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Google Chrome Gets 'Scroll Anchoring' on Mobile to Reduce Page Jumps

Google Chrome Gets 'Scroll Anchoring' on Mobile to Reduce Page Jumps

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 12 April 2017 16:46 IST

Highlights

Google tries to reduce page jumps with the new feature
This new feature is called scroll anchoring
It locks the page to your scroll while it loads in the background

One very old issue with Google Chrome on mobile is the page jump that occurs sporadically while loading pages. While loading articles on Chrome, a half-loaded page allows you to read the content, but takes a while to load images and more, depending on connectivity. When it does finish loading, it disregards your read scroll, and jumps back to the top of the page without warning - jarring your article-reading experience on your smartphone. Google has tried to address this pain point, and moving forward, Chrome will load your articles more seamlessly than before.

Google has introduced a new feature called scroll anchoring which essentially "locks the content you're currently looking at to the screen, keeping you in the same spot so you can keep reading" while your page loads fully in the background. This feature arrives with the latest Chrome update, and Google claims that it has managed to prevent "an average of almost three jumps per pageview."

Of course, all websites do not work the same way, and have different codes and designs, so scroll anchoring is a work in progress. "Similar to other features designed to protect our users from bad experiences, Chrome prevents these unexpected page jumps with a new feature called scroll anchoring. This feature works by locking the scroll position on an on-screen element to keep our users in the same spot even as offscreen content continues to load," Google notes in its blog.

Google has also uploaded a side by side comparison of how scroll anchoring reduces page jumps on a loading page on Google Chrome. Watch the comparison below:

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