Ask HN: Why do developers implement smooth scrolling while it is annoying? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why do developers implement smooth scrolling while it is annoying?

10 pointsbehnamoh10 comments

Every time I install a browser or other piece of software, the first thing I do is disable smooth scrolling. Still though, some websites get around this and force this "feature" on the browser, making their website hard to scroll. When I see such behavior, I just quit the website. On a 60Hz monitor (i.e. most monitors), smooth scrolling feels like playing a video game at 10 FPS. Not to mention the additional CPU load caused by it.

I just cannot see any value in smooth scrolling, and yet, many devs are doing it. Is there a reason for that?

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From my experience in web development, forcing smooth scrolling on a particular website is usually something pushed for by designers. It looks great in mockup videos, and probably on their Macbooks, and it's a losing battle to push back against that feature in every single mock.

i.e. Blame designers, not developers, in most cases.

My guess is that those web developers like it, want their visitors to have the same experience as them and/or implemented it maybe as a challenge or because they can.

Edit: Some sites do it as part of the user experience, which might be useful, but most of the time it might be annoying due to bad implementations.

A person making those decisions told them to, in many cases.

I want the ability in the web browser to force skip all animations, playing an animation only if I specifically tell that one to play.

Has to do with fixed headers that make the underlying elements not feel as native as they could be when scrolling. I prefer it honestly.

The majority of people prefer smooth scrolling

Why do you say so?

Because it's the default

No it isn't. It's only the default on OSX last time I checked.

The same reason iphones have animations for transitions, to stop the average joe from getting confused.

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