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What's the most accurate way of measuring scroll?

I'm making a slide scrolling page, and I'm trying to have it scroll like you're pulling a notecard up and with the next one right behind it.
To do this, I'm making them all fixed, and then moving their "top" position based off of scroll. But then I also need to make the body the size of the panel.
It's hard to describe what I'm doing, so here's the demo: https://codepen.io/NotDan/pen/vzraJE
Here's the particular piece of code that's causing my problem:
//what's going on here?
$(window).scroll(function(){
var panelNum = parseInt($(window).scrollTop()/$(window).height());//detemines panel number
var pixelMovement = ($(window).scrollTop())-(panelNum*$(".panel").height()); determines how many pixels to move the panel by
$('body').find(".panel:eq("+panelNum+")").css("top", -1*pixelMovement);
});
The problem is when the user scrolls quickly, the top position is not set accurately and there's some overhang. Again, hard to explain, but if you jump to the demo and scroll quickly you'll see what I mean.
Is there a more precise way of measuring scroll? Or is there a better way to do what I'm trying to? I've tried scrollmagic, and its "section wipe" feature is really close, but they bring the previous one up rather than move the current one up.

I tried making a condition to determine the panel number and everything started working.
var panelNum = 0;
var pixelMovement = 0;
$(window).scroll(function () {
pixelMovement = $(window).scrollTop() - panelNum * $(".panel").height(); // determines how many pixels to move the panel by
$("body")
.find(".panel:eq(" + panelNum + ")")
.css("top", -1 * pixelMovement);
if (Math.abs(pixelMovement) >= $(window).height()) {
panelNum++;
} else if (pixelMovement <= 0) {
panelNum--;
}
});
Here's the working demo: https://codepen.io/NotDan/pen/RYJeZq

Inifinite Scroll logic issue

The problem that I am facing is exactly the same as in this question - Need small logic for infinite scroll jquery
The only problem is I cannot use the accepted solution. The solution is perfect but does not work in my case.
$(window).scroll(function() {
if($(window).scrollTop() + $(window).height() == $(document).height()) {
/*Ajax logic*/
}
});
This logic asks the user to scroll to the end of the page for the condition to be satisfied and then makes the call. This used to work before but now I had to increase my footer by adding some content which is much larger than the window height. The user no longer scrolls down to the very end for this logic to work.
The solution adds an offset but the problem is that when the user scrolls up and down a little(with the solution of the above mentioned question) he makes multiple ajax calls which are not desired.
I am racking my brains but I would like to hear from you guys to!
Thanks

I found an answer myself and jotting it down for anyone else with a similar problem.
Logically, I capped the ceiling for $(window).scrollTop() so that it doesn't increase once it reaches the footer. Subtracted the footer offset and added one more condition with the difference of 1 px. The code is like this:
$(window).scroll(function() {
var scrollpos = $(window).scrollTop();
var docHgt = $(document).height();
var wndwHgt = $(window).height();
var footerH = $("#footer").height();
/* Capping to a Ceiling */
if(scrollpos > (docHgt - wndwHgt-footerH))
scrollpos = (docHgt - wndwHgt-footerH);
if (( scrollpos >= (docHgt - wndwHgt-footerH))&& (scrollpos <(docHgt - wndwHgt - footerH + 1))) {
/*Ajax logic*/
}
});
Not the best way but a tradeoff!

How to create a website with 'infinite' scrolling space?

I have an idea for a website but I am not yet sure on how to achieve the desired result. The end product would be a website where a series of visible connected nodes are generated based on data that comes back from a database.
The first concern is that I will need the website to accommodate any generated content which could span in any direction.
So does anyone know how to achieve an 'infinite' scrolling website? I have seen this kind of thing for online idea boards where the user can move their mouse in any direction and the page begins to scroll, with the page expanding seemingly infinitely.

You can try something like this:
// Fetch variables
var scrollTop = $(document).scrollTop();
var windowHeight = $(window).height();
var bodyHeight = $(document).height() - windowHeight;
var scrollPercentage = (scrollTop / bodyHeight);
// if the scroll is more than 90% from the top, load more content.
if(scrollPercentage > 0.9) {
// Load content
}

The first thing that strikes my mind on the concept of infinite scrolling is Facebook! The page at qnimate might be the code you are looking for -
qnimate.com/facebook-style-infinite-scroll
For infinity scrolling in either direction you will have to tweak the code to include window.pageXOffset
Other links that I would recommend checking out is -
sitepoint.com/jquery-infinite-scrolling-demos/
tutsplus.com/articles/vertical-and-horizontal-scrolling-with-fullpagejs

Get scrollable height of a page

First of all,I would like to know the difference between these terms:
- $(window).height()
- $(document).height()
- $(window).scrollTop()
These terms look somewhat similar to me and I am unable to understand the clear difference between them. Here are my answers:
$(window).height() : Gives the height of window which a user can see.
$(document).height() : Gives total height of document. This can be more/less than window height depending upon the content on the page.
$(document).scrollTop() : gives the vertical position of scrollbar in window.
Real Question:
I am trying to implement lazy loading kinda thing where I need to make a call to server when scrollbar has crossed a point 200px from bottom of page. I am unable to use the above values to get this.
Any help would be appreciated.

The window is the area that you can see - as if your screen is a window and you are looking through at the document. The document is the entire document - it could be shorter or much longer than the window.
This is the math you need:
if( $(document).height() - $(document).scrollTop() < 200 ){
//Do something
}

$(window).height(); // returns height of browser viewport
$(document).height(); // returns height of HTML document
$(window).scrollTop(); //Get the current vertical position of the scroll bar for the first element in the set of matched elements or set the vertical position of the scroll bar for every matched element.
$(window).scrollHeight(); //Height of the scroll view of an element; it includes the element padding but not its margin.

Eventually, I figured out what should be the calculations after understanding these terms. Thanks to the answers. I was almost right in my definitions.
function (isScrollable) {
var isUserAtBottom = ($(window).height() + $(window).scrollTop() + 200 > $(document).height());
if (isUserAtBottom) {
// Do something (Like Ajax call to server to fetch new elements)
return true;
}
}

Floating elements on scroll

I was wondering how sites like Facebook, with their timeline feature, float a certain element (usually a menu bar, or sometimes a social plugin, etc) when the user has scrolled past a point such that the top of the element is off the screen, etc.
This could be seen as a more general JavaScript (jQuery?) event firing when the user has scrolled to a certain element, or scrolled down a certain number of pixels.
Obviously it would require toggling the CSS property from:
#foo { position: relative; }
to
#foo { position: fixed; }
Or with jQuery, something like:
$('#foo').css('position', 'fixed');
Another way I have seen this implemented is with blogs, where a popup will be called when you reach the bottom, or near the bottom of a page. My question is, what is firing that code, and could you link or provide some syntax/ semantics/ examples?
Edit: I'm seeing some great JS variants coming up, but as I am using jQuery, I think the plugin mentioned will do just nicely.

Take a look at this jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/remibreton/RWJhM/2/
In this example, I'm using document.onscroll = function(){ //Scroll event } to detect a scroll event on the document.
I'm then calculating the percentage of the page scrolled based on it's height. (document.body.scrollTop * 100 / (document.body.clientHeight - document.documentElement.clientHeight)).
document.body.scrollTop being the number of pixels scrolled from the top, document.body.clientHeight being the height of the entire document and document.documentElement.clientHeight being the visible portion of the document, a.k.a. the viewport.
Then you can compare this value to a target percentage, an execute JavaScript. if(currentPercentage > targetPercentage)...
Here's the whole thing:
document.onscroll = function(){
var targetPercentage = 80;
var currentPercentage = (document.body.scrollTop * 100 / (document.body.clientHeight - document.documentElement.clientHeight));
console.log(currentPercentage);
if(currentPercentage > targetPercentage){
document.getElementById('pop').style.display = 'block';
// Scrolled more than 80%
} else {
document.getElementById('pop').style.display = 'none';
// Scrolled less than 80%
}
}
​If you prefer jQuery, here is the same example translated into everybody's favorite library: http://jsfiddle.net/remibreton/8NVS6/1/
$(document).on('scroll', function(){
var targetPercentage = 80;
var currentPercentage = $(document).scrollTop() * 100 / ($(document).height() - $(window).height());
if(currentPercentage > targetPercentage){
$('#pop').css({display:'block'});
//Scrolled more than 80%
} else {
$('#pop').css({display:'none'});
//Scrolled less than 80%
}
});​

An idea would be to handle the window.scroll event and determine if the user has scrolled to the bottom of the page. Here is an example:
http://chrissilich.com/blog/load-more-content-as-the-user-reaches-the-bottom-of-your-page-with-jquery/
Hope it helps!

There is a jquery plugin that might help you in the right direction.
http://imakewebthings.com/jquery-waypoints/

I just answered basically the same question here. In that case it was a table and its header, and the basic idea is like this:
function placeHeader(){
var $table = $('#table');
var $header = $('#header');
if ($table.offset().top <= $(window).scrollTop()) {
$header.offset({top: $(window).scrollTop()});
} else {
$header.offset({top: $table.offset().top});
}
}
$(window).scroll(placeHeader);
Here's a demo.
Quoting myself:
In other words, if the top of the table is above the scrollTop, then
position the header at scrollTop, otherwise put it back at the top of
the table. Depending on the contents of the rest of the site, you
might also need to check if you have scrolled all the way past the
table, since then you don't want the header to stay visible.
To answer your question directly, it is triggered by checking the scrollTop against either the position of an element, or the height of the document minus the height of the viewport (for the scrolled to bottom use case). This check is done every time the scroll event is fired (bound using $(window).scroll(...)).