Design Post Update

Click on the demo link below to test the smooth scrolling effect

I recently added a smooth scrolling effect to this website (test here if you want a demo). It is set to trend in 2017 after all.

During my research in preparation to best implement this effect I was surprised at the variety of code options on offer and even more surprised by the fact most of them didn't work! So with that rant over, I'm writing this short post to save you the time that other websites wasted on me.

Below is the full and exact code you need to add into the 'head' section of your website in order to achieve a smooth scrolling effect for all 'anchor' links on your website.

If you want to learn more about how it works or for any troubleshooting you can read more below.

The Code...

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <script>$(document).ready(function(){ // Add smooth scrolling to all links $("a").on('click', function(event) { // Makes sure this.hash has a value before overriding default behavior if (this.hash !== "") { // Prevent default anchor click behavior event.preventDefault(); // Stores hash var hash = this.hash; // Using jQuery's animate() method to add smooth page scroll // The optional number (800) specifies the number of milliseconds it takes to scroll to the specified area $('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: $(hash).offset().top }, 800, function(){ // Adds hash (#) to URL when done scrolling (default click behavior) window.location.hash = hash; }); } // End if }); }); </script>

How it Works...

jQuery

Most of the scrolling magic happens offsite which is why the link to the jQuery library is necessary.
Some websites will say you should downloadand host the jQuery library yourself rather than use a CDN (Content Delivery Network) link but many users may already have downloaded jQuery from Google or Microsoft when visiting another site.

As a result, it will be loaded from cache when they visit your site, which leads to faster loading time. Also, most CDN's will make sure that once a user requests a file from it, it will be served from the server closest to them, which also leads to faster loading time.

jQuery is a fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library, and the smooth scrolling effect is just one of many effects in the library. This jQuery link must come before the other code as it needs to load before the scrolling effect will work.

The script which follows the jQuery library link then does the following...