view-timeline-axis

The view-timeline-axis CSS property is used to specify the scrollbar direction that will be used to provide the timeline for a named view progress timeline animation, which is progressed through based on the change in visibility of an element (known as the subject) inside a scrollable element (scroller). view-timeline-axis is set on the subject. See CSS scroll-driven animations for more details.

Note: If the scroller element does not overflow its container in the axis dimension or if the overflow is hidden or clipped, no scroll progress timeline will be created.

The view-timeline-axis and view-timeline-name properties can also be set using the view-timeline shorthand property.

Syntax

/* Logical property values */
view-timeline-axis: block;
view-timeline-axis: inline;
/* Non-logical property values */
view-timeline-axis: y;
view-timeline-axis: x;

Values

Allowed values for view-timeline-axis are:

block: The scrollbar on the block axis of the scroller element, which is the axis in the direction perpendicular to the flow of text within a line. For horizontal writing modes, such as standard English, this is the same as y, while for vertical writing modes, it is the same as x. This is the default value.
inline: The scrollbar on the inline axis of the scroller element, which is the axis in the direction parallel to the flow of text in a line. For horizontal writing modes, this is the same as x, while for vertical writing modes, this is the same as y.
y: The scrollbar on the vertical axis of the scroller element.
x: The scrollbar on the horizontal axis of the scroller element.

Formal definition

Initial value	block
Applies to	all elements
Inherited	no
Computed value	a list of the keywords specified
Animation type	not animatable

Formal syntax

[ block | inline | x | y ]#

Examples

Defining the axis of the view progress timeline

In this example, a view progress timeline named --subjectReveal is defined using the view-timeline-name property on a subject element with a class of "animation". This timeline is then applied to the animation on the same element, using animation-timeline: --subjectReveal;.

To demonstrate the effect of view-timeline-axis, a horizontal (non-default) scrollbar is used in this example to drive the animation.

HTML

The HTML for the example is shown below.

<div class="content">
  <p>
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
    tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
  </p>

  <p>
    Risus quis varius quam quisque id. Et ligula ullamcorper malesuada proin
    libero nunc consequat interdum varius. Elit ullamcorper dignissim cras
    tincidunt lobortis feugiat vivamus at augue.
  </p>

  <p>
    Dolor sed viverra ipsum nunc aliquet. Sed sed risus pretium quam vulputate
    dignissim. Tortor aliquam nulla facilisi cras.
  </p>

  <p>
    A erat nam at lectus urna duis convallis convallis. Nibh ipsum consequat
    nisl vel pretium lectus.
  </p>

  <p>
    Sagittis aliquam malesuada bibendum arcu vitae elementum. Malesuada bibendum
    arcu vitae elementum curabitur vitae nunc sed velit.
  </p>

  <div class="subject animation"></div>

  <p>
    Adipiscing enim eu turpis egestas pretium aenean pharetra magna ac. Arcu
    cursus vitae congue mauris rhoncus aenean vel. Sit amet cursus sit amet
    dictum. Augue neque gravida in fermentum et. Gravida rutrum quisque non
    tellus orci ac auctor augue mauris.
  </p>
</div>

CSS

In the CSS, we set the subject element as the source of a view progress timeline named --subjectReveal using the view-timeline-name property. The scroll axis is set using view-timeline-axis: x; (Chromium) and view-timeline-axis: horizontal; (Firefox) — this causes the horizontal scrollbar position of the scrolling ancestor element to determine the animation timeline.

The content ancestor element is made to overflow horizontally by laying out its contents using display: flex; and flex-flow: column wrap;.

Also worth noting is that the subject element has an animation-duration applied to it so that the example will work in Firefox.

.subject {
  width: 300px;
  height: 200px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  background-color: deeppink;
}

.content {
  width: 50%;
  height: 400px;
  margin-top: 30px;
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: column wrap;
  gap: 10px;
}

p {
  font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}

p {
  font-size: 1.3rem;
  line-height: 1.4;
}

.animation {
  view-timeline-name: --subjectReveal;
  /* Chromium supports the new x/y syntax */
  view-timeline-axis: x;
  /* Firefox still supports the old horizontal/vertical syntax */
  view-timeline-axis: horizontal;

  animation-name: appear;
  animation-fill-mode: both;
  animation-timeline: --subjectReveal;
  animation-duration: 1ms; /* Firefox requires this to apply the animation */
}

@keyframes appear {
  from {
    opacity: 0;
    transform: scaleX(0);
  }

  to {
    opacity: 1,
    transform: scaleX(1);
  }
}

Result

Scroll the horizontal bar at the bottom to see the subject element animate as you scroll.

css properties view-timeline-axis