Parallax scrolling with CSS only?

Pawan picture Pawan · Nov 16, 2013 · Viewed 48.7k times · Source

I have been working on a project and I am done with the content. For the design however, I am thinking of using the parallax scrolling technique.

However, all I have been able to find out about it has been with JavaScript or Jquery, whereas I am only proficient with CSS3.

Can parallax scrolling be implemented with CSS3 only(with HTML5 if needed), instead of using jquery plugins? It would be nice if I could be pointed to some tutorials for the same.

Note: This is close to the effect I want to produce(http://jessandruss.us/)

Answer

KitKat picture KitKat · Apr 24, 2014

Searching for parallax pure css and clicking on the first result from CodePen (the second result is the current page :), a nice example is displayed with both fixed and scrolling backgrounds. For the record, I place the source code here, providing support for Chrome, Safari and Opera, too.

The example appears to have two kinds of backgrounds:

  • fixed, with background-attachment: fixed in the desired element, like #slide2
  • scrolling, with transform: translateZ(-1px) scale(2) before the desired element, like #slide1

Moreover, the scrolling effect seems to depend on the setting transform-style: preserve-3d of body to work properly. (IE doesn't happen to support transform-style, by the way.)

Finally, different scrolling speeds can be achieved by tweaking transform property, like the two img elements of the example.

Source code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset='UTF-8'>
    <title> Pure CSS Parallax Scrolling </title>
    <!-- Copyright (c) 2014 by Keith Clark -->
    <style>
        @import url(http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Nunito);
        html {
            height: 100%;
            overflow: hidden;
        }
        body { 
            margin:0;
            padding:0;
            perspective: 1px;
            -webkit-perspective: 1px;
            -webkit-transform-style: preserve-3d;
            transform-style: preserve-3d;
            height: 100%;
            overflow-y: scroll;
            overflow-x: hidden;
            font-family: Nunito;
        }
        h1 {
            font-size: 250%
        }
        p {
            font-size: 140%;
            line-height: 150%;
            color: #333;
        }
        .slide {
            position: relative;
            padding: 25vh 10%;
            min-height: 100vh;
            width: 100vw;
            box-sizing: border-box;
            box-shadow: 0 -1px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, .7);
            -webkit-transform-style: inherit;
            transform-style: inherit;
        }
        img {
            position: absolute;
            top: 50%;
            left: 35%;
            width: 320px;
            height: 240px;
            -webkit-transform: translateZ(.25px) scale(.75) translateX(-94%) translateY(-100%) rotate(2deg);
            transform: translateZ(.25px) scale(.75) translateX(-94%) translateY(-100%) rotate(2deg);
            padding: 10px;
            border-radius: 5px;
            background: rgba(240,230,220, .7);
            box-shadow: 0 0 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, .7);
        }
        img:last-of-type {
            -webkit-transform: translateZ(.4px) scale(.6) translateX(-104%) translateY(-40%) rotate(-5deg);
            transform: translateZ(.4px) scale(.6) translateX(-104%) translateY(-40%) rotate(-5deg);
        }
        .slide:before {
            content: "";
            position: absolute;
            top: 0;
            bottom: 0;
            left:0;
            right:0;
        }
        .title {
            width: 50%;
            padding: 5%;
            border-radius: 5px;
            background: rgba(240,230,220, .7);
            box-shadow: 0 0 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, .7);
        }
        .slide:nth-child(2n) .title {
            margin-left: 0;
            margin-right: auto;
        }
        .slide:nth-child(2n+1) .title {
            margin-left: auto;
            margin-right: 0;
        }
        .slide, .slide:before {
            background: 50% 50% / cover;  
        }
        .header {
            text-align: center;
            font-size: 175%;
            color: #fff;
            text-shadow: 0 2px 2px #000;
        }
        #title {
            background-image: url("http://lorempixel.com/output/abstract-q-c-640-480-6.jpg");
            background-attachment: fixed;  
        }
        #slide1:before {
            background-image: url("http://lorempixel.com/output/abstract-q-c-640-480-4.jpg");
            -webkit-transform: translateZ(-1px) scale(2);
            transform: translateZ(-1px) scale(2);
            z-index:-1;
        }
        #slide2 {
            background-image: url("http://lorempixel.com/output/abstract-q-c-640-480-3.jpg");
            background-attachment: fixed;
        }
        #slide3:before {
            background-image: url("http://lorempixel.com/output/abstract-q-c-640-480-5.jpg");
            -webkit-transform: translateZ(-1px) scale(2);
            transform: translateZ(-1px) scale(2);
            z-index:-1;
        }
        #slide4 {
            background: #222;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="title" class="slide header">
        <h1>Pure CSS Parallax</h1>
    </div>
    <div id="slide1" class="slide">
        <div class="title">
            <h1>Slide 1</h1>
            <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, in velit iudico mandamus sit, persius dolorum in per, postulant mnesarchum cu nam. Malis movet ornatus id vim, feugait detracto est ea, eam eruditi conceptam in. Ne sit explicari interesset. Labores perpetua cum at. Id viris docendi denique vim.</p>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div id="slide2" class="slide">
        <div class="title">
            <h1>Slide 2</h1>
            <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, in velit iudico mandamus sit, persius dolorum in per, postulant mnesarchum cu nam. Malis movet ornatus id vim, feugait detracto est ea, eam eruditi conceptam in. Ne sit explicari interesset. Labores perpetua cum at. Id viris docendi denique vim.</p>
        </div>
        <img src="http://lorempixel.com/output/abstract-q-c-640-480-6.jpg">
        <img src="http://lorempixel.com/output/abstract-q-c-640-480-4.jpg"> 
    </div>
    <div id="slide3" class="slide">
        <div class="title">
            <h1>Slide 3</h1>
            <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, in velit iudico mandamus sit, persius dolorum in per, postulant mnesarchum cu nam. Malis movet ornatus id vim, feugait detracto est ea, eam eruditi conceptam in. Ne sit explicari interesset. Labores perpetua cum at. Id viris docendi denique vim.</p>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div id="slide4" class="slide header">
        <h1>The End</h1>
    </div>
</body>