CSS Scrollbars Styling Module Level 1

Editor’s Draft,

More details about this document
This version:
https://drafts.csswg.org/css-scrollbars/
Latest published version:
https://www.w3.org/TR/css-scrollbars-1/
Previous Versions:
Implementation Report:
https://wpt.fyi/results/css/css-scrollbars?label=experimental&label=master&aligned
Feedback:
CSSWG Issues Repository
Editors:
Tantek Çelik (Mozilla)
(Microsoft)
Florian Rivoal (Invited Expert)
Suggest an Edit for this Spec:
GitHub Editor
Test Suite:
https://wpt.fyi/results/css/css-scrollbars/

Abstract

This CSS module defines properties to influence the visual styling of scrollbars, introducing controls for their color and width.

CSS is a language for describing the rendering of structured documents (such as HTML and XML) on screen, on paper, etc.

Status of this document

This is a public copy of the editors’ draft. It is provided for discussion only and may change at any moment. Its publication here does not imply endorsement of its contents by W3C. Don’t cite this document other than as work in progress.

Please send feedback by filing issues in GitHub (preferred), including the spec code “css-scrollbars” in the title, like this: “[css-scrollbars] …summary of comment…”. All issues and comments are archived. Alternately, feedback can be sent to the (archived) public mailing list www-style@w3.org.

This document is governed by the 03 November 2023 W3C Process Document.

1. Introduction

Tests

This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


This section is non-normative.

This CSS module introduces properties to influence the visual styling of scrollbars, including their color (scrollbar-color) and thickness (scrollbar-width).

1.1. Scope

Tests

This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


The CSS Scrollbars Module is specifically for styling scrollbar controls themselves, e.g. their color & width in Level 1, and not their layout nor whether any content is scrollable. All layout impacts and content scrollability are specified in the CSS Overflow Module.

Based on documented use-cases, there are three main use-cases around scrollbars this module intends to resolve:

  1. Coloring scrollbars to fit better into the UI of a web application.
  2. Using a thinner scrollbar when the scrolling area is small.
  3. Hiding UA-provided scrollbars, to allow the provision of custom interfaces for scrolling without affecting other aspects of scrollability.
Tests

Tests that related to the specification as a whole, without exerting any specific part


1.1.1. Out Of Scope

Tests

This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


The internal structure, layout, and configuration of scrollbars, as well as precise control over their coloring, is out of scope. This is because different platforms have different scrollbar structures and styling conventions, and operating systems continuously evolve their scrollbar designs to provide better user experience. Pseudo-elements for selecting specific parts of a scrollbar, for example, were considered and rejected. While this level of fine control would be tempting for authors, the arrangement of the various parts—​or whether they’re even all present—​cannot be depended on. Providing too much control would allow authors to get perfect results on some platforms, but at the expense of broken results on others.

Note: Exposing the scrollbar-related ::-webkit- prefixed pseudo-elements to the Web is considered a mistake by both the CSS Working Group and Webkit. Nevertheless, see § 2.1 Interaction with non-standard features and § 3.1 Interaction with non-standard features.

1.2. Value Definitions

Tests

This section does not introduce any new normative requirement, it does not need tests.


This specification follows the CSS property definition conventions from [CSS2] using the value definition syntax from [CSS-VALUES-3]. Value types not defined in this specification are defined in CSS Values & Units [CSS-VALUES-3]. Combination with other CSS modules may expand the definitions of these value types.

In addition to the property-specific values listed in their definitions, all properties defined in this specification also accept the CSS-wide keywords as their property value. For readability they have not been repeated explicitly.

2. Scrollbar Colors: the scrollbar-color property

Tests

This section has partial test coverage.

Missing:


The following tests have no basis in the spec: they assume that making the thumb and the track transparent must make the whole scollbar invisible. This is not necessarily true:


Name: scrollbar-color
Value: auto | <color>{2}
Initial: auto
Applies to: scroll containers
Inherited: yes
Percentages: n/a
Computed value: specified keyword or two computed colors
Canonical order: per grammar
Animation type: by computed value
Tests

This property allows the author to set colors of an element’s scrollbars.

Tests

This test useful but insufficient: it checks what the property doesn't do, not what it does.


This test useful but insufficient: it checks that *if* the property works, current-color works.


These tests are useful but insufficient: *if* the property works at all, they check that it updates correctly.


UAs must apply the scrollbar-color value set on the root element to the viewport.

Tests

The following test about viewport propagation is useful but insufficient; the test will pass if the property has no effect at all. Also missing:


Note: Unlike overflow (and overflow-*) properties, scrollbar-color value set on the HTML body element are not propagated to the viewport.

Tests
auto
The user agent determines the colors of the scrollbar. It should follow platform conventions, but may adjust the colors in accordance with color-scheme or other contextual information to better suit the page.
Tests

These tests check that that if the scrollbar adjusts based on the color scheme, then dynamic updates to the color scheme do cause an update of the scrollbar's colors.


<color>
The user agent should use the specified colors to adjust the rendering of the element’s scollbars, if any, applying the first color to the thumb of the scrollbar, and the second color to the track of the scrollbar.

The track refers to the background of the scrollbar, which is generally fixed regardless of the scrolling position.

The thumb refers to the moving part of the scrollbar, which usually floats on top of the track.

Some scrollbars also include additional controls, refered to as buttons, which usually sit at the top or bottom of the scrollbar on top of the track. This specification does not define whether and how buttons—​if present—​are colored.

A vertical scrollbar with
			a 'scroll-up' button at the top containing an upwards triangle,
			a 'scroll-down' button at the top containing an downwards triangle,
			a movable thumb indicating that the scrollar is all the way to the top,
			all over a background track.
			Each of these parts is labeled.
Anatomy of a scrollbar

If this property computes to a value other than auto, implementations may render a simpler scrollbar than the default platform UI rendering, and color it accordingly.

Note: Sometimes the UA is unable to customize the colors of native scrollbars, perhaps due to how they’re structured, or to a lack of control given by the native toolkit. The provision above allows the UA to replace them with differently-constructed scrollbars, which it does know how to color.

Note: User Agents are expected to use the color in the rendering of the scrollbar, but that does not imply they need to paint the entire thumb or track with a single solid featureless color. The specified color can be used as a tint for part of the component, lighter or darker shades of the color can be used for highlights, shadows, texture…

The following image represents a possible rendition of a scrollbar given the following css:
scrollbar-color: #8eb0dc #d2d4d6;

This specific design is not only that single shade of blue over that single shade of gray: the thumb has a subtle vertical gradient going from a lighter shade at the top to a slightly darker shade at the bottom, darker notches in the middle, as well as a darker outline, all derived from the specified shade of blue; the light gray track has a darker outline. This design also happens to include buttons.

A horizontal scrollbar with a textured, shaded and outlined blue thumb,
			over a light gray track which is itself outlined,
			and flanked by two 'scroll left' and 'scroll right' buttons,
			as was commonly seen in scrollbar designs of the early 2000s

Nevertheless, authors cannot assume that this will necessarily be the case, as on a different platform or a different user agent the rendering could be a solid color thumb over a solid color track, as seen below.

A horizontal scrollbar with a blue featureless rounded rectangle as a thumb
			over a featureless light gray track,
			as was commonly seen in scrollbar designs of the early 2020s

Implementations may ignore any of the colors if the corresponding part do not exist on the underlying platform.

When using scrollbar-color property with specific color values, authors should ensure the specified colors have enough contrast between them. For the auto value, UAs should ensure the colors they use have enough contrast. See WCAG 2.1 SC 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast [WCAG21]. UAs may ignore these contrast requirements based on explicit user preferences (for example, when users choose a configuration option/setting that always ensures a particular scrollbar color / use of system default scrollbars).

Note: Implementations can take advantage of the fact that they have full discretion in how to apply the specified colors in order to visually respond to user interactions with the scrollbar (e.g. hovering or activating): they could alter which scrollbar parts the specified colors apply to, use darker or lighter shades of the specified colors, more or less saturated variants…

If the user agent displays the scrollbar without the track, they must ensure reasonable contrast between the thumb and what is behind it. However, if the author set the color of the track to be fully transparent, the user agent may assume that the author has provided for sufficient contrast even with an invisible track.

Note: This is typically relevant in the case of overlay scrollbars, either on platforms where the track is never displayed, or on platforms where it is only displayed when the scrollbar is being interacted with but not when scrolling with the mouse wheel or the track-pad. This does not apply in cases where the entire scrollbar is hidden as is often the case with overlay scrollbars while no scroll operation is ongoing and when the scrollbar is not being interacted with either.

Note: The user agent is free to achieve this by any of a variety of means, depending on the platform, on design choices, or on what is practical to implement, such as:

2.1. Interaction with non-standard features

On any element or pseudo-element where the computed value of scrollbar-color is anything other than the initial auto value, user agents must ignore any alternative non-standard means for authors to influence the rendering of scrollbars, such as the ::webkit-scrollbar family of pseudo-elements.

Tests

3. Scrollbar Thickness: the scrollbar-width property

Tests

This section has partial test coverage.

Missing:


Name: scrollbar-width
Value: auto | thin | none
Initial: auto
Applies to: scroll containers
Inherited: no
Percentages: n/a
Computed value: specified keyword
Canonical order: per grammar
Animation type: discrete
Tests

This property allows the author to specify the desired thickness of an element’s scrollbars.

Tests
The primary purpose of this property is not to allow authors to choose a particular scrollbar aesthetic for their pages, but to let them indicate for certain small or cramped elements of their pages that a smaller scrollbar would be desirable.

Scrollbars are a UI mechanism essential to interact with the page. Operating systems tend to want consistency in such controls to improve usability through familiarity, and users with specific preferences or needs can adjust the appearance of various UI components, including scrollbars, through OS or UA settings.

While using this property in support of specific UX goals is appropriate, authors should otherwise refrain from overriding such user preferences.

auto
Implementations must use the default scrollbar width.

Note: On most systems, this corresponds to the traditional somewhat wide scrollbar. However, through OS or UA settings, users can have the ability to change what this default corresponds to, possibly making the default scrollbar wider or narrower than is typical.

thin
Implementations should use thinner scrollbars than auto. This may mean a thin variant of scrollbar provided by the platform, or a custom scrollbar thinner than the default platform scrollbar. The scrollbar must nonetheless remain wide enough to be usable. (Implementers may wish to consult WCAG 2.1 SC 2.5.5 Target Size. [WCAG21])
Tests

Note: User agents can use various strategies to ensure the usability of narrow scrollbars. For instance, in the case of overlay scrollbars, they can dynamically enlarge the scrollbar in response to a user attempting to interact with it. User agents on devices with touch screens can also adjust how they interpret finger taps to facilitate interacting with visually small touch targets.

User agents may disregard this value and treat it as auto, for instance when the user has indicated discomfort for thin scrollbars through some UA or OS setting. (User agents are encouraged to provide such a setting.)

Note: Some platforms only have a tiny scrollbar by default which cannot be reasonably made thinner. In such cases, this value will behave as auto.

none
Implementations must not display any scrollbar, however the element’s scrollability by other means is not affected.
Tests
Using this value can prevent mouse-only users from being able to scroll. Authors should ensure that mouse-only users can still reach hidden content, even if they have no scrollwheel.
Authors that use none should provide an alternative/equivalent visual hint that scrolling is possible and there is more content.

Note: For situations where an element is to be scrolled only by programmatic means, and not by direct user manipulation, overflow: hidden is appropriate, not scrollbar-width: none.

Note: Users who find the thin style of scrollbars unusable can include the following rule in their user style sheet:
* { scrollbar-width: auto !important; }

This will ensure that all scrollbars are sized as per OS and UA settings regardless of author styles.

UAs must apply the scrollbar-width value set on the root element to the viewport.

Tests

Note: Unlike the overflow property (and its longhands), a scrollbar-width value set on the HTML body element is not propagated to the viewport.

Tests

Note: This specification does not define the exact position or shape of the scrollbar, or any animation thereof, such as fading or sliding in/out of view.

3.1. Interaction with non-standard features

On any element or pseudo-element where the computed value of scrollbar-width is anything other than the initial auto value, user agents must ignore any alternative non-standard means for authors to influence the rendering of scrollbars, such as the ::webkit-scrollbar family of pseudo-elements.

Tests

Appendix A. Acknowledgments

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This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


This appendix is non-normative.

The CSS Working Group and the Editors of this specification would like to express our gratitude to the following people, as this specification would not have been possible without their feedback and contributions: Chris Lilley, Emilio Cobos Álvarez, Eric Shepherd, Eric Willigers, fantasai, Greg Whitworth, jonjohnjohnson, L. David Baron, Luke Warlow, Oriol Brufau, Patrick H. Lauke, Rene Haas, Rick Byers, Simon Fraser, Tab Atkins Jr., Xidorn Quan.

In particular, thanks for the use-cases, prototyping, implementation, and feedback from Tab Atkins and Xidorn Quan. Thanks for accessibility review and contributions (#3315) from Patrick H. Lauke.

Appendix B. Changes

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This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


This appendix is non-normative.

Changes since the 9 December 2021 Candidate Recommendation

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This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


Changes since the 2021-12-02 Working Draft

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This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


Changes from the 2021-08-05 Working Draft

Tests

This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


Changes from the 2018-09-25 First Public Working Draft

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This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


Appendix C. Security and Privacy

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This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


This appendix is non-normative.

Considerations for Security

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This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


No specific concerns regarding security have been identified for this specification.

Considerations for Privacy

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This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


No specific concerns regarding privacy have been identified for this specification.

Self-review questionnaire

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This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


Per the Self-Review Questionnaire: Security and Privacy: Questions to Consider

  1. Does this specification deal with personally-identifiable information?

    No.

  2. Does this specification deal with high-value data?

    No.

  3. Does this specification introduce new state for an origin that persists across browsing sessions?

    No.

  4. Does this specification expose persistent, cross-origin state to the web?

    No.

  5. Does this specification expose any other data to an origin that it doesn’t currently have access to?

    No.

  6. Does this specification enable new script execution/loading mechanisms?

    No.

  7. Does this specification allow an origin access to a user’s location?

    No.

  8. Does this specification allow an origin access to sensors on a user’s device?

    No.

  9. Does this specification allow an origin access to aspects of a user’s local computing environment?

    No.

  10. Does this specification allow an origin access to other devices?

    No.

  11. Does this specification allow an origin some measure of control over a user agent’s native UI?

    Yes. The scrollbar-* properties enable the page to change the color and width of the scrollbar of the user agent’s native UI, e.g. scrollbars on the page’s window, on framed content embedded in the page, or on overflowing elements with scrollbars in the page.

  12. Does this specification expose temporary identifiers to the web?

    No.

  13. Does this specification distinguish between behavior in first-party and third-party contexts?

    No.

  14. How should this specification work in the context of a user agent’s "incognito" mode?

    No differently.

  15. Does this specification persist data to a user’s local device?

    No.

  16. Does this specification have a "Security Considerations" and "Privacy Considerations" section?

    Yes.

  17. Does this specification allow downgrading default security characteristics?

    No.

Appendix D. Considerations for accessibility

Tests

This section is not normative, it does not need tests.


This appendix is non-normative.

As noted in the definition of the property, authors need to be mindful of the accessibility implications of using scrollbar-width: thin. Scrollbars are a important piece of the user agent’s interface, and it is not appropriate for a web site author to change their size over aesthetic considerations. The property is available to support cases where the author wants to indicate that in a cramped area of the web page a thin scrollbar would be a more effective use of space. However, ultimately, the user, through their user agent, needs to have the last word on such things.

Using this property in such cases is preferable to authors building a custom thin-looking scrollbar in via script or proprietary extensions, because it does give the user the opportunity to override it.

User style sheets do provide such an override, and additionally, user agents are encouraged to expose a setting letting users express that they do not want thin scrollbars to be used.

The CSS Working Group also acknowledges the needs of some users to have scrollbars that are wider than is typical. Operating systems and user agents can offer a means to let users express that preference, and in such cases, CSS will honor that choice.

Conformance

Document conventions

Conformance requirements are expressed with a combination of descriptive assertions and RFC 2119 terminology. The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in the normative parts of this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119. However, for readability, these words do not appear in all uppercase letters in this specification.

All of the text of this specification is normative except sections explicitly marked as non-normative, examples, and notes. [RFC2119]

Examples in this specification are introduced with the words “for example” or are set apart from the normative text with class="example", like this:

This is an example of an informative example.

Informative notes begin with the word “Note” and are set apart from the normative text with class="note", like this:

Note, this is an informative note.

Advisements are normative sections styled to evoke special attention and are set apart from other normative text with <strong class="advisement">, like this: UAs MUST provide an accessible alternative.

Tests

Tests relating to the content of this specification may be documented in “Tests” blocks like this one. Any such block is non-normative.


Conformance classes

Conformance to this specification is defined for three conformance classes:

style sheet
A CSS style sheet.
renderer
A UA that interprets the semantics of a style sheet and renders documents that use them.
authoring tool
A UA that writes a style sheet.

A style sheet is conformant to this specification if all of its statements that use syntax defined in this module are valid according to the generic CSS grammar and the individual grammars of each feature defined in this module.

A renderer is conformant to this specification if, in addition to interpreting the style sheet as defined by the appropriate specifications, it supports all the features defined by this specification by parsing them correctly and rendering the document accordingly. However, the inability of a UA to correctly render a document due to limitations of the device does not make the UA non-conformant. (For example, a UA is not required to render color on a monochrome monitor.)

An authoring tool is conformant to this specification if it writes style sheets that are syntactically correct according to the generic CSS grammar and the individual grammars of each feature in this module, and meet all other conformance requirements of style sheets as described in this module.

Partial implementations

So that authors can exploit the forward-compatible parsing rules to assign fallback values, CSS renderers must treat as invalid (and ignore as appropriate) any at-rules, properties, property values, keywords, and other syntactic constructs for which they have no usable level of support. In particular, user agents must not selectively ignore unsupported component values and honor supported values in a single multi-value property declaration: if any value is considered invalid (as unsupported values must be), CSS requires that the entire declaration be ignored.

Implementations of Unstable and Proprietary Features

To avoid clashes with future stable CSS features, the CSSWG recommends following best practices for the implementation of unstable features and proprietary extensions to CSS.

Non-experimental implementations

Once a specification reaches the Candidate Recommendation stage, non-experimental implementations are possible, and implementors should release an unprefixed implementation of any CR-level feature they can demonstrate to be correctly implemented according to spec.

To establish and maintain the interoperability of CSS across implementations, the CSS Working Group requests that non-experimental CSS renderers submit an implementation report (and, if necessary, the testcases used for that implementation report) to the W3C before releasing an unprefixed implementation of any CSS features. Testcases submitted to W3C are subject to review and correction by the CSS Working Group.

Further information on submitting testcases and implementation reports can be found from on the CSS Working Group’s website at https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Test/. Questions should be directed to the public-css-testsuite@w3.org mailing list.

Index

Terms defined by this specification

Terms defined by reference

References

Normative References

[CSS-CASCADE-5]
Elika Etemad; Miriam Suzanne; Tab Atkins Jr.. CSS Cascading and Inheritance Level 5. URL: https://drafts.csswg.org/css-cascade-5/
[CSS-COLOR-5]
Chris Lilley; et al. CSS Color Module Level 5. URL: https://drafts.csswg.org/css-color-5/
[CSS-COLOR-ADJUST-1]
Elika Etemad; et al. CSS Color Adjustment Module Level 1. URL: https://drafts.csswg.org/css-color-adjust-1/
[CSS-OVERFLOW-3]
Elika Etemad; Florian Rivoal. CSS Overflow Module Level 3. URL: https://drafts.csswg.org/css-overflow-3/
[CSS-VALUES-3]
Tab Atkins Jr.; Elika Etemad. CSS Values and Units Module Level 3. URL: https://drafts.csswg.org/css-values-3/
[CSS-VALUES-4]
Tab Atkins Jr.; Elika Etemad. CSS Values and Units Module Level 4. URL: https://drafts.csswg.org/css-values-4/
[CSS2]
Bert Bos; et al. Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification. URL: https://drafts.csswg.org/css2/
[RFC2119]
S. Bradner. Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels. March 1997. Best Current Practice. URL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2119
[SELECTORS-4]
Elika Etemad; Tab Atkins Jr.. Selectors Level 4. URL: https://drafts.csswg.org/selectors/
[WEB-ANIMATIONS-1]
Brian Birtles; et al. Web Animations. URL: https://drafts.csswg.org/web-animations-1/

Informative References

[HTML]
Anne van Kesteren; et al. HTML Standard. Living Standard. URL: https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/
[WCAG21]
Michael Cooper; et al. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. URL: https://w3c.github.io/wcag/guidelines/22/

Property Index

Name Value Initial Applies to Inh. %ages Anim­ation type Canonical order Com­puted value
scrollbar-color auto | <color>{2} auto scroll containers yes n/a by computed value per grammar specified keyword or two computed colors
scrollbar-width auto | thin | none auto scroll containers no n/a discrete per grammar specified keyword
MDN

scrollbar-color

In only one current engine.

Firefox64+SafariNoneChromeNone
Opera?EdgeNone
Edge (Legacy)?IENone
Firefox for Android?iOS Safari?Chrome for Android?Android WebView?Samsung Internet?Opera Mobile?
MDN

scrollbar-width

Firefox64+SafariNoneChrome🔰 preview+
Opera?Edge🔰 preview+
Edge (Legacy)?IENone
Firefox for Android?iOS Safari?Chrome for Android?Android WebView?Samsung Internet?Opera Mobile?