How can I get the browser's scrollbar sizes?

Question

How can I determine the height of a horizontal scrollbar, or the width of a vertical one, in JavaScript?

Answer 1

From Alexandre Gomes Blog I have not tried it. Let me know if it works for you.

function getScrollBarWidth () {
  var inner = document.createElement('p');
  inner.style.width = "100%";
  inner.style.height = "200px";

  var outer = document.createElement('div');
  outer.style.position = "absolute";
  outer.style.top = "0px";
  outer.style.left = "0px";
  outer.style.visibility = "hidden";
  outer.style.width = "200px";
  outer.style.height = "150px";
  outer.style.overflow = "hidden";
  outer.appendChild (inner);

  document.body.appendChild (outer);
  var w1 = inner.offsetWidth;
  outer.style.overflow = 'scroll';
  var w2 = inner.offsetWidth;
  if (w1 == w2) w2 = outer.clientWidth;

  document.body.removeChild (outer);

  return (w1 - w2);
};

Answer 2

This is only script I've found, which is working in webkit browsers ... :)

$.scrollbarWidth = function() {
  var parent, child, width;

  if(width===undefined) {
    parent = $('<div style="width:50px;height:50px;overflow:auto"><div/></div>').appendTo('body');
    child=parent.children();
    width=child.innerWidth()-child.height(99).innerWidth();
    parent.remove();
  }

 return width;
};

Minimized version:

$.scrollbarWidth=function(){var a,b,c;if(c===undefined){a=$('<div style="width:50px;height:50px;overflow:auto"><div/></div>').appendTo('body');b=a.children();c=b.innerWidth()-b.height(99).innerWidth();a.remove()}return c};

And you have to call it when document is ready ... so

$(function(){ console.log($.scrollbarWidth()); });

Tested 2012-03-28 on Windows 7 in latest FF, Chrome, IE & Safari and 100% working.

source: http://benalman.com/projects/jquery-misc-plugins/#scrollbarwidth

Answer 3

Create an empty div and make sure it's present on all pages (i.e. by putting it in the header template).

Give it this styling:

#scrollbar-helper {
    // Hide it beyond the borders of the browser
    position: absolute;
    top: -100%;

    // Make sure the scrollbar is always visible
    overflow: scroll;
}

Then simply check for the size of #scrollbar-helper with Javascript:

var scrollbarWidth = document.getElementById('scrollbar-helper').offsetWidth;
var scrollbarHeight = document.getElementById('scrollbar-helper').offsetHeight;

No need to calculate anything, as this div will always have the width and height of the scrollbar.

The only downside is that there will be an empty div in your templates.. But on the other hand, your Javascript files will be cleaner, as this only takes 1 or 2 lines of code.

Answer 4

With jquery (only tested in firefox):

function getScrollBarHeight() {
    var jTest = $('<div style="display:none;width:50px;overflow: scroll"><div style="width:100px;"><br /><br /></div></div>');
    $('body').append(jTest);
    var h = jTest.innerHeight();
    jTest.css({
        overflow: 'auto',
        width: '200px'
    });
    var h2 = jTest.innerHeight();
    return h - h2;
}

function getScrollBarWidth() {
    var jTest = $('<div style="display:none;height:50px;overflow: scroll"><div style="height:100px;"></div></div>');
    $('body').append(jTest);
    var w = jTest.innerWidth();
    jTest.css({
        overflow: 'auto',
        height: '200px'
    });
    var w2 = jTest.innerWidth();
    return w - w2;
}

But I actually like @Steve's answer better.

Answer 5

From David Walsh's blog:

// Create the measurement node
var scrollDiv = document.createElement("div");
scrollDiv.className = "scrollbar-measure";
document.body.appendChild(scrollDiv);

// Get the scrollbar width
var scrollbarWidth = scrollDiv.offsetWidth - scrollDiv.clientWidth;
console.info(scrollbarWidth); // Mac:  15

// Delete the DIV 
document.body.removeChild(scrollDiv);

.scrollbar-measure {
	width: 100px;
	height: 100px;
	overflow: scroll;
	position: absolute;
	top: -9999px;
}

Gives me 17 on my website, 14 here on Stackoverflow.

Answer 6

This is a great answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/986977/5914609

However in my case it did not work. And i spent hours searching for the solution.
Finally i've returned to above code and added !important to each style. And it worked.
I can not add comments below the original answer. So here is the fix:

function getScrollBarWidth () {
  var inner = document.createElement('p');
  inner.style.width = "100% !important";
  inner.style.height = "200px !important";

  var outer = document.createElement('div');
  outer.style.position = "absolute !important";
  outer.style.top = "0px !important";
  outer.style.left = "0px !important";
  outer.style.visibility = "hidden !important";
  outer.style.width = "200px !important";
  outer.style.height = "150px !important";
  outer.style.overflow = "hidden !important";
  outer.appendChild (inner);

  document.body.appendChild (outer);
  var w1 = inner.offsetWidth;
  outer.style.overflow = 'scroll !important';
  var w2 = inner.offsetWidth;
  if (w1 == w2) w2 = outer.clientWidth;

  document.body.removeChild (outer);

  return (w1 - w2);
};