stack web applications as threejs vr integrated clients that interact with a full mmorpg game server but im glad you got ur css to scroll

[@user-jm1iw3od3b]

Hi, I tried the grid-template-areas and it doesn't work, any advice?

[@facundo-chavez-dev]

How do you think they made that smooth scrolling?

[@adamburysek3976]

that i want know too :)

[@christhompson4653]

Please highlight the bug in iOS where background attachment fixed not only doesn’t work, but it prevents the background showing at all.

[@wulffxarchive]

Safari is a stubborn jerk of a browser and it tends to just be easier to use a fixed element unfortunately

[@aliakeel]

moco! that's sueprcells new game yall

[@clevermissfox]

Wait, putting position absolute on a grid item makes it relative to its cell, not the grid parent as a whole?

[@KevinPowell]

If they have a defined cell, yup :). If you don't explicitly place them in a cell, then it looks at the whole thing.

[@clevermissfox]

@@KevinPowell 🤯🤯🤯

[@samirmishra9946]

🙏🙏

[@User-404]

WOW

[@VeitLehmann]

Wow, this is neat! Maybe clip-path would work for preventing the elements to stick out as an alternative for position: relative and z-index: 0? Edit: clip-path: inset(0) works and removes the need for a background-color on the main-content 🥳 (also, position: relative and z-indexes on the wrappers are not needed anymore then)

[@peterl0815]

I thought the same, tried it and it works flawless ... clip-path is the friend.

[@arhangelohek-UKR]

What if instead of overflow:hidden; trying to use clipping-mask? 🤔

[@KevinPowell]

contain: paint; will work :)

[@haeinsneins]

overflow:clip works. Because then the element is no longer a possible scroll container @@KevinPowell

[@thomaslukemcferran]

In theory could this technique be applied to translateX functions also?

[@KevinPowell]

Yup!

[@jonny555333]

tried the polyfill and it doesn't seem to be working for me.

[@raghavdahal7596]

just a suggestion: can't you do everything from beginning like writing html code also and somebasics css also

[@KevinPowell]

My Tuesday videos I try to make more beginner friendly, so they go more from scratch. My Thursday videos tend to be more geared toward intermediat/advanced, where it's less a follow along, and a bit faster paced exploration of how something works.

[@izaar76]

By any chance Kairos time is your brother ? He makes videos on brawl stars ?

[@KevinPowell]

Hah, nope :)

[@erdUha]

It is really good feature but it's sad that it doesn't have full support for all browsers

[@techmama2079]

may I get the raw file?

[@alekseistukalov8270]

Unfortunately this is glitching on Mac's chrome, and Safari still doesn't support it.

[@nomadshiba]

i have no idea why this has 6 dislikes

[@KevinPowell]

It's not a YT video if people don't dislike it :D

[@cmyk8964]

I got excited but then I found out that Firfeox and my version of ungoogled Chromium don't support it.:(

[@hardikpatelhdhe]

It's always Apple who doesn't allow us to use modern CSS.

[@TylerThomas]

Par All Ax

[@BenceBori]

Sadly, Safari doesn't even support the fixed background attachment. Never gonna happen :/

[@KevinPowell]

Safari supports it, it's only on iOS that they don't, and the webkit team has already said they're looking into this :)

[@WesleyUden]

Couldn’t you just wrap the parallax div inside a new parent div that has overflow hidden?

[@eleanorscerri1901]

really sucks it's mainly supported for chrome only though :(

[@erickdavid4257]

animation-timeline: scroll sounds great and all but seems like I need to re-evaluate scroll and stacking contexts

[@jhfdjdhfdgfghjzrztku]

Another CSS-only way to achieve this with better browser support is to use perspective and z-distance.

[@KevinPowell]

yup, I mentioned that and linked to Web Dev Simplified's video where he looks at doing that. It's a good approach, the biggest issue if you need the parent element to be the one scrolling though, not the page itself.

[@jhfdjdhfdgfghjzrztku]

@@KevinPowell I must have missed that. Admittedly, I was scrubbing through the video. I totally agree that this solution will be far superior and make many other common animations and elements trivial, e.g. reading progress bars.

[@myfreedom42]

dont works on FF, so unusable for this moment

[@lilrex2015]

Im watching this rn, and you harp way too long on the 200px, we get it, its a placeholder value

[@oidualx]

A word of advice: the fact that this is an experimental CSS feature should be mentioned at the beginning of the video, not at the end. Many people won't be able to use this feature for the reasons you mention, and it's nice to make that clear up front.

[@beardedraider4751]

Or….you could say thank you, for taking the time to look at this awesome new feature and show us how it works. Some people are so ungrateful…..

[@zalaam_0]

i think css is going to become javascript

[@aseemanand1]

No wonder why he calls you a css king

[@FaizanAnwerAli]

Again safari is last. I really hate it. Safari is the new IE

[@OldNeoMatrix]

Huge effort to create useless graphical effect. Who want to pay for that?

[@EatSleepCodeRepeat_]