FinBars

Styleable scrollbars for real or virtual content

Try the demo.

[See the note Regarding submodules for important information on cloning this repo or re-purposing its build template.]

API documentation

Detailed API docs can be found here.

Import

Use one or the other:

CommonJS npm module

For consumption by bundler on build machine.

From Bash prompt:

npm install --save-prod finbars

From within a code module:

const FinBar = require('finbars');

Runtime import

As an alternative to using the npm module, the client may request a versioned build file that sets the global window.FinBar:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/finbars@2.0/umd/finbars.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/finbars@2.0/umd/finbars.min.js"></script>

Any SEMVER string can be used. 2.0 in the above means load the latest of the 2.0.* range. See the npm semver calculator and npm’s semantic versioning page.

Synopsis

The following sets up a vertical scrollbar to scroll "real" content with the default handler, vertbar.scrollRealContent, which is wired up for you automatically when you give content option but no onchange option).

var container = document.getElementsByTagName('div')[0],
    content = container.firstChild,
    vertBar = new FinBar({ orientation: 'vertical', content: content });
 
container.appendChild(vertBar.bar);
 
vertbar.resize();
 
window.onresize = function() { vertbar.resize(); };
 

Mark up:

<div style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; overflow: hidden;">
    <img src="something-taller-than-document.png" />
</div>

For this example, we use CSS to dynamically stick the container size to the document so that it is resized as the window is resized.

To set up a horizontal scrollbar as well, just do everything twice.

Introduction

What you do with these scrollbars is completely up to you. They are essentially "range" controls. The scrolling effect is implemented purely in the callback (which you supply). Therefore, they can be used for any purpose, such as to perform "virtual scrolling" (see below).

The example (src/index.html) shows three scrolling <div>…</div> elements:

System scrollbars (no finbars)

The first <div>...</div> doesn't use finbars at all. It is scrolled by the browser using normal operating system scrollbars. These can be made to appear with the following CSS "overflow" style settings:

overflow-x: scroll
overflow-y: scroll

Or "automatically" only when content would overflow the box:

overflow-x: auto
overflow-y: auto

DIY scrolling with finbars

The second <div>...</div> uses finbars instead of system scrollbars. The finbars need to be instantiated, appended to the content element, and rendered using the resize() method. Each callback invocation shifts the content by resetting its position (left and top) styles. In this case the "overflow" styles must be set as follows:

overflow-x: hidden
overflow-y: hidden

Virtual scrolling with finbars

The third <div>...</div> uses finbars to "scroll" virtual content. This means that instead of shifting the content around in response to each callback invocation, the content is regenerated instead in such a way that it appears to be moving in response the scrollbars.

If you generated content is not precise enough to stay within the bounds of the content element, set the "overflow" styles to "hidden" as above. Otherwise you can leave them set to their defaults ("visible").

Finbar styling

You can style your scrollbars with CSS. You can either redefine the existing selectors for div.finbar-vertical and div.finbar-horizontal in src/css/finbars.css OR you can add your own selectors with a name of your choosing (in place of "finbar") and give that name to the constructor when instantiating your scrollbar object. This second method allows you to have multiple scrollbar styles on a single page.

Your styles should specify the size, color, and opacity of the scrollbar and its thumb.

NOTE: The only CSS style that is required is position: absolute which is set by the constructor, overriding any value from your stylesheets. You can also specify the initial position of the thumb (typically at top: 0 for vertical scrollbars and left: 0 for horizontal scrollbars).

CAUTION: Be sure your existing CSS selectors do not resolve to the scrollbar's element, which consists of a <div>...</div> with a single nested <div>...</div> for the thumb.

Testing

The unit test included currently (test/index.js) is rudimentary and needs to be expanded.

An HTML file is included as an example. I user-tested this example file on:

• Mac OS High Sierra (10.13.6)
  • Chrome (70.0.3538.77)
  • Safari (12.0 - 13606.2.11)
  • Opera (56.0.3051.52)
  • Firefox (63.0)
• Windows 7 (SP1)
  • Chrome (67.0.3396.87)
  • Firefox (52.8.0)
  • IE 11 (11.0.9600.19155CO)
• Windows 10
  • Chrome (70.0.3538.77)
  • Opera (56.0.3051.70)
  • Firefox (63.0)
  • IE 11 (11.345.17134.0)
  • Edge (42.17134.1.0)

Version History

• 2.0.0 (10/28/2018)
  • This major version update applies platform/browser normalization to deltaXFactor, deltaYFactor, and deltaZFactor, a breaking behavioral change for any app that was previously applying its own normalization factoring to this prop values. See FinBar.normals and normal.
• 1.6.3 (10/28/2018)
  • Remove stylesheet requirement that .bar and .thumb classes must maintain position: abolute by setting/overriding it on the style attribute as the objects are created in code.
• 1.6.2 (10/8/2018)
  • Keep .hover class on thumb throughout drag.
• 1.6.1 (10/8/2018)
  • Capture off-grid mouseup during scrollbar thumb drag.
• 1.6.0 (5/24/2018)
  • Add deltaXFactor, deltaYFactor, and deltaZFactor properties to fine tune wheel metrics.