JavaScript get window X/Y position for scroll

JavaScript get window X/Y position for scroll - javascript

I'm hoping to find a way to get the current viewable window's position (relative to the total page width/height) so I can use it to force a scroll from one section to another. However, there seems to be a tremendous amount of options when it comes to guessing which object holds the true X/Y for your browser.
Which of these do I need to make sure IE 6+, FF 2+, and Chrome/Safari work?
window.innerWidth
window.innerHeight
window.pageXOffset
window.pageYOffset
document.documentElement.clientWidth
document.documentElement.clientHeight
document.documentElement.scrollLeft
document.documentElement.scrollTop
document.body.clientWidth
document.body.clientHeight
document.body.scrollLeft
document.body.scrollTop
And are there any others? Once I know where the window is I can set an event chain that will slowly call window.scrollBy(x,y); until it reaches my desired point.

The method jQuery (v1.10) uses to find this is:
var doc = document.documentElement;
var left = (window.pageXOffset || doc.scrollLeft) - (doc.clientLeft || 0);
var top = (window.pageYOffset || doc.scrollTop) - (doc.clientTop || 0);
That is:
It tests for window.pageXOffset first and uses that if it exists.
Otherwise, it uses document.documentElement.scrollLeft.
It then subtracts document.documentElement.clientLeft if it exists.
The subtraction of document.documentElement.clientLeft / Top only appears to be required to correct for situations where you have applied a border (not padding or margin, but actual border) to the root element, and at that, possibly only in certain browsers.

Maybe more simple;
var top = window.pageYOffset || document.documentElement.scrollTop,
left = window.pageXOffset || document.documentElement.scrollLeft;
Credits: so.dom.js#L492

Using pure javascript you can use Window.scrollX and Window.scrollY
window.addEventListener("scroll", function(event) {
var top = this.scrollY,
left =this.scrollX;
}, false);
Notes
The pageXOffset property is an alias for the scrollX property, and The
pageYOffset property is an alias for the scrollY property:
window.pageXOffset == window.scrollX; // always true
window.pageYOffset == window.scrollY; // always true
Here is a quick demo
window.addEventListener("scroll", function(event) {
var top = this.scrollY,
left = this.scrollX;
var horizontalScroll = document.querySelector(".horizontalScroll"),
verticalScroll = document.querySelector(".verticalScroll");
horizontalScroll.innerHTML = "Scroll X: " + left + "px";
verticalScroll.innerHTML = "Scroll Y: " + top + "px";
}, false);
*{box-sizing: border-box}
:root{height: 200vh;width: 200vw}
.wrapper{
position: fixed;
top:20px;
left:0px;
width:320px;
background: black;
color: green;
height: 64px;
}
.wrapper div{
display: inline;
width: 50%;
float: left;
text-align: center;
line-height: 64px
}
.horizontalScroll{color: orange}
<div class=wrapper>
<div class=horizontalScroll>Scroll (x,y) to </div>
<div class=verticalScroll>see me in action</div>
</div>

Maybe this has not been mentioned due to this article been 11 years old.
But currently I am using window.scrollY (inside an onscroll event listner and a throttle function) and it works just fine most of the time.
And when it doesn't I use intersectionObserver API for similar effect which is also a fairly new feature I guess.
if (window.scrollY > desiredAmount) {
doThis();
}

function FastScrollUp()
{
window.scroll(0,0)
};
function FastScrollDown()
{
$i = document.documentElement.scrollHeight ;
window.scroll(0,$i)
};
var step = 20;
var h,t;
var y = 0;
function SmoothScrollUp()
{
h = document.documentElement.scrollHeight;
y += step;
window.scrollBy(0, -step)
if(y >= h )
{clearTimeout(t); y = 0; return;}
t = setTimeout(function(){SmoothScrollUp()},20);
};
function SmoothScrollDown()
{
h = document.documentElement.scrollHeight;
y += step;
window.scrollBy(0, step)
if(y >= h )
{clearTimeout(t); y = 0; return;}
t = setTimeout(function(){SmoothScrollDown()},20);
}

Related

How to get all elements on the viewport using jQuery? [duplicate]

Is there an efficient way to tell if a DOM element (in an HTML document) is currently visible (appears in the viewport)?
(The question refers to Firefox.)

Now most browsers support getBoundingClientRect method, which has become the best practice. Using an old answer is very slow, not accurate and has several bugs.
The solution selected as correct is almost never precise.
This solution was tested on Internet Explorer 7 (and later), iOS 5 (and later) Safari, Android 2.0 (Eclair) and later, BlackBerry, Opera Mobile, and Internet Explorer Mobile 9.
function isElementInViewport (el) {
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery === "function" && el instanceof jQuery) {
el = el[0];
}
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
rect.top >= 0 &&
rect.left >= 0 &&
rect.bottom <= (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight) && /* or $(window).height() */
rect.right <= (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth) /* or $(window).width() */
);
}
How to use:
You can be sure that the function given above returns correct answer at the moment of time when it is called, but what about tracking element's visibility as an event?
Place the following code at the bottom of your <body> tag:
function onVisibilityChange(el, callback) {
var old_visible;
return function () {
var visible = isElementInViewport(el);
if (visible != old_visible) {
old_visible = visible;
if (typeof callback == 'function') {
callback();
}
}
}
}
var handler = onVisibilityChange(el, function() {
/* Your code go here */
});
// jQuery
$(window).on('DOMContentLoaded load resize scroll', handler);
/* // Non-jQuery
if (window.addEventListener) {
addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', handler, false);
addEventListener('load', handler, false);
addEventListener('scroll', handler, false);
addEventListener('resize', handler, false);
} else if (window.attachEvent) {
attachEvent('onDOMContentLoaded', handler); // Internet Explorer 9+ :(
attachEvent('onload', handler);
attachEvent('onscroll', handler);
attachEvent('onresize', handler);
}
*/
If you do any DOM modifications, they can change your element's visibility of course.
Guidelines and common pitfalls:
Maybe you need to track page zoom / mobile device pinch? jQuery should handle zoom/pinch cross browser, otherwise first or second link should help you.
If you modify DOM, it can affect the element's visibility. You should take control over that and call handler() manually. Unfortunately, we don't have any cross browser onrepaint event. On the other hand that allows us to make optimizations and perform re-check only on DOM modifications that can change an element's visibility.
Never Ever use it inside jQuery $(document).ready() only, because there is no warranty CSS has been applied in this moment. Your code can work locally with your CSS on a hard drive, but once put on a remote server it will fail.
After DOMContentLoaded is fired, styles are applied, but the images are not loaded yet. So, we should add window.onload event listener.
We can't catch zoom/pinch event yet.
The last resort could be the following code:
/* TODO: this looks like a very bad code */
setInterval(handler, 600);
You can use the awesome feature pageVisibiliy of the HTML5 API if you care if the tab with your web page is active and visible.
TODO: this method does not handle two situations:
Overlapping using z-index.
Using overflow-scroll in element's container.
Try something new - The Intersection Observer API explained.

Update: Time marches on and so have our browsers. This technique is no longer recommended and you should use Dan's solution if you do not need to support version of Internet Explorer before 7.
Original solution (now outdated):
This will check if the element is entirely visible in the current viewport:
function elementInViewport(el) {
var top = el.offsetTop;
var left = el.offsetLeft;
var width = el.offsetWidth;
var height = el.offsetHeight;
while(el.offsetParent) {
el = el.offsetParent;
top += el.offsetTop;
left += el.offsetLeft;
}
return (
top >= window.pageYOffset &&
left >= window.pageXOffset &&
(top + height) <= (window.pageYOffset + window.innerHeight) &&
(left + width) <= (window.pageXOffset + window.innerWidth)
);
}
You could modify this simply to determine if any part of the element is visible in the viewport:
function elementInViewport2(el) {
var top = el.offsetTop;
var left = el.offsetLeft;
var width = el.offsetWidth;
var height = el.offsetHeight;
while(el.offsetParent) {
el = el.offsetParent;
top += el.offsetTop;
left += el.offsetLeft;
}
return (
top < (window.pageYOffset + window.innerHeight) &&
left < (window.pageXOffset + window.innerWidth) &&
(top + height) > window.pageYOffset &&
(left + width) > window.pageXOffset
);
}

Update
In modern browsers, you might want to check out the Intersection Observer API which provides the following benefits:
Better performance than listening for scroll events
Works in cross domain iframes
Can tell if an element is obstructing/intersecting another
Intersection Observer is on its way to being a full-fledged standard and is already supported in Chrome 51+, Edge 15+ and Firefox 55+ and is under development for Safari. There's also a polyfill available.
Previous answer
There are some issues with the answer provided by Dan that might make it an unsuitable approach for some situations. Some of these issues are pointed out in his answer near the bottom, that his code will give false positives for elements that are:
Hidden by another element in front of the one being tested
Outside the visible area of a parent or ancestor element
An element or its children hidden by using the CSS clip property
These limitations are demonstrated in the following results of a simple test:
The solution: isElementVisible()
Here's a solution to those problems, with the test result below and an explanation of some parts of the code.
function isElementVisible(el) {
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect(),
vWidth = window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth,
vHeight = window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight,
efp = function (x, y) { return document.elementFromPoint(x, y) };
// Return false if it's not in the viewport
if (rect.right < 0 || rect.bottom < 0
|| rect.left > vWidth || rect.top > vHeight)
return false;
// Return true if any of its four corners are visible
return (
el.contains(efp(rect.left, rect.top))
|| el.contains(efp(rect.right, rect.top))
|| el.contains(efp(rect.right, rect.bottom))
|| el.contains(efp(rect.left, rect.bottom))
);
}
Passing test: http://jsfiddle.net/AndyE/cAY8c/
And the result:
Additional notes
This method is not without its own limitations, however. For instance, an element being tested with a lower z-index than another element at the same location would be identified as hidden even if the element in front doesn't actually hide any part of it. Still, this method has its uses in some cases that Dan's solution doesn't cover.
Both element.getBoundingClientRect() and document.elementFromPoint() are part of the CSSOM Working Draft specification and are supported in at least IE 6 and later and most desktop browsers for a long time (albeit, not perfectly). See Quirksmode on these functions for more information.
contains() is used to see if the element returned by document.elementFromPoint() is a child node of the element we're testing for visibility. It also returns true if the element returned is the same element. This just makes the check more robust. It's supported in all major browsers, Firefox 9.0 being the last of them to add it. For older Firefox support, check this answer's history.
If you want to test more points around the element for visibility―ie, to make sure the element isn't covered by more than, say, 50%―it wouldn't take much to adjust the last part of the answer. However, be aware that it would probably be very slow if you checked every pixel to make sure it was 100% visible.

I tried Dan's answer, however, the algebra used to determine the bounds means that the element must be both ≤ the viewport size and completely inside the viewport to get true, easily leading to false negatives. If you want to determine whether an element is in the viewport at all, ryanve's answer is close but the element being tested should overlap the viewport, so try this:
function isElementInViewport(el) {
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return rect.bottom > 0 &&
rect.right > 0 &&
rect.left < (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth) /* or $(window).width() */ &&
rect.top < (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight) /* or $(window).height() */;
}

We have now a native javascript Intersection Observer API
from which we can detect elements either they are in the viewport or not.
Here is example
const el = document.querySelector('#el')
const observer = new window.IntersectionObserver(([entry]) => {
if (entry.isIntersecting) {
console.log('ENTER')
return
}
console.log('LEAVE')
}, {
root: null,
threshold: 0.1, // set offset 0.1 means trigger if atleast 10% of element in viewport
})
observer.observe(el);
body {
height: 300vh;
}
#el {
margin-top: 100vh;
}
<div id="el">this is element</div>

See the source of verge, which uses getBoundingClientRect. It's like:
function inViewport (element) {
if (!element) return false;
if (1 !== element.nodeType) return false;
var html = document.documentElement;
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
return !!rect &&
rect.bottom >= 0 &&
rect.right >= 0 &&
rect.left <= html.clientWidth &&
rect.top <= html.clientHeight;
}
It returns true if any part of the element is in the viewport.

As a public service:
Dan's answer with the correct calculations (element can be > window, especially on mobile phone screens), and correct jQuery testing, as well as adding isElementPartiallyInViewport:
By the way, the difference between window.innerWidth and document.documentElement.clientWidth is that clientWidth/clientHeight doesn't include the scrollbar, while window.innerWidth/Height does.
function isElementPartiallyInViewport(el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
// DOMRect { x: 8, y: 8, width: 100, height: 100, top: 8, right: 108, bottom: 108, left: 8 }
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/325933/determine-whether-two-date-ranges-overlap
var vertInView = (rect.top <= windowHeight) && ((rect.top + rect.height) >= 0);
var horInView = (rect.left <= windowWidth) && ((rect.left + rect.width) >= 0);
return (vertInView && horInView);
}
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/123999/how-to-tell-if-a-dom-element-is-visible-in-the-current-viewport
function isElementInViewport (el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
return (
(rect.left >= 0)
&& (rect.top >= 0)
&& ((rect.left + rect.width) <= windowWidth)
&& ((rect.top + rect.height) <= windowHeight)
);
}
function fnIsVis(ele)
{
var inVpFull = isElementInViewport(ele);
var inVpPartial = isElementPartiallyInViewport(ele);
console.clear();
console.log("Fully in viewport: " + inVpFull);
console.log("Partially in viewport: " + inVpPartial);
}
Test-case
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<meta name="description" content="">
<meta name="author" content="">
<title>Test</title>
<!--
<script src="http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="scrollMonitor.js"></script>
-->
<script type="text/javascript">
function isElementPartiallyInViewport(el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
// DOMRect { x: 8, y: 8, width: 100, height: 100, top: 8, right: 108, bottom: 108, left: 8 }
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/325933/determine-whether-two-date-ranges-overlap
var vertInView = (rect.top <= windowHeight) && ((rect.top + rect.height) >= 0);
var horInView = (rect.left <= windowWidth) && ((rect.left + rect.width) >= 0);
return (vertInView && horInView);
}
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/123999/how-to-tell-if-a-dom-element-is-visible-in-the-current-viewport
function isElementInViewport (el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
return (
(rect.left >= 0)
&& (rect.top >= 0)
&& ((rect.left + rect.width) <= windowWidth)
&& ((rect.top + rect.height) <= windowHeight)
);
}
function fnIsVis(ele)
{
var inVpFull = isElementInViewport(ele);
var inVpPartial = isElementPartiallyInViewport(ele);
console.clear();
console.log("Fully in viewport: " + inVpFull);
console.log("Partially in viewport: " + inVpPartial);
}
// var scrollLeft = (window.pageXOffset !== undefined) ? window.pageXOffset : (document.documentElement || document.body.parentNode || document.body).scrollLeft,
// var scrollTop = (window.pageYOffset !== undefined) ? window.pageYOffset : (document.documentElement || document.body.parentNode || document.body).scrollTop;
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div style="display: block; width: 2000px; height: 10000px; background-color: green;">
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<input type="button" onclick="fnIsVis(document.getElementById('myele'));" value="det" />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<div style="background-color: crimson; display: inline-block; width: 800px; height: 500px;" ></div>
<div id="myele" onclick="fnIsVis(this);" style="display: inline-block; width: 100px; height: 100px; background-color: hotpink;">
t
</div>
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<input type="button" onclick="fnIsVis(document.getElementById('myele'));" value="det" />
</div>
<!--
<script type="text/javascript">
var element = document.getElementById("myele");
var watcher = scrollMonitor.create(element);
watcher.lock();
watcher.stateChange(function() {
console.log("state changed");
// $(element).toggleClass('fixed', this.isAboveViewport)
});
</script>
-->
</body>
</html>

My shorter and faster version:
function isElementOutViewport(el){
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return rect.bottom < 0 || rect.right < 0 || rect.left > window.innerWidth || rect.top > window.innerHeight;
}
And a jsFiddle as required: https://jsfiddle.net/on1g619L/1/

The new Intersection Observer API addresses this question very directly.
This solution will need a polyfill as Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer don't support this yet (the polyfill is included in the solution).
In this solution, there is a box out of view that is the target (observed). When it comes into view, the button at the top in the header is hidden. It is shown once the box leaves the view.
const buttonToHide = document.querySelector('button');
const hideWhenBoxInView = new IntersectionObserver((entries) => {
if (entries[0].intersectionRatio <= 0) { // If not in view
buttonToHide.style.display = "inherit";
} else {
buttonToHide.style.display = "none";
}
});
hideWhenBoxInView.observe(document.getElementById('box'));
header {
position: fixed;
top: 0;
width: 100vw;
height: 30px;
background-color: lightgreen;
}
.wrapper {
position: relative;
margin-top: 600px;
}
#box {
position: relative;
left: 175px;
width: 150px;
height: 135px;
background-color: lightblue;
border: 2px solid;
}
<script src="https://polyfill.io/v2/polyfill.min.js?features=IntersectionObserver"></script>
<header>
<button>NAVIGATION BUTTON TO HIDE</button>
</header>
<div class="wrapper">
<div id="box">
</div>
</div>

I found it troubling that there wasn't a jQuery-centric version of the functionality available. When I came across Dan's solution I spied the opportunity to provide something for folks who like to program in the jQuery OO style. It's nice and snappy and works like a charm for me.
Bada bing bada boom
$.fn.inView = function(){
if(!this.length)
return false;
var rect = this.get(0).getBoundingClientRect();
return (
rect.top >= 0 &&
rect.left >= 0 &&
rect.bottom <= (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight) &&
rect.right <= (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth)
);
};
// Additional examples for other use cases
// Is true false whether an array of elements are all in view
$.fn.allInView = function(){
var all = [];
this.forEach(function(){
all.push( $(this).inView() );
});
return all.indexOf(false) === -1;
};
// Only the class elements in view
$('.some-class').filter(function(){
return $(this).inView();
});
// Only the class elements not in view
$('.some-class').filter(function(){
return !$(this).inView();
});
Usage
$(window).on('scroll',function(){
if( $('footer').inView() ) {
// Do cool stuff
}
});

The simplest solution as the support of Element.getBoundingClientRect() has become perfect:
function isInView(el) {
const box = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return box.top < window.innerHeight && box.bottom >= 0;
}

All answers I've encountered here only check if the element is positioned inside the current viewport. But that doesn't mean that it is visible.
What if the given element is inside a div with overflowing content, and it is scrolled out of view?
To solve that, you'd have to check if the element is contained by all parents.
My solution does exactly that:
It also allows you to specify how much of the element has to be visible.
Element.prototype.isVisible = function(percentX, percentY){
var tolerance = 0.01; //needed because the rects returned by getBoundingClientRect provide the position up to 10 decimals
if(percentX == null){
percentX = 100;
}
if(percentY == null){
percentY = 100;
}
var elementRect = this.getBoundingClientRect();
var parentRects = [];
var element = this;
while(element.parentElement != null){
parentRects.push(element.parentElement.getBoundingClientRect());
element = element.parentElement;
}
var visibleInAllParents = parentRects.every(function(parentRect){
var visiblePixelX = Math.min(elementRect.right, parentRect.right) - Math.max(elementRect.left, parentRect.left);
var visiblePixelY = Math.min(elementRect.bottom, parentRect.bottom) - Math.max(elementRect.top, parentRect.top);
var visiblePercentageX = visiblePixelX / elementRect.width * 100;
var visiblePercentageY = visiblePixelY / elementRect.height * 100;
return visiblePercentageX + tolerance > percentX && visiblePercentageY + tolerance > percentY;
});
return visibleInAllParents;
};
This solution ignored the fact that elements may not be visible due to other facts, like opacity: 0.
I have tested this solution in Chrome and Internet Explorer 11.

I find that the accepted answer here is overly complicated for most use cases. This code does the job well (using jQuery) and differentiates between fully visible and partially visible elements:
var element = $("#element");
var topOfElement = element.offset().top;
var bottomOfElement = element.offset().top + element.outerHeight(true);
var $window = $(window);
$window.bind('scroll', function() {
var scrollTopPosition = $window.scrollTop()+$window.height();
var windowScrollTop = $window.scrollTop()
if (windowScrollTop > topOfElement && windowScrollTop < bottomOfElement) {
// Element is partially visible (above viewable area)
console.log("Element is partially visible (above viewable area)");
} else if (windowScrollTop > bottomOfElement && windowScrollTop > topOfElement) {
// Element is hidden (above viewable area)
console.log("Element is hidden (above viewable area)");
} else if (scrollTopPosition < topOfElement && scrollTopPosition < bottomOfElement) {
// Element is hidden (below viewable area)
console.log("Element is hidden (below viewable area)");
} else if (scrollTopPosition < bottomOfElement && scrollTopPosition > topOfElement) {
// Element is partially visible (below viewable area)
console.log("Element is partially visible (below viewable area)");
} else {
// Element is completely visible
console.log("Element is completely visible");
}
});

Here's my solution. It will work if an element is hidden inside a scrollable container.
Here's a demo (try re-sizing the window to)
var visibleY = function(el){
var top = el.getBoundingClientRect().top, rect, el = el.parentNode;
do {
rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
if (top <= rect.bottom === false)
return false;
el = el.parentNode;
} while (el != document.body);
// Check it's within the document viewport
return top <= document.documentElement.clientHeight;
};
I only needed to check if it's visible in the Y axis (for a scrolling Ajax load-more-records feature).

I think this is a more functional way to do it.
Dan's answer do not work in a recursive context.
This function solves the problem when your element is inside others scrollable divs by testing any levels recursively up to the HTML tag, and stops at the first false.
/**
* fullVisible=true only returns true if the all object rect is visible
*/
function isReallyVisible(el, fullVisible) {
if ( el.tagName == "HTML" )
return true;
var parentRect=el.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect();
var rect = arguments[2] || el.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
( fullVisible ? rect.top >= parentRect.top : rect.bottom > parentRect.top ) &&
( fullVisible ? rect.left >= parentRect.left : rect.right > parentRect.left ) &&
( fullVisible ? rect.bottom <= parentRect.bottom : rect.top < parentRect.bottom ) &&
( fullVisible ? rect.right <= parentRect.right : rect.left < parentRect.right ) &&
isReallyVisible(el.parentNode, fullVisible, rect)
);
};

The most accepted answers don't work when zooming in Google Chrome on Android. In combination with Dan's answer, to account for Chrome on Android, visualViewport must be used. The following example only takes the vertical check into account and uses jQuery for the window height:
var Rect = YOUR_ELEMENT.getBoundingClientRect();
var ElTop = Rect.top, ElBottom = Rect.bottom;
var WindowHeight = $(window).height();
if(window.visualViewport) {
ElTop -= window.visualViewport.offsetTop;
ElBottom -= window.visualViewport.offsetTop;
WindowHeight = window.visualViewport.height;
}
var WithinScreen = (ElTop >= 0 && ElBottom <= WindowHeight);

/**
* Returns Element placement information in Viewport
* #link https://stackoverflow.com/a/70476497/2453148
*
* #typedef {object} ViewportInfo - Whether the element is…
* #property {boolean} isInViewport - fully or partially in the viewport
* #property {boolean} isPartiallyInViewport - partially in the viewport
* #property {boolean} isInsideViewport - fully inside viewport
* #property {boolean} isAroundViewport - completely covers the viewport
* #property {boolean} isOnEdge - intersects the edge of viewport
* #property {boolean} isOnTopEdge - intersects the top edge
* #property {boolean} isOnRightEdge - intersects the right edge
* #property {boolean} isOnBottomEdge - is intersects the bottom edge
* #property {boolean} isOnLeftEdge - is intersects the left edge
*
* #param el Element
* #return {Object} ViewportInfo
*/
function getElementViewportInfo(el) {
let result = {};
let rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
let windowHeight = window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight;
let windowWidth = window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth;
let insideX = rect.left >= 0 && rect.left + rect.width <= windowWidth;
let insideY = rect.top >= 0 && rect.top + rect.height <= windowHeight;
result.isInsideViewport = insideX && insideY;
let aroundX = rect.left < 0 && rect.left + rect.width > windowWidth;
let aroundY = rect.top < 0 && rect.top + rect.height > windowHeight;
result.isAroundViewport = aroundX && aroundY;
let onTop = rect.top < 0 && rect.top + rect.height > 0;
let onRight = rect.left < windowWidth && rect.left + rect.width > windowWidth;
let onLeft = rect.left < 0 && rect.left + rect.width > 0;
let onBottom = rect.top < windowHeight && rect.top + rect.height > windowHeight;
let onY = insideY || aroundY || onTop || onBottom;
let onX = insideX || aroundX || onLeft || onRight;
result.isOnTopEdge = onTop && onX;
result.isOnRightEdge = onRight && onY;
result.isOnBottomEdge = onBottom && onX;
result.isOnLeftEdge = onLeft && onY;
result.isOnEdge = result.isOnLeftEdge || result.isOnRightEdge ||
result.isOnTopEdge || result.isOnBottomEdge;
let isInX =
insideX || aroundX || result.isOnLeftEdge || result.isOnRightEdge;
let isInY =
insideY || aroundY || result.isOnTopEdge || result.isOnBottomEdge;
result.isInViewport = isInX && isInY;
result.isPartiallyInViewport =
result.isInViewport && result.isOnEdge;
return result;
}

Based on dan's solution, I had a go at cleaning up the implementation so that using it multiple times on the same page is easier:
$(function() {
$(window).on('load resize scroll', function() {
addClassToElementInViewport($('.bug-icon'), 'animate-bug-icon');
addClassToElementInViewport($('.another-thing'), 'animate-thing');
// 👏 repeat as needed ...
});
function addClassToElementInViewport(element, newClass) {
if (inViewport(element)) {
element.addClass(newClass);
}
}
function inViewport(element) {
if (typeof jQuery === "function" && element instanceof jQuery) {
element = element[0];
}
var elementBounds = element.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
elementBounds.top >= 0 &&
elementBounds.left >= 0 &&
elementBounds.bottom <= $(window).height() &&
elementBounds.right <= $(window).width()
);
}
});
The way I'm using it is that when the element scrolls into view, I'm adding a class that triggers a CSS keyframe animation. It's pretty straightforward and works especially well when you've got like 10+ things to conditionally animate on a page.

Most of the usages in previous answers are failing at these points:
-When any pixel of an element is visible, but not "a corner",
-When an element is bigger than viewport and centered,
-Most of them are checking only for a singular element inside a document or window.
Well, for all these problems I've a solution and the plus sides are:
-You can return visible when only a pixel from any sides shows up and is not a corner,
-You can still return visible while element bigger than viewport,
-You can choose your parent element or you can automatically let it choose,
-Works on dynamically added elements too.
If you check the snippets below you will see the difference in using overflow-scroll in element's container will not cause any trouble and see that unlike other answers here even if a pixel shows up from any side or when an element is bigger than viewport and we are seeing inner pixels of the element it still works.
Usage is simple:
// For checking element visibility from any sides
isVisible(element)
// For checking elements visibility in a parent you would like to check
var parent = document; // Assuming you check if 'element' inside 'document'
isVisible(element, parent)
// For checking elements visibility even if it's bigger than viewport
isVisible(element, null, true) // Without parent choice
isVisible(element, parent, true) // With parent choice
A demonstration without crossSearchAlgorithm which is usefull for elements bigger than viewport check element3 inner pixels to see:
function isVisible(element, parent, crossSearchAlgorithm) {
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect(),
prect = (parent != undefined) ? parent.getBoundingClientRect() : element.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect(),
csa = (crossSearchAlgorithm != undefined) ? crossSearchAlgorithm : false,
efp = function (x, y) { return document.elementFromPoint(x, y) };
// Return false if it's not in the viewport
if (rect.right < prect.left || rect.bottom < prect.top || rect.left > prect.right || rect.top > prect.bottom) {
return false;
}
var flag = false;
// Return true if left to right any border pixel reached
for (var x = rect.left; x < rect.right; x++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.top, x)) || element.contains(efp(rect.bottom, x))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
// Return true if top to bottom any border pixel reached
if (flag == false) {
for (var y = rect.top; y < rect.bottom; y++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.left, y)) || element.contains(efp(rect.right, y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
}
if(csa) {
// Another algorithm to check if element is centered and bigger than viewport
if (flag == false) {
var x = rect.left;
var y = rect.top;
// From top left to bottom right
while(x < rect.right || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x < rect.right) { x++; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
if (flag == false) {
x = rect.right;
y = rect.top;
// From top right to bottom left
while(x > rect.left || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x > rect.left) { x--; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
}
}
}
return flag;
}
// Check multiple elements visibility
document.getElementById('container').addEventListener("scroll", function() {
var elementList = document.getElementsByClassName("element");
var console = document.getElementById('console');
for (var i=0; i < elementList.length; i++) {
// I did not define parent, so it will be element's parent
if (isVisible(elementList[i])) {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is visible!";
break;
} else {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is hidden!";
}
}
});
// Dynamically added elements
for(var i=4; i <= 6; i++) {
var newElement = document.createElement("div");
newElement.id = "element" + i;
newElement.classList.add("element");
document.getElementById('container').appendChild(newElement);
}
#console { background-color: yellow; }
#container {
width: 300px;
height: 100px;
background-color: lightblue;
overflow-y: auto;
padding-top: 150px;
margin: 45px;
}
.element {
margin: 400px;
width: 400px;
height: 320px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3 {
position: relative;
margin: 40px;
width: 720px;
height: 520px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3::before {
content: "";
position: absolute;
top: -10px;
left: -10px;
margin: 0px;
width: 740px;
height: 540px;
border: 5px dotted green;
background: transparent;
}
<div id="console"></div>
<div id="container">
<div id="element1" class="element"></div>
<div id="element2" class="element"></div>
<div id="element3" class="element"></div>
</div>
You see, when you are inside the element3 it fails to tell if it's visible or not, because we are only checking if the element is visible from sides or corners.
And this one includes crossSearchAlgorithm which allows you to still return visible when the element is bigger than the viewport:
function isVisible(element, parent, crossSearchAlgorithm) {
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect(),
prect = (parent != undefined) ? parent.getBoundingClientRect() : element.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect(),
csa = (crossSearchAlgorithm != undefined) ? crossSearchAlgorithm : false,
efp = function (x, y) { return document.elementFromPoint(x, y) };
// Return false if it's not in the viewport
if (rect.right < prect.left || rect.bottom < prect.top || rect.left > prect.right || rect.top > prect.bottom) {
return false;
}
var flag = false;
// Return true if left to right any border pixel reached
for (var x = rect.left; x < rect.right; x++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.top, x)) || element.contains(efp(rect.bottom, x))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
// Return true if top to bottom any border pixel reached
if (flag == false) {
for (var y = rect.top; y < rect.bottom; y++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.left, y)) || element.contains(efp(rect.right, y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
}
if(csa) {
// Another algorithm to check if element is centered and bigger than viewport
if (flag == false) {
var x = rect.left;
var y = rect.top;
// From top left to bottom right
while(x < rect.right || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x < rect.right) { x++; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
if (flag == false) {
x = rect.right;
y = rect.top;
// From top right to bottom left
while(x > rect.left || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x > rect.left) { x--; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
}
}
}
return flag;
}
// Check multiple elements visibility
document.getElementById('container').addEventListener("scroll", function() {
var elementList = document.getElementsByClassName("element");
var console = document.getElementById('console');
for (var i=0; i < elementList.length; i++) {
// I did not define parent so it will be element's parent
// and it will do crossSearchAlgorithm
if (isVisible(elementList[i],null,true)) {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is visible!";
break;
} else {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is hidden!";
}
}
});
// Dynamically added elements
for(var i=4; i <= 6; i++) {
var newElement = document.createElement("div");
newElement.id = "element" + i;
newElement.classList.add("element");
document.getElementById('container').appendChild(newElement);
}
#console { background-color: yellow; }
#container {
width: 300px;
height: 100px;
background-color: lightblue;
overflow-y: auto;
padding-top: 150px;
margin: 45px;
}
.element {
margin: 400px;
width: 400px;
height: 320px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3 {
position: relative;
margin: 40px;
width: 720px;
height: 520px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3::before {
content: "";
position: absolute;
top: -10px;
left: -10px;
margin: 0px;
width: 740px;
height: 540px;
border: 5px dotted green;
background: transparent;
}
<div id="console"></div>
<div id="container">
<div id="element1" class="element"></div>
<div id="element2" class="element"></div>
<div id="element3" class="element"></div>
</div>
JSFiddle to play with: http://jsfiddle.net/BerkerYuceer/grk5az2c/
This code is made for more precise information if any part of the element is shown in the view or not. For performance options or only vertical slides, do not use this! This code is more effective in drawing cases.

As simple as it can get, IMO:
function isVisible(elem) {
var coords = elem.getBoundingClientRect();
return Math.abs(coords.top) <= coords.height;
}

Here is a function that tells if an element is in visible in the current viewport of a parent element:
function inParentViewport(el, pa) {
if (typeof jQuery === "function"){
if (el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
if (pa instanceof jQuery)
pa = pa[0];
}
var e = el.getBoundingClientRect();
var p = pa.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
e.bottom >= p.top &&
e.right >= p.left &&
e.top <= p.bottom &&
e.left <= p.right
);
}

A better solution:
function getViewportSize(w) {
var w = w || window;
if(w.innerWidth != null)
return {w:w.innerWidth, h:w.innerHeight};
var d = w.document;
if (document.compatMode == "CSS1Compat") {
return {
w: d.documentElement.clientWidth,
h: d.documentElement.clientHeight
};
}
return { w: d.body.clientWidth, h: d.body.clientWidth };
}
function isViewportVisible(e) {
var box = e.getBoundingClientRect();
var height = box.height || (box.bottom - box.top);
var width = box.width || (box.right - box.left);
var viewport = getViewportSize();
if(!height || !width)
return false;
if(box.top > viewport.h || box.bottom < 0)
return false;
if(box.right < 0 || box.left > viewport.w)
return false;
return true;
}

I had the same question and figured it out by using getBoundingClientRect().
This code is completely 'generic' and only has to be written once for it to work (you don't have to write it out for each element that you want to know is in the viewport).
This code only checks to see if it is vertically in the viewport, not horizontally. In this case, the variable (array) 'elements' holds all the elements that you are checking to be vertically in the viewport, so grab any elements you want anywhere and store them there.
The 'for loop', loops through each element and checks to see if it is vertically in the viewport. This code executes every time the user scrolls! If the getBoudingClientRect().top is less than 3/4 the viewport (the element is one quarter in the viewport), it registers as 'in the viewport'.
Since the code is generic, you will want to know 'which' element is in the viewport. To find that out, you can determine it by custom attribute, node name, id, class name, and more.
Here is my code (tell me if it doesn't work; it has been tested in Internet Explorer 11, Firefox 40.0.3, Chrome Version 45.0.2454.85 m, Opera 31.0.1889.174, and Edge with Windows 10, [not Safari yet])...
// Scrolling handlers...
window.onscroll = function(){
var elements = document.getElementById('whatever').getElementsByClassName('whatever');
for(var i = 0; i != elements.length; i++)
{
if(elements[i].getBoundingClientRect().top <= window.innerHeight*0.75 &&
elements[i].getBoundingClientRect().top > 0)
{
console.log(elements[i].nodeName + ' ' +
elements[i].className + ' ' +
elements[i].id +
' is in the viewport; proceed with whatever code you want to do here.');
}
};

This checks if an element is at least partially in view (vertical dimension):
function inView(element) {
var box = element.getBoundingClientRect();
return inViewBox(box);
}
function inViewBox(box) {
return ((box.bottom < 0) || (box.top > getWindowSize().h)) ? false : true;
}
function getWindowSize() {
return { w: document.body.offsetWidth || document.documentElement.offsetWidth || window.innerWidth, h: document.body.offsetHeight || document.documentElement.offsetHeight || window.innerHeight}
}

This is the easy and small solution that has worked for me.
Example: You want to see if the element is visible in the parent element that has overflow scroll.
$(window).on('scroll', function () {
var container = $('#sidebar');
var containerHeight = container.height();
var scrollPosition = $('#row1').offset().top - container.offset().top;
if (containerHeight < scrollPosition) {
console.log('not visible');
} else {
console.log('visible');
}
})

All the answers here are determining if the element is fully contained within the viewport, not just visible in some way. For example, if only half of an image is visible at the bottom of the view, the solutions here will fail, considering that "outside".
I had a use case where I'm doing lazy loading via IntersectionObserver, but due to animations that occur during pop-in, I didn't want to observe any images that were already intersected on page load. To do that, I used the following code:
const bounding = el.getBoundingClientRect();
const isVisible = (0 < bounding.top && bounding.top < (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight)) ||
(0 < bounding.bottom && bounding.bottom < (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight));
This is basically checking to see if either the top or bottom bound is independently in the viewport. The opposite end may be outside, but as long as one end is in, it's "visible" at least partially.

I use this function (it only checks if the y is inscreen since most of the time the x is not needed)
function elementInViewport(el) {
var elinfo = {
"top":el.offsetTop,
"height":el.offsetHeight,
};
if (elinfo.top + elinfo.height < window.pageYOffset || elinfo.top > window.pageYOffset + window.innerHeight) {
return false;
} else {
return true;
}
}

Here is a snippet to check if the given element is fully visible in its parent:
export const visibleInParentViewport = (el) => {
const elementRect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
const parentRect = el.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
elementRect.top >= parentRect.top &&
elementRect.right >= parentRect.left &&
elementRect.top + elementRect.height <= parentRect.bottom &&
elementRect.left + elementRect.width <= parentRect.right
);
}

const isHTMLElementInView = (element: HTMLElement) => {
const rect = element?.getBoundingClientRect()
if (!rect) return
return rect.top <= window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0
}
This function checks if the element is in the viewport on vertical level.

Domysee's answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/37998526 is close to correct.
Many examples use "completely contained in the viewport" and his code uses percentages to allow for partially visible. His code also addresses the "is a parent clipping the view" question, which most examples ignore.
One missing element is the impact of the parent's scrollbars - getBoundingClientRect returns the outer rectangle of the parent, which includes the scroll bars, not the inner rectangle, which doesn't. A child can hide behind the parent scroll bar and be considered visible when it isn't.
The recommended observer pattern isn't appropriate for my use case: using the arrow keys to change the currently selected row in a table, and make sure the new selection is visible. Using an observer for this would be excessively convoluted.
Here's some code -
it includes an additional hack (fudgeY) because my table has a sticky header that isn't detectable by straightforward means (and handling this automatically would be pretty tedious). Also, it uses decimal (0 to 1) instead of percentage for the required visible fraction. (For my case I need full y, and x isn't relevant).
function intersectRect(r1, r2) {
var r = {};
r.left = r1.left < r2.left ? r2.left : r1.left;
r.top = r1.top < r2.top ? r2.top : r1.top;
r.right = r1.right < r2.right ? r1.right : r2.right;
r.bottom = r1.bottom < r2.bottom ? r1.bottom : r2.bottom;
if (r.left < r.right && r.top < r.bottom)
return r;
return null;
}
function innerRect(e) {
var b,r;
b = e.getBoundingClientRect();
r = {};
r.left = b.left;
r.top = b.top;
r.right = b.left + e.clientWidth;
r.bottom = b.top + e.clientHeight;
return r;
}
function isViewable(e, fracX, fracY, fudgeY) {
// ref https://stackoverflow.com/a/37998526
// intersect all the rects and then check the result once
// innerRect: mind the scroll bars
// fudgeY: handle "sticky" thead in parent table. Ugh.
var r, pr, er;
er = e.getBoundingClientRect();
r = er;
for (;;) {
e = e.parentElement;
if (!e)
break;
pr = innerRect(e);
if (fudgeY)
pr.top += fudgeY;
r = intersectRect(r, pr);
if (!r)
return false;
}
if (fracX && ((r.right-r.left) / (er.right-er.left)) < (fracX-0.001))
return false;
if (fracY && ((r.bottom-r.top) / (er.bottom-er.top)) < (fracY-0.001))
return false;
return true;
}

Some higher level abstractions for detecting DOM element visibility [duplicate]

Is there an efficient way to tell if a DOM element (in an HTML document) is currently visible (appears in the viewport)?
(The question refers to Firefox.)

Now most browsers support getBoundingClientRect method, which has become the best practice. Using an old answer is very slow, not accurate and has several bugs.
The solution selected as correct is almost never precise.
This solution was tested on Internet Explorer 7 (and later), iOS 5 (and later) Safari, Android 2.0 (Eclair) and later, BlackBerry, Opera Mobile, and Internet Explorer Mobile 9.
function isElementInViewport (el) {
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery === "function" && el instanceof jQuery) {
el = el[0];
}
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
rect.top >= 0 &&
rect.left >= 0 &&
rect.bottom <= (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight) && /* or $(window).height() */
rect.right <= (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth) /* or $(window).width() */
);
}
How to use:
You can be sure that the function given above returns correct answer at the moment of time when it is called, but what about tracking element's visibility as an event?
Place the following code at the bottom of your <body> tag:
function onVisibilityChange(el, callback) {
var old_visible;
return function () {
var visible = isElementInViewport(el);
if (visible != old_visible) {
old_visible = visible;
if (typeof callback == 'function') {
callback();
}
}
}
}
var handler = onVisibilityChange(el, function() {
/* Your code go here */
});
// jQuery
$(window).on('DOMContentLoaded load resize scroll', handler);
/* // Non-jQuery
if (window.addEventListener) {
addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', handler, false);
addEventListener('load', handler, false);
addEventListener('scroll', handler, false);
addEventListener('resize', handler, false);
} else if (window.attachEvent) {
attachEvent('onDOMContentLoaded', handler); // Internet Explorer 9+ :(
attachEvent('onload', handler);
attachEvent('onscroll', handler);
attachEvent('onresize', handler);
}
*/
If you do any DOM modifications, they can change your element's visibility of course.
Guidelines and common pitfalls:
Maybe you need to track page zoom / mobile device pinch? jQuery should handle zoom/pinch cross browser, otherwise first or second link should help you.
If you modify DOM, it can affect the element's visibility. You should take control over that and call handler() manually. Unfortunately, we don't have any cross browser onrepaint event. On the other hand that allows us to make optimizations and perform re-check only on DOM modifications that can change an element's visibility.
Never Ever use it inside jQuery $(document).ready() only, because there is no warranty CSS has been applied in this moment. Your code can work locally with your CSS on a hard drive, but once put on a remote server it will fail.
After DOMContentLoaded is fired, styles are applied, but the images are not loaded yet. So, we should add window.onload event listener.
We can't catch zoom/pinch event yet.
The last resort could be the following code:
/* TODO: this looks like a very bad code */
setInterval(handler, 600);
You can use the awesome feature pageVisibiliy of the HTML5 API if you care if the tab with your web page is active and visible.
TODO: this method does not handle two situations:
Overlapping using z-index.
Using overflow-scroll in element's container.
Try something new - The Intersection Observer API explained.

Update: Time marches on and so have our browsers. This technique is no longer recommended and you should use Dan's solution if you do not need to support version of Internet Explorer before 7.
Original solution (now outdated):
This will check if the element is entirely visible in the current viewport:
function elementInViewport(el) {
var top = el.offsetTop;
var left = el.offsetLeft;
var width = el.offsetWidth;
var height = el.offsetHeight;
while(el.offsetParent) {
el = el.offsetParent;
top += el.offsetTop;
left += el.offsetLeft;
}
return (
top >= window.pageYOffset &&
left >= window.pageXOffset &&
(top + height) <= (window.pageYOffset + window.innerHeight) &&
(left + width) <= (window.pageXOffset + window.innerWidth)
);
}
You could modify this simply to determine if any part of the element is visible in the viewport:
function elementInViewport2(el) {
var top = el.offsetTop;
var left = el.offsetLeft;
var width = el.offsetWidth;
var height = el.offsetHeight;
while(el.offsetParent) {
el = el.offsetParent;
top += el.offsetTop;
left += el.offsetLeft;
}
return (
top < (window.pageYOffset + window.innerHeight) &&
left < (window.pageXOffset + window.innerWidth) &&
(top + height) > window.pageYOffset &&
(left + width) > window.pageXOffset
);
}

Update
In modern browsers, you might want to check out the Intersection Observer API which provides the following benefits:
Better performance than listening for scroll events
Works in cross domain iframes
Can tell if an element is obstructing/intersecting another
Intersection Observer is on its way to being a full-fledged standard and is already supported in Chrome 51+, Edge 15+ and Firefox 55+ and is under development for Safari. There's also a polyfill available.
Previous answer
There are some issues with the answer provided by Dan that might make it an unsuitable approach for some situations. Some of these issues are pointed out in his answer near the bottom, that his code will give false positives for elements that are:
Hidden by another element in front of the one being tested
Outside the visible area of a parent or ancestor element
An element or its children hidden by using the CSS clip property
These limitations are demonstrated in the following results of a simple test:
The solution: isElementVisible()
Here's a solution to those problems, with the test result below and an explanation of some parts of the code.
function isElementVisible(el) {
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect(),
vWidth = window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth,
vHeight = window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight,
efp = function (x, y) { return document.elementFromPoint(x, y) };
// Return false if it's not in the viewport
if (rect.right < 0 || rect.bottom < 0
|| rect.left > vWidth || rect.top > vHeight)
return false;
// Return true if any of its four corners are visible
return (
el.contains(efp(rect.left, rect.top))
|| el.contains(efp(rect.right, rect.top))
|| el.contains(efp(rect.right, rect.bottom))
|| el.contains(efp(rect.left, rect.bottom))
);
}
Passing test: http://jsfiddle.net/AndyE/cAY8c/
And the result:
Additional notes
This method is not without its own limitations, however. For instance, an element being tested with a lower z-index than another element at the same location would be identified as hidden even if the element in front doesn't actually hide any part of it. Still, this method has its uses in some cases that Dan's solution doesn't cover.
Both element.getBoundingClientRect() and document.elementFromPoint() are part of the CSSOM Working Draft specification and are supported in at least IE 6 and later and most desktop browsers for a long time (albeit, not perfectly). See Quirksmode on these functions for more information.
contains() is used to see if the element returned by document.elementFromPoint() is a child node of the element we're testing for visibility. It also returns true if the element returned is the same element. This just makes the check more robust. It's supported in all major browsers, Firefox 9.0 being the last of them to add it. For older Firefox support, check this answer's history.
If you want to test more points around the element for visibility―ie, to make sure the element isn't covered by more than, say, 50%―it wouldn't take much to adjust the last part of the answer. However, be aware that it would probably be very slow if you checked every pixel to make sure it was 100% visible.

I tried Dan's answer, however, the algebra used to determine the bounds means that the element must be both ≤ the viewport size and completely inside the viewport to get true, easily leading to false negatives. If you want to determine whether an element is in the viewport at all, ryanve's answer is close but the element being tested should overlap the viewport, so try this:
function isElementInViewport(el) {
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return rect.bottom > 0 &&
rect.right > 0 &&
rect.left < (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth) /* or $(window).width() */ &&
rect.top < (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight) /* or $(window).height() */;
}

We have now a native javascript Intersection Observer API
from which we can detect elements either they are in the viewport or not.
Here is example
const el = document.querySelector('#el')
const observer = new window.IntersectionObserver(([entry]) => {
if (entry.isIntersecting) {
console.log('ENTER')
return
}
console.log('LEAVE')
}, {
root: null,
threshold: 0.1, // set offset 0.1 means trigger if atleast 10% of element in viewport
})
observer.observe(el);
body {
height: 300vh;
}
#el {
margin-top: 100vh;
}
<div id="el">this is element</div>

See the source of verge, which uses getBoundingClientRect. It's like:
function inViewport (element) {
if (!element) return false;
if (1 !== element.nodeType) return false;
var html = document.documentElement;
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
return !!rect &&
rect.bottom >= 0 &&
rect.right >= 0 &&
rect.left <= html.clientWidth &&
rect.top <= html.clientHeight;
}
It returns true if any part of the element is in the viewport.

As a public service:
Dan's answer with the correct calculations (element can be > window, especially on mobile phone screens), and correct jQuery testing, as well as adding isElementPartiallyInViewport:
By the way, the difference between window.innerWidth and document.documentElement.clientWidth is that clientWidth/clientHeight doesn't include the scrollbar, while window.innerWidth/Height does.
function isElementPartiallyInViewport(el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
// DOMRect { x: 8, y: 8, width: 100, height: 100, top: 8, right: 108, bottom: 108, left: 8 }
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/325933/determine-whether-two-date-ranges-overlap
var vertInView = (rect.top <= windowHeight) && ((rect.top + rect.height) >= 0);
var horInView = (rect.left <= windowWidth) && ((rect.left + rect.width) >= 0);
return (vertInView && horInView);
}
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/123999/how-to-tell-if-a-dom-element-is-visible-in-the-current-viewport
function isElementInViewport (el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
return (
(rect.left >= 0)
&& (rect.top >= 0)
&& ((rect.left + rect.width) <= windowWidth)
&& ((rect.top + rect.height) <= windowHeight)
);
}
function fnIsVis(ele)
{
var inVpFull = isElementInViewport(ele);
var inVpPartial = isElementPartiallyInViewport(ele);
console.clear();
console.log("Fully in viewport: " + inVpFull);
console.log("Partially in viewport: " + inVpPartial);
}
Test-case
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<meta name="description" content="">
<meta name="author" content="">
<title>Test</title>
<!--
<script src="http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="scrollMonitor.js"></script>
-->
<script type="text/javascript">
function isElementPartiallyInViewport(el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
// DOMRect { x: 8, y: 8, width: 100, height: 100, top: 8, right: 108, bottom: 108, left: 8 }
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/325933/determine-whether-two-date-ranges-overlap
var vertInView = (rect.top <= windowHeight) && ((rect.top + rect.height) >= 0);
var horInView = (rect.left <= windowWidth) && ((rect.left + rect.width) >= 0);
return (vertInView && horInView);
}
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/123999/how-to-tell-if-a-dom-element-is-visible-in-the-current-viewport
function isElementInViewport (el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
return (
(rect.left >= 0)
&& (rect.top >= 0)
&& ((rect.left + rect.width) <= windowWidth)
&& ((rect.top + rect.height) <= windowHeight)
);
}
function fnIsVis(ele)
{
var inVpFull = isElementInViewport(ele);
var inVpPartial = isElementPartiallyInViewport(ele);
console.clear();
console.log("Fully in viewport: " + inVpFull);
console.log("Partially in viewport: " + inVpPartial);
}
// var scrollLeft = (window.pageXOffset !== undefined) ? window.pageXOffset : (document.documentElement || document.body.parentNode || document.body).scrollLeft,
// var scrollTop = (window.pageYOffset !== undefined) ? window.pageYOffset : (document.documentElement || document.body.parentNode || document.body).scrollTop;
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div style="display: block; width: 2000px; height: 10000px; background-color: green;">
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<input type="button" onclick="fnIsVis(document.getElementById('myele'));" value="det" />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<div style="background-color: crimson; display: inline-block; width: 800px; height: 500px;" ></div>
<div id="myele" onclick="fnIsVis(this);" style="display: inline-block; width: 100px; height: 100px; background-color: hotpink;">
t
</div>
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<input type="button" onclick="fnIsVis(document.getElementById('myele'));" value="det" />
</div>
<!--
<script type="text/javascript">
var element = document.getElementById("myele");
var watcher = scrollMonitor.create(element);
watcher.lock();
watcher.stateChange(function() {
console.log("state changed");
// $(element).toggleClass('fixed', this.isAboveViewport)
});
</script>
-->
</body>
</html>

My shorter and faster version:
function isElementOutViewport(el){
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return rect.bottom < 0 || rect.right < 0 || rect.left > window.innerWidth || rect.top > window.innerHeight;
}
And a jsFiddle as required: https://jsfiddle.net/on1g619L/1/

The new Intersection Observer API addresses this question very directly.
This solution will need a polyfill as Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer don't support this yet (the polyfill is included in the solution).
In this solution, there is a box out of view that is the target (observed). When it comes into view, the button at the top in the header is hidden. It is shown once the box leaves the view.
const buttonToHide = document.querySelector('button');
const hideWhenBoxInView = new IntersectionObserver((entries) => {
if (entries[0].intersectionRatio <= 0) { // If not in view
buttonToHide.style.display = "inherit";
} else {
buttonToHide.style.display = "none";
}
});
hideWhenBoxInView.observe(document.getElementById('box'));
header {
position: fixed;
top: 0;
width: 100vw;
height: 30px;
background-color: lightgreen;
}
.wrapper {
position: relative;
margin-top: 600px;
}
#box {
position: relative;
left: 175px;
width: 150px;
height: 135px;
background-color: lightblue;
border: 2px solid;
}
<script src="https://polyfill.io/v2/polyfill.min.js?features=IntersectionObserver"></script>
<header>
<button>NAVIGATION BUTTON TO HIDE</button>
</header>
<div class="wrapper">
<div id="box">
</div>
</div>

I found it troubling that there wasn't a jQuery-centric version of the functionality available. When I came across Dan's solution I spied the opportunity to provide something for folks who like to program in the jQuery OO style. It's nice and snappy and works like a charm for me.
Bada bing bada boom
$.fn.inView = function(){
if(!this.length)
return false;
var rect = this.get(0).getBoundingClientRect();
return (
rect.top >= 0 &&
rect.left >= 0 &&
rect.bottom <= (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight) &&
rect.right <= (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth)
);
};
// Additional examples for other use cases
// Is true false whether an array of elements are all in view
$.fn.allInView = function(){
var all = [];
this.forEach(function(){
all.push( $(this).inView() );
});
return all.indexOf(false) === -1;
};
// Only the class elements in view
$('.some-class').filter(function(){
return $(this).inView();
});
// Only the class elements not in view
$('.some-class').filter(function(){
return !$(this).inView();
});
Usage
$(window).on('scroll',function(){
if( $('footer').inView() ) {
// Do cool stuff
}
});

The simplest solution as the support of Element.getBoundingClientRect() has become perfect:
function isInView(el) {
const box = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return box.top < window.innerHeight && box.bottom >= 0;
}

All answers I've encountered here only check if the element is positioned inside the current viewport. But that doesn't mean that it is visible.
What if the given element is inside a div with overflowing content, and it is scrolled out of view?
To solve that, you'd have to check if the element is contained by all parents.
My solution does exactly that:
It also allows you to specify how much of the element has to be visible.
Element.prototype.isVisible = function(percentX, percentY){
var tolerance = 0.01; //needed because the rects returned by getBoundingClientRect provide the position up to 10 decimals
if(percentX == null){
percentX = 100;
}
if(percentY == null){
percentY = 100;
}
var elementRect = this.getBoundingClientRect();
var parentRects = [];
var element = this;
while(element.parentElement != null){
parentRects.push(element.parentElement.getBoundingClientRect());
element = element.parentElement;
}
var visibleInAllParents = parentRects.every(function(parentRect){
var visiblePixelX = Math.min(elementRect.right, parentRect.right) - Math.max(elementRect.left, parentRect.left);
var visiblePixelY = Math.min(elementRect.bottom, parentRect.bottom) - Math.max(elementRect.top, parentRect.top);
var visiblePercentageX = visiblePixelX / elementRect.width * 100;
var visiblePercentageY = visiblePixelY / elementRect.height * 100;
return visiblePercentageX + tolerance > percentX && visiblePercentageY + tolerance > percentY;
});
return visibleInAllParents;
};
This solution ignored the fact that elements may not be visible due to other facts, like opacity: 0.
I have tested this solution in Chrome and Internet Explorer 11.

I find that the accepted answer here is overly complicated for most use cases. This code does the job well (using jQuery) and differentiates between fully visible and partially visible elements:
var element = $("#element");
var topOfElement = element.offset().top;
var bottomOfElement = element.offset().top + element.outerHeight(true);
var $window = $(window);
$window.bind('scroll', function() {
var scrollTopPosition = $window.scrollTop()+$window.height();
var windowScrollTop = $window.scrollTop()
if (windowScrollTop > topOfElement && windowScrollTop < bottomOfElement) {
// Element is partially visible (above viewable area)
console.log("Element is partially visible (above viewable area)");
} else if (windowScrollTop > bottomOfElement && windowScrollTop > topOfElement) {
// Element is hidden (above viewable area)
console.log("Element is hidden (above viewable area)");
} else if (scrollTopPosition < topOfElement && scrollTopPosition < bottomOfElement) {
// Element is hidden (below viewable area)
console.log("Element is hidden (below viewable area)");
} else if (scrollTopPosition < bottomOfElement && scrollTopPosition > topOfElement) {
// Element is partially visible (below viewable area)
console.log("Element is partially visible (below viewable area)");
} else {
// Element is completely visible
console.log("Element is completely visible");
}
});

Here's my solution. It will work if an element is hidden inside a scrollable container.
Here's a demo (try re-sizing the window to)
var visibleY = function(el){
var top = el.getBoundingClientRect().top, rect, el = el.parentNode;
do {
rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
if (top <= rect.bottom === false)
return false;
el = el.parentNode;
} while (el != document.body);
// Check it's within the document viewport
return top <= document.documentElement.clientHeight;
};
I only needed to check if it's visible in the Y axis (for a scrolling Ajax load-more-records feature).

I think this is a more functional way to do it.
Dan's answer do not work in a recursive context.
This function solves the problem when your element is inside others scrollable divs by testing any levels recursively up to the HTML tag, and stops at the first false.
/**
* fullVisible=true only returns true if the all object rect is visible
*/
function isReallyVisible(el, fullVisible) {
if ( el.tagName == "HTML" )
return true;
var parentRect=el.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect();
var rect = arguments[2] || el.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
( fullVisible ? rect.top >= parentRect.top : rect.bottom > parentRect.top ) &&
( fullVisible ? rect.left >= parentRect.left : rect.right > parentRect.left ) &&
( fullVisible ? rect.bottom <= parentRect.bottom : rect.top < parentRect.bottom ) &&
( fullVisible ? rect.right <= parentRect.right : rect.left < parentRect.right ) &&
isReallyVisible(el.parentNode, fullVisible, rect)
);
};

The most accepted answers don't work when zooming in Google Chrome on Android. In combination with Dan's answer, to account for Chrome on Android, visualViewport must be used. The following example only takes the vertical check into account and uses jQuery for the window height:
var Rect = YOUR_ELEMENT.getBoundingClientRect();
var ElTop = Rect.top, ElBottom = Rect.bottom;
var WindowHeight = $(window).height();
if(window.visualViewport) {
ElTop -= window.visualViewport.offsetTop;
ElBottom -= window.visualViewport.offsetTop;
WindowHeight = window.visualViewport.height;
}
var WithinScreen = (ElTop >= 0 && ElBottom <= WindowHeight);

/**
* Returns Element placement information in Viewport
* #link https://stackoverflow.com/a/70476497/2453148
*
* #typedef {object} ViewportInfo - Whether the element is…
* #property {boolean} isInViewport - fully or partially in the viewport
* #property {boolean} isPartiallyInViewport - partially in the viewport
* #property {boolean} isInsideViewport - fully inside viewport
* #property {boolean} isAroundViewport - completely covers the viewport
* #property {boolean} isOnEdge - intersects the edge of viewport
* #property {boolean} isOnTopEdge - intersects the top edge
* #property {boolean} isOnRightEdge - intersects the right edge
* #property {boolean} isOnBottomEdge - is intersects the bottom edge
* #property {boolean} isOnLeftEdge - is intersects the left edge
*
* #param el Element
* #return {Object} ViewportInfo
*/
function getElementViewportInfo(el) {
let result = {};
let rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
let windowHeight = window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight;
let windowWidth = window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth;
let insideX = rect.left >= 0 && rect.left + rect.width <= windowWidth;
let insideY = rect.top >= 0 && rect.top + rect.height <= windowHeight;
result.isInsideViewport = insideX && insideY;
let aroundX = rect.left < 0 && rect.left + rect.width > windowWidth;
let aroundY = rect.top < 0 && rect.top + rect.height > windowHeight;
result.isAroundViewport = aroundX && aroundY;
let onTop = rect.top < 0 && rect.top + rect.height > 0;
let onRight = rect.left < windowWidth && rect.left + rect.width > windowWidth;
let onLeft = rect.left < 0 && rect.left + rect.width > 0;
let onBottom = rect.top < windowHeight && rect.top + rect.height > windowHeight;
let onY = insideY || aroundY || onTop || onBottom;
let onX = insideX || aroundX || onLeft || onRight;
result.isOnTopEdge = onTop && onX;
result.isOnRightEdge = onRight && onY;
result.isOnBottomEdge = onBottom && onX;
result.isOnLeftEdge = onLeft && onY;
result.isOnEdge = result.isOnLeftEdge || result.isOnRightEdge ||
result.isOnTopEdge || result.isOnBottomEdge;
let isInX =
insideX || aroundX || result.isOnLeftEdge || result.isOnRightEdge;
let isInY =
insideY || aroundY || result.isOnTopEdge || result.isOnBottomEdge;
result.isInViewport = isInX && isInY;
result.isPartiallyInViewport =
result.isInViewport && result.isOnEdge;
return result;
}

Based on dan's solution, I had a go at cleaning up the implementation so that using it multiple times on the same page is easier:
$(function() {
$(window).on('load resize scroll', function() {
addClassToElementInViewport($('.bug-icon'), 'animate-bug-icon');
addClassToElementInViewport($('.another-thing'), 'animate-thing');
// 👏 repeat as needed ...
});
function addClassToElementInViewport(element, newClass) {
if (inViewport(element)) {
element.addClass(newClass);
}
}
function inViewport(element) {
if (typeof jQuery === "function" && element instanceof jQuery) {
element = element[0];
}
var elementBounds = element.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
elementBounds.top >= 0 &&
elementBounds.left >= 0 &&
elementBounds.bottom <= $(window).height() &&
elementBounds.right <= $(window).width()
);
}
});
The way I'm using it is that when the element scrolls into view, I'm adding a class that triggers a CSS keyframe animation. It's pretty straightforward and works especially well when you've got like 10+ things to conditionally animate on a page.

Most of the usages in previous answers are failing at these points:
-When any pixel of an element is visible, but not "a corner",
-When an element is bigger than viewport and centered,
-Most of them are checking only for a singular element inside a document or window.
Well, for all these problems I've a solution and the plus sides are:
-You can return visible when only a pixel from any sides shows up and is not a corner,
-You can still return visible while element bigger than viewport,
-You can choose your parent element or you can automatically let it choose,
-Works on dynamically added elements too.
If you check the snippets below you will see the difference in using overflow-scroll in element's container will not cause any trouble and see that unlike other answers here even if a pixel shows up from any side or when an element is bigger than viewport and we are seeing inner pixels of the element it still works.
Usage is simple:
// For checking element visibility from any sides
isVisible(element)
// For checking elements visibility in a parent you would like to check
var parent = document; // Assuming you check if 'element' inside 'document'
isVisible(element, parent)
// For checking elements visibility even if it's bigger than viewport
isVisible(element, null, true) // Without parent choice
isVisible(element, parent, true) // With parent choice
A demonstration without crossSearchAlgorithm which is usefull for elements bigger than viewport check element3 inner pixels to see:
function isVisible(element, parent, crossSearchAlgorithm) {
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect(),
prect = (parent != undefined) ? parent.getBoundingClientRect() : element.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect(),
csa = (crossSearchAlgorithm != undefined) ? crossSearchAlgorithm : false,
efp = function (x, y) { return document.elementFromPoint(x, y) };
// Return false if it's not in the viewport
if (rect.right < prect.left || rect.bottom < prect.top || rect.left > prect.right || rect.top > prect.bottom) {
return false;
}
var flag = false;
// Return true if left to right any border pixel reached
for (var x = rect.left; x < rect.right; x++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.top, x)) || element.contains(efp(rect.bottom, x))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
// Return true if top to bottom any border pixel reached
if (flag == false) {
for (var y = rect.top; y < rect.bottom; y++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.left, y)) || element.contains(efp(rect.right, y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
}
if(csa) {
// Another algorithm to check if element is centered and bigger than viewport
if (flag == false) {
var x = rect.left;
var y = rect.top;
// From top left to bottom right
while(x < rect.right || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x < rect.right) { x++; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
if (flag == false) {
x = rect.right;
y = rect.top;
// From top right to bottom left
while(x > rect.left || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x > rect.left) { x--; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
}
}
}
return flag;
}
// Check multiple elements visibility
document.getElementById('container').addEventListener("scroll", function() {
var elementList = document.getElementsByClassName("element");
var console = document.getElementById('console');
for (var i=0; i < elementList.length; i++) {
// I did not define parent, so it will be element's parent
if (isVisible(elementList[i])) {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is visible!";
break;
} else {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is hidden!";
}
}
});
// Dynamically added elements
for(var i=4; i <= 6; i++) {
var newElement = document.createElement("div");
newElement.id = "element" + i;
newElement.classList.add("element");
document.getElementById('container').appendChild(newElement);
}
#console { background-color: yellow; }
#container {
width: 300px;
height: 100px;
background-color: lightblue;
overflow-y: auto;
padding-top: 150px;
margin: 45px;
}
.element {
margin: 400px;
width: 400px;
height: 320px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3 {
position: relative;
margin: 40px;
width: 720px;
height: 520px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3::before {
content: "";
position: absolute;
top: -10px;
left: -10px;
margin: 0px;
width: 740px;
height: 540px;
border: 5px dotted green;
background: transparent;
}
<div id="console"></div>
<div id="container">
<div id="element1" class="element"></div>
<div id="element2" class="element"></div>
<div id="element3" class="element"></div>
</div>
You see, when you are inside the element3 it fails to tell if it's visible or not, because we are only checking if the element is visible from sides or corners.
And this one includes crossSearchAlgorithm which allows you to still return visible when the element is bigger than the viewport:
function isVisible(element, parent, crossSearchAlgorithm) {
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect(),
prect = (parent != undefined) ? parent.getBoundingClientRect() : element.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect(),
csa = (crossSearchAlgorithm != undefined) ? crossSearchAlgorithm : false,
efp = function (x, y) { return document.elementFromPoint(x, y) };
// Return false if it's not in the viewport
if (rect.right < prect.left || rect.bottom < prect.top || rect.left > prect.right || rect.top > prect.bottom) {
return false;
}
var flag = false;
// Return true if left to right any border pixel reached
for (var x = rect.left; x < rect.right; x++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.top, x)) || element.contains(efp(rect.bottom, x))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
// Return true if top to bottom any border pixel reached
if (flag == false) {
for (var y = rect.top; y < rect.bottom; y++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.left, y)) || element.contains(efp(rect.right, y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
}
if(csa) {
// Another algorithm to check if element is centered and bigger than viewport
if (flag == false) {
var x = rect.left;
var y = rect.top;
// From top left to bottom right
while(x < rect.right || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x < rect.right) { x++; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
if (flag == false) {
x = rect.right;
y = rect.top;
// From top right to bottom left
while(x > rect.left || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x > rect.left) { x--; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
}
}
}
return flag;
}
// Check multiple elements visibility
document.getElementById('container').addEventListener("scroll", function() {
var elementList = document.getElementsByClassName("element");
var console = document.getElementById('console');
for (var i=0; i < elementList.length; i++) {
// I did not define parent so it will be element's parent
// and it will do crossSearchAlgorithm
if (isVisible(elementList[i],null,true)) {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is visible!";
break;
} else {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is hidden!";
}
}
});
// Dynamically added elements
for(var i=4; i <= 6; i++) {
var newElement = document.createElement("div");
newElement.id = "element" + i;
newElement.classList.add("element");
document.getElementById('container').appendChild(newElement);
}
#console { background-color: yellow; }
#container {
width: 300px;
height: 100px;
background-color: lightblue;
overflow-y: auto;
padding-top: 150px;
margin: 45px;
}
.element {
margin: 400px;
width: 400px;
height: 320px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3 {
position: relative;
margin: 40px;
width: 720px;
height: 520px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3::before {
content: "";
position: absolute;
top: -10px;
left: -10px;
margin: 0px;
width: 740px;
height: 540px;
border: 5px dotted green;
background: transparent;
}
<div id="console"></div>
<div id="container">
<div id="element1" class="element"></div>
<div id="element2" class="element"></div>
<div id="element3" class="element"></div>
</div>
JSFiddle to play with: http://jsfiddle.net/BerkerYuceer/grk5az2c/
This code is made for more precise information if any part of the element is shown in the view or not. For performance options or only vertical slides, do not use this! This code is more effective in drawing cases.

As simple as it can get, IMO:
function isVisible(elem) {
var coords = elem.getBoundingClientRect();
return Math.abs(coords.top) <= coords.height;
}

Here is a function that tells if an element is in visible in the current viewport of a parent element:
function inParentViewport(el, pa) {
if (typeof jQuery === "function"){
if (el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
if (pa instanceof jQuery)
pa = pa[0];
}
var e = el.getBoundingClientRect();
var p = pa.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
e.bottom >= p.top &&
e.right >= p.left &&
e.top <= p.bottom &&
e.left <= p.right
);
}

A better solution:
function getViewportSize(w) {
var w = w || window;
if(w.innerWidth != null)
return {w:w.innerWidth, h:w.innerHeight};
var d = w.document;
if (document.compatMode == "CSS1Compat") {
return {
w: d.documentElement.clientWidth,
h: d.documentElement.clientHeight
};
}
return { w: d.body.clientWidth, h: d.body.clientWidth };
}
function isViewportVisible(e) {
var box = e.getBoundingClientRect();
var height = box.height || (box.bottom - box.top);
var width = box.width || (box.right - box.left);
var viewport = getViewportSize();
if(!height || !width)
return false;
if(box.top > viewport.h || box.bottom < 0)
return false;
if(box.right < 0 || box.left > viewport.w)
return false;
return true;
}

I had the same question and figured it out by using getBoundingClientRect().
This code is completely 'generic' and only has to be written once for it to work (you don't have to write it out for each element that you want to know is in the viewport).
This code only checks to see if it is vertically in the viewport, not horizontally. In this case, the variable (array) 'elements' holds all the elements that you are checking to be vertically in the viewport, so grab any elements you want anywhere and store them there.
The 'for loop', loops through each element and checks to see if it is vertically in the viewport. This code executes every time the user scrolls! If the getBoudingClientRect().top is less than 3/4 the viewport (the element is one quarter in the viewport), it registers as 'in the viewport'.
Since the code is generic, you will want to know 'which' element is in the viewport. To find that out, you can determine it by custom attribute, node name, id, class name, and more.
Here is my code (tell me if it doesn't work; it has been tested in Internet Explorer 11, Firefox 40.0.3, Chrome Version 45.0.2454.85 m, Opera 31.0.1889.174, and Edge with Windows 10, [not Safari yet])...
// Scrolling handlers...
window.onscroll = function(){
var elements = document.getElementById('whatever').getElementsByClassName('whatever');
for(var i = 0; i != elements.length; i++)
{
if(elements[i].getBoundingClientRect().top <= window.innerHeight*0.75 &&
elements[i].getBoundingClientRect().top > 0)
{
console.log(elements[i].nodeName + ' ' +
elements[i].className + ' ' +
elements[i].id +
' is in the viewport; proceed with whatever code you want to do here.');
}
};

This checks if an element is at least partially in view (vertical dimension):
function inView(element) {
var box = element.getBoundingClientRect();
return inViewBox(box);
}
function inViewBox(box) {
return ((box.bottom < 0) || (box.top > getWindowSize().h)) ? false : true;
}
function getWindowSize() {
return { w: document.body.offsetWidth || document.documentElement.offsetWidth || window.innerWidth, h: document.body.offsetHeight || document.documentElement.offsetHeight || window.innerHeight}
}

This is the easy and small solution that has worked for me.
Example: You want to see if the element is visible in the parent element that has overflow scroll.
$(window).on('scroll', function () {
var container = $('#sidebar');
var containerHeight = container.height();
var scrollPosition = $('#row1').offset().top - container.offset().top;
if (containerHeight < scrollPosition) {
console.log('not visible');
} else {
console.log('visible');
}
})

All the answers here are determining if the element is fully contained within the viewport, not just visible in some way. For example, if only half of an image is visible at the bottom of the view, the solutions here will fail, considering that "outside".
I had a use case where I'm doing lazy loading via IntersectionObserver, but due to animations that occur during pop-in, I didn't want to observe any images that were already intersected on page load. To do that, I used the following code:
const bounding = el.getBoundingClientRect();
const isVisible = (0 < bounding.top && bounding.top < (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight)) ||
(0 < bounding.bottom && bounding.bottom < (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight));
This is basically checking to see if either the top or bottom bound is independently in the viewport. The opposite end may be outside, but as long as one end is in, it's "visible" at least partially.

I use this function (it only checks if the y is inscreen since most of the time the x is not needed)
function elementInViewport(el) {
var elinfo = {
"top":el.offsetTop,
"height":el.offsetHeight,
};
if (elinfo.top + elinfo.height < window.pageYOffset || elinfo.top > window.pageYOffset + window.innerHeight) {
return false;
} else {
return true;
}
}

Here is a snippet to check if the given element is fully visible in its parent:
export const visibleInParentViewport = (el) => {
const elementRect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
const parentRect = el.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
elementRect.top >= parentRect.top &&
elementRect.right >= parentRect.left &&
elementRect.top + elementRect.height <= parentRect.bottom &&
elementRect.left + elementRect.width <= parentRect.right
);
}

const isHTMLElementInView = (element: HTMLElement) => {
const rect = element?.getBoundingClientRect()
if (!rect) return
return rect.top <= window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0
}
This function checks if the element is in the viewport on vertical level.

Domysee's answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/37998526 is close to correct.
Many examples use "completely contained in the viewport" and his code uses percentages to allow for partially visible. His code also addresses the "is a parent clipping the view" question, which most examples ignore.
One missing element is the impact of the parent's scrollbars - getBoundingClientRect returns the outer rectangle of the parent, which includes the scroll bars, not the inner rectangle, which doesn't. A child can hide behind the parent scroll bar and be considered visible when it isn't.
The recommended observer pattern isn't appropriate for my use case: using the arrow keys to change the currently selected row in a table, and make sure the new selection is visible. Using an observer for this would be excessively convoluted.
Here's some code -
it includes an additional hack (fudgeY) because my table has a sticky header that isn't detectable by straightforward means (and handling this automatically would be pretty tedious). Also, it uses decimal (0 to 1) instead of percentage for the required visible fraction. (For my case I need full y, and x isn't relevant).
function intersectRect(r1, r2) {
var r = {};
r.left = r1.left < r2.left ? r2.left : r1.left;
r.top = r1.top < r2.top ? r2.top : r1.top;
r.right = r1.right < r2.right ? r1.right : r2.right;
r.bottom = r1.bottom < r2.bottom ? r1.bottom : r2.bottom;
if (r.left < r.right && r.top < r.bottom)
return r;
return null;
}
function innerRect(e) {
var b,r;
b = e.getBoundingClientRect();
r = {};
r.left = b.left;
r.top = b.top;
r.right = b.left + e.clientWidth;
r.bottom = b.top + e.clientHeight;
return r;
}
function isViewable(e, fracX, fracY, fudgeY) {
// ref https://stackoverflow.com/a/37998526
// intersect all the rects and then check the result once
// innerRect: mind the scroll bars
// fudgeY: handle "sticky" thead in parent table. Ugh.
var r, pr, er;
er = e.getBoundingClientRect();
r = er;
for (;;) {
e = e.parentElement;
if (!e)
break;
pr = innerRect(e);
if (fudgeY)
pr.top += fudgeY;
r = intersectRect(r, pr);
if (!r)
return false;
}
if (fracX && ((r.right-r.left) / (er.right-er.left)) < (fracX-0.001))
return false;
if (fracY && ((r.bottom-r.top) / (er.bottom-er.top)) < (fracY-0.001))
return false;
return true;
}

How to get the distance from the top for an element?

I want to know how to use JavaScript to get the distance of an element from the top of the page not the parent element.
http://jsfiddle.net/yZGSt/1/

var elDistanceToTop = window.pageYOffset + el.getBoundingClientRect().top
In my experience document.body.scrollTop doesn't always return the current scroll position (for example if the scrolling actually happens on a different element).

offsetTop only looks at the element's parent. Just loop through parent nodes until you run out of parents and add up their offsets.
function getPosition(element) {
var xPosition = 0;
var yPosition = 0;
while(element) {
xPosition += (element.offsetLeft - element.scrollLeft + element.clientLeft);
yPosition += (element.offsetTop - element.scrollTop + element.clientTop);
element = element.offsetParent;
}
return { x: xPosition, y: yPosition };
}
UPDATE: This answer has some problems, values will have tiny differences compare to what it should be and will not work correctly in some cases.
Check #eeglbalazs's answer, which is accurate.

Here is some interesting code for you :)
window.addEventListener('load', function() {
//get the element
var elem = document.getElementById('test');
//get the distance scrolled on body (by default can be changed)
var distanceScrolled = document.body.scrollTop;
//create viewport offset object
var elemRect = elem.getBoundingClientRect();
//get the offset from the element to the viewport
var elemViewportOffset = elemRect.top;
//add them together
var totalOffset = distanceScrolled + elemViewportOffset;
//log it, (look at the top of this example snippet)
document.getElementById('log').innerHTML = totalOffset;
});
#test {
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
background: red;
margin-top: 100vh;
}
#log {
position: fixed;
top: 0;
left: 0;
display: table;
background: #333;
color: #fff;
}
html,
body {
height: 2000px;
height: 200vh;
}
<div id="log"></div>
<div id="test"></div>

Use offsetTop
document.getElementById("foo").offsetTop
Demo

offsetTop doesn’t get the distance to the top of the page, but rather to the top of the closest parent element that has a specified position.
You can use a simple technique that adds up the offsetTop of all the parent element of the element you are interested in to get the distance.
// Our element
var elem = document.querySelector('#some-element');
// Set our distance placeholder
var distance = 0;
// Loop up the dom
do {
// Increase our distance counter
distance += elem.offsetTop;
// Set the element to it's parent
elem = elem.offsetParent;
} while (elem);
distance = distance < 0 ? 0 : distance;
Original code from https://gomakethings.com/how-to-get-an-elements-distance-from-the-top-of-the-page-with-vanilla-javascript/

This oneliner seems to work nice
document.getElementById("el").getBoundingClientRect().top + window.scrollY
your fiddle updated

var distanceTop = element.getBoundingClientRect().top;
For details vist a link:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element/getBoundingClientRect

**For anchor links (href="/#about") to anchor <div id="about"> read part 3.
1 (distance_from_top)
Less than 30 seconds solution (Two lines of code "hello world"):
get your element:
var element = document.getElementById("hello");
Get getBoundingClientRect ();
The Element.getBoundingClientRect() method returns the size of an
element and its position relative to the viewport. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element/getBoundingClientRect
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
Return object:
Dot notation top
var distance_from_top = rect.top; /* 1007.9971313476562 */
Thats it.
2 (window.scrollTo)
StackOverflow nightmare 2 - set scroll position to this value
Again "hello world" (8,000 answers out there - 7,999 not working or to complex).
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/scrollTo
window.scrollTo({
top: element.getBoundingClientRect().top,
behavior: 'smooth'
});
Add offset value to top if you want (For sticky navbars).
"Hello World" code snippet (Get distance from top viewport + click to scrollTo)
var element = document.getElementById("hello");
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
var distance_from_top = rect.top; /* 50px */
console.log(distance_from_top);
function scrollTovView(){
window.scrollTo({
top: distance_from_top,
behavior: 'smooth'
});
}
div{
text-align:center;
border: 1px solid lightgray;
}
<button onclick="scrollTovView()">scrollTo to red DIV</button>
<div style="height: 50px;">50px height</div>
<div id="hello" style="width: 500px; height: 500px; background: red;"></div>
3 (scrollTo & anchors)
scrollTo "conflict" with main anchor navbars
This trick is very buggy if, for example, you use this URL:
www.mysite/about#hello
to
<div id="hello">hello</div>
top is 0 or buggy (The HTML moves to hello section).
window.scrollTo({
top: element.getBoundingClientRect().top,
behavior: 'smooth'
});
For this code to work you should add:
if (this.hash !== "") {
// Prevent default anchor click behavior
event.preventDefault();
Basic example her:
https://www.w3schools.com/howto/howto_css_smooth_scroll.asp

Although it is quite an old discussion, but this works pretty well on chrome / firefox / safari browsers:
window.addEventListener('scroll', function() {
var someDiv = document.getElementById('someDiv');
var distanceToTop = someDiv.getBoundingClientRect().top;
});
Check it out on JSFiddle

scroll to element's top position;
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
var offsetTop = window.pageYOffset + rect.top - rect.height;

document.getElementById("id").offsetTop

(SOURCE : Determine distance from the top of a div to top of window with javascript )
<script type="text/javascript">
var myyElement = document.getElementById("myyy_bar"); //your element
var EnableConsoleLOGS = true; //to check the results in Browser's Inspector(Console), whenever you are scrolling
// ==============================================
window.addEventListener('scroll', function (evt) {
var Positionsss = GetTopLeft ();
if (EnableConsoleLOGS) { console.log(Positionsss); }
});
function GetOffset (object, offset) {
if (!object) return;
offset.x += object.offsetLeft; offset.y += object.offsetTop;
GetOffset (object.offsetParent, offset);
}
function GetScrolled (object, scrolled) {
if (!object) return;
scrolled.x += object.scrollLeft; scrolled.y += object.scrollTop;
if (object.tagName.toLowerCase () != "html") { GetScrolled (object.parentNode, scrolled); }
}
function GetTopLeft () {
var offset = {x : 0, y : 0}; GetOffset (myyElement, offset);
var scrolled = {x : 0, y : 0}; GetScrolled (myyElement.parentNode, scrolled);
var posX = offset.x - scrolled.x; var posY = offset.y - scrolled.y;
return {lefttt: posX , toppp: posY };
}
// ==============================================
</script>

This function returns distance from top of the page, even if your window is scrolled. It can be used in event listeners.
const getElementYOffset = (element) => {
const scrollOnWindow =
window.pageYOffset !== undefined
? window.pageYOffset
: (document.documentElement || document.body.parentNode || document.body)
.scrollTop;
const rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
let distanceFromTopOfPage = rect.top;
if (scrollOnWindow !== 0) {
distanceFromTopOfPage = rect.top + scrollOnWindow;
}
return distanceFromTopOfPage;
};

You only need this line
document.getElementById("el").getBoundingClientRect().top
in which "el" is the element.

Since window.pageYOffset is a legacy alias of window.scrollY, eeglbalazs answer can be improved to:
const elDistanceToTop = window.scrollY + el.getBoundingClientRect().top;

Using jQuery's offset() method:
$(element).offset().top
Example: http://jsfiddle.net/yZGSt/3/

"Zooming" elements on a page while keeping the centre of enlargement in the centre of the window

I'm trying to work out how to enlarge all elements on a page, but keep the centre of enlargement in the centre of the window.
On this page, once the image reaches the top or the left side of the window the centre of enlargement changes. It also changes when you move the image. (exactly what you would expect)
I'm thinking I'd need to take a completely different approach to achieve what I want. But I'm not sure what that approach is..
Any ideas?

Well, here's my take.
Only thing is that I ditched the containers you were using. Is that cheating? Seems like they were only there to get the image centered. No need.
This works as expected with no side effects.
Here's a working demo you can test:
http://jsfiddle.net/YFPRB/1/
(You need to click on the pane with the baboon first.)
HTML
<body>
<img src="http://cdn.sstatic.net/stackoverflow/img/apple-touch-icon.png" />
</body>
CSS
html, body {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
overflow: hidden;
}
jQuery
EDIT: Thanks to #stagas for the reminder to clean up redundancies.
var $img = $('img'); // Cache the image. Better for performance.
$img.draggable();
$img.css({left: ($('body').width() / 2) - ($img.width() / 2)})
.css({top: ($('body').height() / 2) - ($img.height() / 2)})
$(document).keydown(function(event) {
if (event.keyCode == 38) {
var adjustment = 1.25;
} else if (event.keyCode == 40) {
var adjustment = 0.8;
} else {
return;
}
var offset = $img.offset();
var width = $img.width();
var height = $img.height();
var newWidth = width * adjustment;
var newHeight = height * adjustment;
var diffWidth = newWidth - width;
var diffHeight = newHeight - height;
var hcenter = $('body').width() / 2;
var vcenter = $('body').height() / 2;
var leftPercent = (hcenter - offset.left) / width;
var topPercent = (vcenter - offset.top) / height;
$img.offset({top: offset.top - (diffHeight * topPercent), left: offset.left - (diffWidth * leftPercent)});
$img.width(newWidth).height(newHeight);
});

This is what I came up, it works as you say except the image will always go to the center after zooming in or out:
$('document').ready(function() {
zoomimg=$('#zoomimg'); // we store this in a variable since we don't need to traverse the DOM every time -- this is faster
var viewportWidth = $(window).width();
var viewportHeight = window.innerHeight ? window.innerHeight : $(window).height(); // this is to work with Opera
zoomimg.css({'position': 'absolute', 'left': (viewportWidth/2)-(zoomimg.width()/2), 'top' : (viewportHeight/2)-(zoomimg.height()/2)}).draggable();
$(document).keydown(function(event) {
event = event || window.event;
var viewportWidth = $(window).width();
var viewportHeight = window.innerHeight ? window.innerHeight : $(window).height(); // this is to work with Opera
if (event.keyCode == 38) {
width = zoomimg.width();
height = zoomimg.height();
zoomimg.width(width*1.2).height(height*1.2);
var viewportWidth = $(window).width();
var viewportHeight = window.innerHeight ? window.innerHeight : $(window).height();
zoomimg.css({'left': (viewportWidth/2)-(zoomimg.width()/2), 'top' : (viewportHeight/2)-(zoomimg.height()/2)});
} else if (event.keyCode == 40) {
width = zoomimg.width();
height = zoomimg.height();
zoomimg.width(width*0.8).height(height*0.8);
var viewportWidth = $(window).width();
var viewportHeight = window.innerHeight ? window.innerHeight : $(window).height();
zoomimg.css({'left': (viewportWidth/2)-(zoomimg.width()/2), 'top' : (viewportHeight/2)-(zoomimg.height()/2)});
} else {
return
}
});
});
You should put an ID 'zoomimg' on the tag for it to work, and overflow:hidden on the #container . Also ditch that display:table and display:table-cell they're useless now that we center with Javascript. Also, pressing the down arrow key will cause the container to scroll down, so you should use other keys, as the arrows are reserved by the browser for scrolling the viewport.

How can I tell if a DOM element is visible in the current viewport?

Is there an efficient way to tell if a DOM element (in an HTML document) is currently visible (appears in the viewport)?
(The question refers to Firefox.)

Now most browsers support getBoundingClientRect method, which has become the best practice. Using an old answer is very slow, not accurate and has several bugs.
The solution selected as correct is almost never precise.
This solution was tested on Internet Explorer 7 (and later), iOS 5 (and later) Safari, Android 2.0 (Eclair) and later, BlackBerry, Opera Mobile, and Internet Explorer Mobile 9.
function isElementInViewport (el) {
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery === "function" && el instanceof jQuery) {
el = el[0];
}
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
rect.top >= 0 &&
rect.left >= 0 &&
rect.bottom <= (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight) && /* or $(window).height() */
rect.right <= (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth) /* or $(window).width() */
);
}
How to use:
You can be sure that the function given above returns correct answer at the moment of time when it is called, but what about tracking element's visibility as an event?
Place the following code at the bottom of your <body> tag:
function onVisibilityChange(el, callback) {
var old_visible;
return function () {
var visible = isElementInViewport(el);
if (visible != old_visible) {
old_visible = visible;
if (typeof callback == 'function') {
callback();
}
}
}
}
var handler = onVisibilityChange(el, function() {
/* Your code go here */
});
// jQuery
$(window).on('DOMContentLoaded load resize scroll', handler);
/* // Non-jQuery
if (window.addEventListener) {
addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', handler, false);
addEventListener('load', handler, false);
addEventListener('scroll', handler, false);
addEventListener('resize', handler, false);
} else if (window.attachEvent) {
attachEvent('onDOMContentLoaded', handler); // Internet Explorer 9+ :(
attachEvent('onload', handler);
attachEvent('onscroll', handler);
attachEvent('onresize', handler);
}
*/
If you do any DOM modifications, they can change your element's visibility of course.
Guidelines and common pitfalls:
Maybe you need to track page zoom / mobile device pinch? jQuery should handle zoom/pinch cross browser, otherwise first or second link should help you.
If you modify DOM, it can affect the element's visibility. You should take control over that and call handler() manually. Unfortunately, we don't have any cross browser onrepaint event. On the other hand that allows us to make optimizations and perform re-check only on DOM modifications that can change an element's visibility.
Never Ever use it inside jQuery $(document).ready() only, because there is no warranty CSS has been applied in this moment. Your code can work locally with your CSS on a hard drive, but once put on a remote server it will fail.
After DOMContentLoaded is fired, styles are applied, but the images are not loaded yet. So, we should add window.onload event listener.
We can't catch zoom/pinch event yet.
The last resort could be the following code:
/* TODO: this looks like a very bad code */
setInterval(handler, 600);
You can use the awesome feature pageVisibiliy of the HTML5 API if you care if the tab with your web page is active and visible.
TODO: this method does not handle two situations:
Overlapping using z-index.
Using overflow-scroll in element's container.
Try something new - The Intersection Observer API explained.

Update: Time marches on and so have our browsers. This technique is no longer recommended and you should use Dan's solution if you do not need to support version of Internet Explorer before 7.
Original solution (now outdated):
This will check if the element is entirely visible in the current viewport:
function elementInViewport(el) {
var top = el.offsetTop;
var left = el.offsetLeft;
var width = el.offsetWidth;
var height = el.offsetHeight;
while(el.offsetParent) {
el = el.offsetParent;
top += el.offsetTop;
left += el.offsetLeft;
}
return (
top >= window.pageYOffset &&
left >= window.pageXOffset &&
(top + height) <= (window.pageYOffset + window.innerHeight) &&
(left + width) <= (window.pageXOffset + window.innerWidth)
);
}
You could modify this simply to determine if any part of the element is visible in the viewport:
function elementInViewport2(el) {
var top = el.offsetTop;
var left = el.offsetLeft;
var width = el.offsetWidth;
var height = el.offsetHeight;
while(el.offsetParent) {
el = el.offsetParent;
top += el.offsetTop;
left += el.offsetLeft;
}
return (
top < (window.pageYOffset + window.innerHeight) &&
left < (window.pageXOffset + window.innerWidth) &&
(top + height) > window.pageYOffset &&
(left + width) > window.pageXOffset
);
}

Update
In modern browsers, you might want to check out the Intersection Observer API which provides the following benefits:
Better performance than listening for scroll events
Works in cross domain iframes
Can tell if an element is obstructing/intersecting another
Intersection Observer is on its way to being a full-fledged standard and is already supported in Chrome 51+, Edge 15+ and Firefox 55+ and is under development for Safari. There's also a polyfill available.
Previous answer
There are some issues with the answer provided by Dan that might make it an unsuitable approach for some situations. Some of these issues are pointed out in his answer near the bottom, that his code will give false positives for elements that are:
Hidden by another element in front of the one being tested
Outside the visible area of a parent or ancestor element
An element or its children hidden by using the CSS clip property
These limitations are demonstrated in the following results of a simple test:
The solution: isElementVisible()
Here's a solution to those problems, with the test result below and an explanation of some parts of the code.
function isElementVisible(el) {
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect(),
vWidth = window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth,
vHeight = window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight,
efp = function (x, y) { return document.elementFromPoint(x, y) };
// Return false if it's not in the viewport
if (rect.right < 0 || rect.bottom < 0
|| rect.left > vWidth || rect.top > vHeight)
return false;
// Return true if any of its four corners are visible
return (
el.contains(efp(rect.left, rect.top))
|| el.contains(efp(rect.right, rect.top))
|| el.contains(efp(rect.right, rect.bottom))
|| el.contains(efp(rect.left, rect.bottom))
);
}
Passing test: http://jsfiddle.net/AndyE/cAY8c/
And the result:
Additional notes
This method is not without its own limitations, however. For instance, an element being tested with a lower z-index than another element at the same location would be identified as hidden even if the element in front doesn't actually hide any part of it. Still, this method has its uses in some cases that Dan's solution doesn't cover.
Both element.getBoundingClientRect() and document.elementFromPoint() are part of the CSSOM Working Draft specification and are supported in at least IE 6 and later and most desktop browsers for a long time (albeit, not perfectly). See Quirksmode on these functions for more information.
contains() is used to see if the element returned by document.elementFromPoint() is a child node of the element we're testing for visibility. It also returns true if the element returned is the same element. This just makes the check more robust. It's supported in all major browsers, Firefox 9.0 being the last of them to add it. For older Firefox support, check this answer's history.
If you want to test more points around the element for visibility―ie, to make sure the element isn't covered by more than, say, 50%―it wouldn't take much to adjust the last part of the answer. However, be aware that it would probably be very slow if you checked every pixel to make sure it was 100% visible.

I tried Dan's answer, however, the algebra used to determine the bounds means that the element must be both ≤ the viewport size and completely inside the viewport to get true, easily leading to false negatives. If you want to determine whether an element is in the viewport at all, ryanve's answer is close but the element being tested should overlap the viewport, so try this:
function isElementInViewport(el) {
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return rect.bottom > 0 &&
rect.right > 0 &&
rect.left < (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth) /* or $(window).width() */ &&
rect.top < (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight) /* or $(window).height() */;
}

We have now a native javascript Intersection Observer API
from which we can detect elements either they are in the viewport or not.
Here is example
const el = document.querySelector('#el')
const observer = new window.IntersectionObserver(([entry]) => {
if (entry.isIntersecting) {
console.log('ENTER')
return
}
console.log('LEAVE')
}, {
root: null,
threshold: 0.1, // set offset 0.1 means trigger if atleast 10% of element in viewport
})
observer.observe(el);
body {
height: 300vh;
}
#el {
margin-top: 100vh;
}
<div id="el">this is element</div>

See the source of verge, which uses getBoundingClientRect. It's like:
function inViewport (element) {
if (!element) return false;
if (1 !== element.nodeType) return false;
var html = document.documentElement;
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
return !!rect &&
rect.bottom >= 0 &&
rect.right >= 0 &&
rect.left <= html.clientWidth &&
rect.top <= html.clientHeight;
}
It returns true if any part of the element is in the viewport.

As a public service:
Dan's answer with the correct calculations (element can be > window, especially on mobile phone screens), and correct jQuery testing, as well as adding isElementPartiallyInViewport:
By the way, the difference between window.innerWidth and document.documentElement.clientWidth is that clientWidth/clientHeight doesn't include the scrollbar, while window.innerWidth/Height does.
function isElementPartiallyInViewport(el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
// DOMRect { x: 8, y: 8, width: 100, height: 100, top: 8, right: 108, bottom: 108, left: 8 }
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/325933/determine-whether-two-date-ranges-overlap
var vertInView = (rect.top <= windowHeight) && ((rect.top + rect.height) >= 0);
var horInView = (rect.left <= windowWidth) && ((rect.left + rect.width) >= 0);
return (vertInView && horInView);
}
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/123999/how-to-tell-if-a-dom-element-is-visible-in-the-current-viewport
function isElementInViewport (el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
return (
(rect.left >= 0)
&& (rect.top >= 0)
&& ((rect.left + rect.width) <= windowWidth)
&& ((rect.top + rect.height) <= windowHeight)
);
}
function fnIsVis(ele)
{
var inVpFull = isElementInViewport(ele);
var inVpPartial = isElementPartiallyInViewport(ele);
console.clear();
console.log("Fully in viewport: " + inVpFull);
console.log("Partially in viewport: " + inVpPartial);
}
Test-case
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<meta name="description" content="">
<meta name="author" content="">
<title>Test</title>
<!--
<script src="http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="scrollMonitor.js"></script>
-->
<script type="text/javascript">
function isElementPartiallyInViewport(el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
// DOMRect { x: 8, y: 8, width: 100, height: 100, top: 8, right: 108, bottom: 108, left: 8 }
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/325933/determine-whether-two-date-ranges-overlap
var vertInView = (rect.top <= windowHeight) && ((rect.top + rect.height) >= 0);
var horInView = (rect.left <= windowWidth) && ((rect.left + rect.width) >= 0);
return (vertInView && horInView);
}
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/123999/how-to-tell-if-a-dom-element-is-visible-in-the-current-viewport
function isElementInViewport (el)
{
// Special bonus for those using jQuery
if (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' && el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
var windowHeight = (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight);
var windowWidth = (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth);
return (
(rect.left >= 0)
&& (rect.top >= 0)
&& ((rect.left + rect.width) <= windowWidth)
&& ((rect.top + rect.height) <= windowHeight)
);
}
function fnIsVis(ele)
{
var inVpFull = isElementInViewport(ele);
var inVpPartial = isElementPartiallyInViewport(ele);
console.clear();
console.log("Fully in viewport: " + inVpFull);
console.log("Partially in viewport: " + inVpPartial);
}
// var scrollLeft = (window.pageXOffset !== undefined) ? window.pageXOffset : (document.documentElement || document.body.parentNode || document.body).scrollLeft,
// var scrollTop = (window.pageYOffset !== undefined) ? window.pageYOffset : (document.documentElement || document.body.parentNode || document.body).scrollTop;
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div style="display: block; width: 2000px; height: 10000px; background-color: green;">
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<input type="button" onclick="fnIsVis(document.getElementById('myele'));" value="det" />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<div style="background-color: crimson; display: inline-block; width: 800px; height: 500px;" ></div>
<div id="myele" onclick="fnIsVis(this);" style="display: inline-block; width: 100px; height: 100px; background-color: hotpink;">
t
</div>
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
<input type="button" onclick="fnIsVis(document.getElementById('myele'));" value="det" />
</div>
<!--
<script type="text/javascript">
var element = document.getElementById("myele");
var watcher = scrollMonitor.create(element);
watcher.lock();
watcher.stateChange(function() {
console.log("state changed");
// $(element).toggleClass('fixed', this.isAboveViewport)
});
</script>
-->
</body>
</html>

My shorter and faster version:
function isElementOutViewport(el){
var rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return rect.bottom < 0 || rect.right < 0 || rect.left > window.innerWidth || rect.top > window.innerHeight;
}
And a jsFiddle as required: https://jsfiddle.net/on1g619L/1/

The new Intersection Observer API addresses this question very directly.
This solution will need a polyfill as Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer don't support this yet (the polyfill is included in the solution).
In this solution, there is a box out of view that is the target (observed). When it comes into view, the button at the top in the header is hidden. It is shown once the box leaves the view.
const buttonToHide = document.querySelector('button');
const hideWhenBoxInView = new IntersectionObserver((entries) => {
if (entries[0].intersectionRatio <= 0) { // If not in view
buttonToHide.style.display = "inherit";
} else {
buttonToHide.style.display = "none";
}
});
hideWhenBoxInView.observe(document.getElementById('box'));
header {
position: fixed;
top: 0;
width: 100vw;
height: 30px;
background-color: lightgreen;
}
.wrapper {
position: relative;
margin-top: 600px;
}
#box {
position: relative;
left: 175px;
width: 150px;
height: 135px;
background-color: lightblue;
border: 2px solid;
}
<script src="https://polyfill.io/v2/polyfill.min.js?features=IntersectionObserver"></script>
<header>
<button>NAVIGATION BUTTON TO HIDE</button>
</header>
<div class="wrapper">
<div id="box">
</div>
</div>

I found it troubling that there wasn't a jQuery-centric version of the functionality available. When I came across Dan's solution I spied the opportunity to provide something for folks who like to program in the jQuery OO style. It's nice and snappy and works like a charm for me.
Bada bing bada boom
$.fn.inView = function(){
if(!this.length)
return false;
var rect = this.get(0).getBoundingClientRect();
return (
rect.top >= 0 &&
rect.left >= 0 &&
rect.bottom <= (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight) &&
rect.right <= (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth)
);
};
// Additional examples for other use cases
// Is true false whether an array of elements are all in view
$.fn.allInView = function(){
var all = [];
this.forEach(function(){
all.push( $(this).inView() );
});
return all.indexOf(false) === -1;
};
// Only the class elements in view
$('.some-class').filter(function(){
return $(this).inView();
});
// Only the class elements not in view
$('.some-class').filter(function(){
return !$(this).inView();
});
Usage
$(window).on('scroll',function(){
if( $('footer').inView() ) {
// Do cool stuff
}
});

The simplest solution as the support of Element.getBoundingClientRect() has become perfect:
function isInView(el) {
const box = el.getBoundingClientRect();
return box.top < window.innerHeight && box.bottom >= 0;
}

All answers I've encountered here only check if the element is positioned inside the current viewport. But that doesn't mean that it is visible.
What if the given element is inside a div with overflowing content, and it is scrolled out of view?
To solve that, you'd have to check if the element is contained by all parents.
My solution does exactly that:
It also allows you to specify how much of the element has to be visible.
Element.prototype.isVisible = function(percentX, percentY){
var tolerance = 0.01; //needed because the rects returned by getBoundingClientRect provide the position up to 10 decimals
if(percentX == null){
percentX = 100;
}
if(percentY == null){
percentY = 100;
}
var elementRect = this.getBoundingClientRect();
var parentRects = [];
var element = this;
while(element.parentElement != null){
parentRects.push(element.parentElement.getBoundingClientRect());
element = element.parentElement;
}
var visibleInAllParents = parentRects.every(function(parentRect){
var visiblePixelX = Math.min(elementRect.right, parentRect.right) - Math.max(elementRect.left, parentRect.left);
var visiblePixelY = Math.min(elementRect.bottom, parentRect.bottom) - Math.max(elementRect.top, parentRect.top);
var visiblePercentageX = visiblePixelX / elementRect.width * 100;
var visiblePercentageY = visiblePixelY / elementRect.height * 100;
return visiblePercentageX + tolerance > percentX && visiblePercentageY + tolerance > percentY;
});
return visibleInAllParents;
};
This solution ignored the fact that elements may not be visible due to other facts, like opacity: 0.
I have tested this solution in Chrome and Internet Explorer 11.

I find that the accepted answer here is overly complicated for most use cases. This code does the job well (using jQuery) and differentiates between fully visible and partially visible elements:
var element = $("#element");
var topOfElement = element.offset().top;
var bottomOfElement = element.offset().top + element.outerHeight(true);
var $window = $(window);
$window.bind('scroll', function() {
var scrollTopPosition = $window.scrollTop()+$window.height();
var windowScrollTop = $window.scrollTop()
if (windowScrollTop > topOfElement && windowScrollTop < bottomOfElement) {
// Element is partially visible (above viewable area)
console.log("Element is partially visible (above viewable area)");
} else if (windowScrollTop > bottomOfElement && windowScrollTop > topOfElement) {
// Element is hidden (above viewable area)
console.log("Element is hidden (above viewable area)");
} else if (scrollTopPosition < topOfElement && scrollTopPosition < bottomOfElement) {
// Element is hidden (below viewable area)
console.log("Element is hidden (below viewable area)");
} else if (scrollTopPosition < bottomOfElement && scrollTopPosition > topOfElement) {
// Element is partially visible (below viewable area)
console.log("Element is partially visible (below viewable area)");
} else {
// Element is completely visible
console.log("Element is completely visible");
}
});

Here's my solution. It will work if an element is hidden inside a scrollable container.
Here's a demo (try re-sizing the window to)
var visibleY = function(el){
var top = el.getBoundingClientRect().top, rect, el = el.parentNode;
do {
rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
if (top <= rect.bottom === false)
return false;
el = el.parentNode;
} while (el != document.body);
// Check it's within the document viewport
return top <= document.documentElement.clientHeight;
};
I only needed to check if it's visible in the Y axis (for a scrolling Ajax load-more-records feature).

I think this is a more functional way to do it.
Dan's answer do not work in a recursive context.
This function solves the problem when your element is inside others scrollable divs by testing any levels recursively up to the HTML tag, and stops at the first false.
/**
* fullVisible=true only returns true if the all object rect is visible
*/
function isReallyVisible(el, fullVisible) {
if ( el.tagName == "HTML" )
return true;
var parentRect=el.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect();
var rect = arguments[2] || el.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
( fullVisible ? rect.top >= parentRect.top : rect.bottom > parentRect.top ) &&
( fullVisible ? rect.left >= parentRect.left : rect.right > parentRect.left ) &&
( fullVisible ? rect.bottom <= parentRect.bottom : rect.top < parentRect.bottom ) &&
( fullVisible ? rect.right <= parentRect.right : rect.left < parentRect.right ) &&
isReallyVisible(el.parentNode, fullVisible, rect)
);
};

The most accepted answers don't work when zooming in Google Chrome on Android. In combination with Dan's answer, to account for Chrome on Android, visualViewport must be used. The following example only takes the vertical check into account and uses jQuery for the window height:
var Rect = YOUR_ELEMENT.getBoundingClientRect();
var ElTop = Rect.top, ElBottom = Rect.bottom;
var WindowHeight = $(window).height();
if(window.visualViewport) {
ElTop -= window.visualViewport.offsetTop;
ElBottom -= window.visualViewport.offsetTop;
WindowHeight = window.visualViewport.height;
}
var WithinScreen = (ElTop >= 0 && ElBottom <= WindowHeight);

/**
* Returns Element placement information in Viewport
* #link https://stackoverflow.com/a/70476497/2453148
*
* #typedef {object} ViewportInfo - Whether the element is…
* #property {boolean} isInViewport - fully or partially in the viewport
* #property {boolean} isPartiallyInViewport - partially in the viewport
* #property {boolean} isInsideViewport - fully inside viewport
* #property {boolean} isAroundViewport - completely covers the viewport
* #property {boolean} isOnEdge - intersects the edge of viewport
* #property {boolean} isOnTopEdge - intersects the top edge
* #property {boolean} isOnRightEdge - intersects the right edge
* #property {boolean} isOnBottomEdge - is intersects the bottom edge
* #property {boolean} isOnLeftEdge - is intersects the left edge
*
* #param el Element
* #return {Object} ViewportInfo
*/
function getElementViewportInfo(el) {
let result = {};
let rect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
let windowHeight = window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight;
let windowWidth = window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth;
let insideX = rect.left >= 0 && rect.left + rect.width <= windowWidth;
let insideY = rect.top >= 0 && rect.top + rect.height <= windowHeight;
result.isInsideViewport = insideX && insideY;
let aroundX = rect.left < 0 && rect.left + rect.width > windowWidth;
let aroundY = rect.top < 0 && rect.top + rect.height > windowHeight;
result.isAroundViewport = aroundX && aroundY;
let onTop = rect.top < 0 && rect.top + rect.height > 0;
let onRight = rect.left < windowWidth && rect.left + rect.width > windowWidth;
let onLeft = rect.left < 0 && rect.left + rect.width > 0;
let onBottom = rect.top < windowHeight && rect.top + rect.height > windowHeight;
let onY = insideY || aroundY || onTop || onBottom;
let onX = insideX || aroundX || onLeft || onRight;
result.isOnTopEdge = onTop && onX;
result.isOnRightEdge = onRight && onY;
result.isOnBottomEdge = onBottom && onX;
result.isOnLeftEdge = onLeft && onY;
result.isOnEdge = result.isOnLeftEdge || result.isOnRightEdge ||
result.isOnTopEdge || result.isOnBottomEdge;
let isInX =
insideX || aroundX || result.isOnLeftEdge || result.isOnRightEdge;
let isInY =
insideY || aroundY || result.isOnTopEdge || result.isOnBottomEdge;
result.isInViewport = isInX && isInY;
result.isPartiallyInViewport =
result.isInViewport && result.isOnEdge;
return result;
}

Based on dan's solution, I had a go at cleaning up the implementation so that using it multiple times on the same page is easier:
$(function() {
$(window).on('load resize scroll', function() {
addClassToElementInViewport($('.bug-icon'), 'animate-bug-icon');
addClassToElementInViewport($('.another-thing'), 'animate-thing');
// 👏 repeat as needed ...
});
function addClassToElementInViewport(element, newClass) {
if (inViewport(element)) {
element.addClass(newClass);
}
}
function inViewport(element) {
if (typeof jQuery === "function" && element instanceof jQuery) {
element = element[0];
}
var elementBounds = element.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
elementBounds.top >= 0 &&
elementBounds.left >= 0 &&
elementBounds.bottom <= $(window).height() &&
elementBounds.right <= $(window).width()
);
}
});
The way I'm using it is that when the element scrolls into view, I'm adding a class that triggers a CSS keyframe animation. It's pretty straightforward and works especially well when you've got like 10+ things to conditionally animate on a page.

Most of the usages in previous answers are failing at these points:
-When any pixel of an element is visible, but not "a corner",
-When an element is bigger than viewport and centered,
-Most of them are checking only for a singular element inside a document or window.
Well, for all these problems I've a solution and the plus sides are:
-You can return visible when only a pixel from any sides shows up and is not a corner,
-You can still return visible while element bigger than viewport,
-You can choose your parent element or you can automatically let it choose,
-Works on dynamically added elements too.
If you check the snippets below you will see the difference in using overflow-scroll in element's container will not cause any trouble and see that unlike other answers here even if a pixel shows up from any side or when an element is bigger than viewport and we are seeing inner pixels of the element it still works.
Usage is simple:
// For checking element visibility from any sides
isVisible(element)
// For checking elements visibility in a parent you would like to check
var parent = document; // Assuming you check if 'element' inside 'document'
isVisible(element, parent)
// For checking elements visibility even if it's bigger than viewport
isVisible(element, null, true) // Without parent choice
isVisible(element, parent, true) // With parent choice
A demonstration without crossSearchAlgorithm which is usefull for elements bigger than viewport check element3 inner pixels to see:
function isVisible(element, parent, crossSearchAlgorithm) {
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect(),
prect = (parent != undefined) ? parent.getBoundingClientRect() : element.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect(),
csa = (crossSearchAlgorithm != undefined) ? crossSearchAlgorithm : false,
efp = function (x, y) { return document.elementFromPoint(x, y) };
// Return false if it's not in the viewport
if (rect.right < prect.left || rect.bottom < prect.top || rect.left > prect.right || rect.top > prect.bottom) {
return false;
}
var flag = false;
// Return true if left to right any border pixel reached
for (var x = rect.left; x < rect.right; x++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.top, x)) || element.contains(efp(rect.bottom, x))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
// Return true if top to bottom any border pixel reached
if (flag == false) {
for (var y = rect.top; y < rect.bottom; y++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.left, y)) || element.contains(efp(rect.right, y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
}
if(csa) {
// Another algorithm to check if element is centered and bigger than viewport
if (flag == false) {
var x = rect.left;
var y = rect.top;
// From top left to bottom right
while(x < rect.right || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x < rect.right) { x++; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
if (flag == false) {
x = rect.right;
y = rect.top;
// From top right to bottom left
while(x > rect.left || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x > rect.left) { x--; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
}
}
}
return flag;
}
// Check multiple elements visibility
document.getElementById('container').addEventListener("scroll", function() {
var elementList = document.getElementsByClassName("element");
var console = document.getElementById('console');
for (var i=0; i < elementList.length; i++) {
// I did not define parent, so it will be element's parent
if (isVisible(elementList[i])) {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is visible!";
break;
} else {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is hidden!";
}
}
});
// Dynamically added elements
for(var i=4; i <= 6; i++) {
var newElement = document.createElement("div");
newElement.id = "element" + i;
newElement.classList.add("element");
document.getElementById('container').appendChild(newElement);
}
#console { background-color: yellow; }
#container {
width: 300px;
height: 100px;
background-color: lightblue;
overflow-y: auto;
padding-top: 150px;
margin: 45px;
}
.element {
margin: 400px;
width: 400px;
height: 320px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3 {
position: relative;
margin: 40px;
width: 720px;
height: 520px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3::before {
content: "";
position: absolute;
top: -10px;
left: -10px;
margin: 0px;
width: 740px;
height: 540px;
border: 5px dotted green;
background: transparent;
}
<div id="console"></div>
<div id="container">
<div id="element1" class="element"></div>
<div id="element2" class="element"></div>
<div id="element3" class="element"></div>
</div>
You see, when you are inside the element3 it fails to tell if it's visible or not, because we are only checking if the element is visible from sides or corners.
And this one includes crossSearchAlgorithm which allows you to still return visible when the element is bigger than the viewport:
function isVisible(element, parent, crossSearchAlgorithm) {
var rect = element.getBoundingClientRect(),
prect = (parent != undefined) ? parent.getBoundingClientRect() : element.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect(),
csa = (crossSearchAlgorithm != undefined) ? crossSearchAlgorithm : false,
efp = function (x, y) { return document.elementFromPoint(x, y) };
// Return false if it's not in the viewport
if (rect.right < prect.left || rect.bottom < prect.top || rect.left > prect.right || rect.top > prect.bottom) {
return false;
}
var flag = false;
// Return true if left to right any border pixel reached
for (var x = rect.left; x < rect.right; x++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.top, x)) || element.contains(efp(rect.bottom, x))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
// Return true if top to bottom any border pixel reached
if (flag == false) {
for (var y = rect.top; y < rect.bottom; y++) {
if (element.contains(efp(rect.left, y)) || element.contains(efp(rect.right, y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
}
}
if(csa) {
// Another algorithm to check if element is centered and bigger than viewport
if (flag == false) {
var x = rect.left;
var y = rect.top;
// From top left to bottom right
while(x < rect.right || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x < rect.right) { x++; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
if (flag == false) {
x = rect.right;
y = rect.top;
// From top right to bottom left
while(x > rect.left || y < rect.bottom) {
if (element.contains(efp(x,y))) {
flag = true;
break;
}
if(x > rect.left) { x--; }
if(y < rect.bottom) { y++; }
}
}
}
}
return flag;
}
// Check multiple elements visibility
document.getElementById('container').addEventListener("scroll", function() {
var elementList = document.getElementsByClassName("element");
var console = document.getElementById('console');
for (var i=0; i < elementList.length; i++) {
// I did not define parent so it will be element's parent
// and it will do crossSearchAlgorithm
if (isVisible(elementList[i],null,true)) {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is visible!";
break;
} else {
console.innerHTML = "Element with id[" + elementList[i].id + "] is hidden!";
}
}
});
// Dynamically added elements
for(var i=4; i <= 6; i++) {
var newElement = document.createElement("div");
newElement.id = "element" + i;
newElement.classList.add("element");
document.getElementById('container').appendChild(newElement);
}
#console { background-color: yellow; }
#container {
width: 300px;
height: 100px;
background-color: lightblue;
overflow-y: auto;
padding-top: 150px;
margin: 45px;
}
.element {
margin: 400px;
width: 400px;
height: 320px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3 {
position: relative;
margin: 40px;
width: 720px;
height: 520px;
background-color: green;
}
#element3::before {
content: "";
position: absolute;
top: -10px;
left: -10px;
margin: 0px;
width: 740px;
height: 540px;
border: 5px dotted green;
background: transparent;
}
<div id="console"></div>
<div id="container">
<div id="element1" class="element"></div>
<div id="element2" class="element"></div>
<div id="element3" class="element"></div>
</div>
JSFiddle to play with: http://jsfiddle.net/BerkerYuceer/grk5az2c/
This code is made for more precise information if any part of the element is shown in the view or not. For performance options or only vertical slides, do not use this! This code is more effective in drawing cases.

As simple as it can get, IMO:
function isVisible(elem) {
var coords = elem.getBoundingClientRect();
return Math.abs(coords.top) <= coords.height;
}

Here is a function that tells if an element is in visible in the current viewport of a parent element:
function inParentViewport(el, pa) {
if (typeof jQuery === "function"){
if (el instanceof jQuery)
el = el[0];
if (pa instanceof jQuery)
pa = pa[0];
}
var e = el.getBoundingClientRect();
var p = pa.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
e.bottom >= p.top &&
e.right >= p.left &&
e.top <= p.bottom &&
e.left <= p.right
);
}

A better solution:
function getViewportSize(w) {
var w = w || window;
if(w.innerWidth != null)
return {w:w.innerWidth, h:w.innerHeight};
var d = w.document;
if (document.compatMode == "CSS1Compat") {
return {
w: d.documentElement.clientWidth,
h: d.documentElement.clientHeight
};
}
return { w: d.body.clientWidth, h: d.body.clientWidth };
}
function isViewportVisible(e) {
var box = e.getBoundingClientRect();
var height = box.height || (box.bottom - box.top);
var width = box.width || (box.right - box.left);
var viewport = getViewportSize();
if(!height || !width)
return false;
if(box.top > viewport.h || box.bottom < 0)
return false;
if(box.right < 0 || box.left > viewport.w)
return false;
return true;
}

I had the same question and figured it out by using getBoundingClientRect().
This code is completely 'generic' and only has to be written once for it to work (you don't have to write it out for each element that you want to know is in the viewport).
This code only checks to see if it is vertically in the viewport, not horizontally. In this case, the variable (array) 'elements' holds all the elements that you are checking to be vertically in the viewport, so grab any elements you want anywhere and store them there.
The 'for loop', loops through each element and checks to see if it is vertically in the viewport. This code executes every time the user scrolls! If the getBoudingClientRect().top is less than 3/4 the viewport (the element is one quarter in the viewport), it registers as 'in the viewport'.
Since the code is generic, you will want to know 'which' element is in the viewport. To find that out, you can determine it by custom attribute, node name, id, class name, and more.
Here is my code (tell me if it doesn't work; it has been tested in Internet Explorer 11, Firefox 40.0.3, Chrome Version 45.0.2454.85 m, Opera 31.0.1889.174, and Edge with Windows 10, [not Safari yet])...
// Scrolling handlers...
window.onscroll = function(){
var elements = document.getElementById('whatever').getElementsByClassName('whatever');
for(var i = 0; i != elements.length; i++)
{
if(elements[i].getBoundingClientRect().top <= window.innerHeight*0.75 &&
elements[i].getBoundingClientRect().top > 0)
{
console.log(elements[i].nodeName + ' ' +
elements[i].className + ' ' +
elements[i].id +
' is in the viewport; proceed with whatever code you want to do here.');
}
};

This checks if an element is at least partially in view (vertical dimension):
function inView(element) {
var box = element.getBoundingClientRect();
return inViewBox(box);
}
function inViewBox(box) {
return ((box.bottom < 0) || (box.top > getWindowSize().h)) ? false : true;
}
function getWindowSize() {
return { w: document.body.offsetWidth || document.documentElement.offsetWidth || window.innerWidth, h: document.body.offsetHeight || document.documentElement.offsetHeight || window.innerHeight}
}

This is the easy and small solution that has worked for me.
Example: You want to see if the element is visible in the parent element that has overflow scroll.
$(window).on('scroll', function () {
var container = $('#sidebar');
var containerHeight = container.height();
var scrollPosition = $('#row1').offset().top - container.offset().top;
if (containerHeight < scrollPosition) {
console.log('not visible');
} else {
console.log('visible');
}
})

All the answers here are determining if the element is fully contained within the viewport, not just visible in some way. For example, if only half of an image is visible at the bottom of the view, the solutions here will fail, considering that "outside".
I had a use case where I'm doing lazy loading via IntersectionObserver, but due to animations that occur during pop-in, I didn't want to observe any images that were already intersected on page load. To do that, I used the following code:
const bounding = el.getBoundingClientRect();
const isVisible = (0 < bounding.top && bounding.top < (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight)) ||
(0 < bounding.bottom && bounding.bottom < (window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight));
This is basically checking to see if either the top or bottom bound is independently in the viewport. The opposite end may be outside, but as long as one end is in, it's "visible" at least partially.

I use this function (it only checks if the y is inscreen since most of the time the x is not needed)
function elementInViewport(el) {
var elinfo = {
"top":el.offsetTop,
"height":el.offsetHeight,
};
if (elinfo.top + elinfo.height < window.pageYOffset || elinfo.top > window.pageYOffset + window.innerHeight) {
return false;
} else {
return true;
}
}

Here is a snippet to check if the given element is fully visible in its parent:
export const visibleInParentViewport = (el) => {
const elementRect = el.getBoundingClientRect();
const parentRect = el.parentNode.getBoundingClientRect();
return (
elementRect.top >= parentRect.top &&
elementRect.right >= parentRect.left &&
elementRect.top + elementRect.height <= parentRect.bottom &&
elementRect.left + elementRect.width <= parentRect.right
);
}

const isHTMLElementInView = (element: HTMLElement) => {
const rect = element?.getBoundingClientRect()
if (!rect) return
return rect.top <= window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0
}
This function checks if the element is in the viewport on vertical level.

Domysee's answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/37998526 is close to correct.
Many examples use "completely contained in the viewport" and his code uses percentages to allow for partially visible. His code also addresses the "is a parent clipping the view" question, which most examples ignore.
One missing element is the impact of the parent's scrollbars - getBoundingClientRect returns the outer rectangle of the parent, which includes the scroll bars, not the inner rectangle, which doesn't. A child can hide behind the parent scroll bar and be considered visible when it isn't.
The recommended observer pattern isn't appropriate for my use case: using the arrow keys to change the currently selected row in a table, and make sure the new selection is visible. Using an observer for this would be excessively convoluted.
Here's some code -
it includes an additional hack (fudgeY) because my table has a sticky header that isn't detectable by straightforward means (and handling this automatically would be pretty tedious). Also, it uses decimal (0 to 1) instead of percentage for the required visible fraction. (For my case I need full y, and x isn't relevant).
function intersectRect(r1, r2) {
var r = {};
r.left = r1.left < r2.left ? r2.left : r1.left;
r.top = r1.top < r2.top ? r2.top : r1.top;
r.right = r1.right < r2.right ? r1.right : r2.right;
r.bottom = r1.bottom < r2.bottom ? r1.bottom : r2.bottom;
if (r.left < r.right && r.top < r.bottom)
return r;
return null;
}
function innerRect(e) {
var b,r;
b = e.getBoundingClientRect();
r = {};
r.left = b.left;
r.top = b.top;
r.right = b.left + e.clientWidth;
r.bottom = b.top + e.clientHeight;
return r;
}
function isViewable(e, fracX, fracY, fudgeY) {
// ref https://stackoverflow.com/a/37998526
// intersect all the rects and then check the result once
// innerRect: mind the scroll bars
// fudgeY: handle "sticky" thead in parent table. Ugh.
var r, pr, er;
er = e.getBoundingClientRect();
r = er;
for (;;) {
e = e.parentElement;
if (!e)
break;
pr = innerRect(e);
if (fudgeY)
pr.top += fudgeY;
r = intersectRect(r, pr);
if (!r)
return false;
}
if (fracX && ((r.right-r.left) / (er.right-er.left)) < (fracX-0.001))
return false;
if (fracY && ((r.bottom-r.top) / (er.bottom-er.top)) < (fracY-0.001))
return false;
return true;
}

Develop Reference

JavaScript is the programming language of the Web.

JavaScript get window X/Y position for scroll - javascript

Maybe more simple; var top = window.pageYOffset || document.documentElement.scrollTop, left = window.pageXOffset || document.documentElement.scrollLeft; Credits: so.dom.js#L492

Related

How to get all elements on the viewport using jQuery? [duplicate]

Some higher level abstractions for detecting DOM element visibility [duplicate]

How to get the distance from the top for an element?

"Zooming" elements on a page while keeping the centre of enlargement in the centre of the window

How can I tell if a DOM element is visible in the current viewport?

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