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Building Scroll-Linked Parallax Effects in Pure Tailwind and Vanilla JavaScript

Parallax scrolling — where elements move at different speeds relative to scrolling — can make a website feel deeply dynamic. Most people use heavy libraries like GSAP for this. But today, we’ll build a clean, efficient scroll-linked parallax effect with just Tailwind CSS and vanilla JavaScript. No external dependencies. Why Go Pure? Benefits include: Massively reduced page weight Customizable to any design system Better performance for mobile users Step 1: Create Your Layers Each parallax layer gets a basic Tailwind setup: Scroll Down Step 2: Basic JavaScript for Parallax This snippet calculates parallax based on scroll position: const parallaxEls = document.querySelectorAll('[data-parallax]'); window.addEventListener('scroll', () => { const scrollTop = window.pageYOffset; parallaxEls.forEach(el => { const speed = parseFloat(el.getAttribute('data-speed')); el.style.transform = `translateY(${scrollTop * speed}px)`; }); }); Step 3: Tuning Speeds Per Layer You can assign different speeds to different layers with data-speed. Smaller values (e.g., 0.1) move slower (background feel), larger values (e.g., 0.6) move faster (foreground feel). Bonus: Smoother Motion with requestAnimationFrame For buttery smoothness, swap in a rAF loop instead of basic scroll event: let latestScroll = 0; let ticking = false; window.addEventListener('scroll', () => { latestScroll = window.pageYOffset; if (!ticking) { window.requestAnimationFrame(() => { parallaxEls.forEach(el => { const speed = parseFloat(el.getAttribute('data-speed')); el.style.transform = `translateY(${latestScroll * speed}px)`; }); ticking = false; }); ticking = true; } }); Pros and Cons ✅ Pros No libraries — maximum control and minimal load time Fully responsive and easy to tweak per element Compatible with Tailwind’s utility-first workflow ⚠️ Cons Manual math if you want more complex motion curves Very fast scrolls might cause tiny visual tearing without fine-tuning

Apr 27, 2025 - 05:50
 0
Building Scroll-Linked Parallax Effects in Pure Tailwind and Vanilla JavaScript

Parallax scrolling — where elements move at different speeds relative to scrolling — can make a website feel deeply dynamic. Most people use heavy libraries like GSAP for this. But today, we’ll build a clean, efficient scroll-linked parallax effect with just Tailwind CSS and vanilla JavaScript. No external dependencies.

Why Go Pure?

Benefits include:

  • Massively reduced page weight
  • Customizable to any design system
  • Better performance for mobile users

Step 1: Create Your Layers

Each parallax layer gets a basic Tailwind setup: 


  

    
  

  

    
  

  

    
Scroll Down

Step 2: Basic JavaScript for Parallax

This snippet calculates parallax based on scroll position:

Step 3: Tuning Speeds Per Layer

You can assign different speeds to different layers with data-speed. Smaller values (e.g., 0.1) move slower (background feel), larger values (e.g., 0.6) move faster (foreground feel).

Bonus: Smoother Motion with requestAnimationFrame

For buttery smoothness, swap in a rAF loop instead of basic scroll event:

Pros and Cons

✅ Pros

  • No libraries — maximum control and minimal load time
  • Fully responsive and easy to tweak per element
  • Compatible with Tailwind’s utility-first workflow

⚠️ Cons

  • Manual math if you want more complex motion curves
  • Very fast scrolls might cause tiny visual tearing without fine-tuning

Read More

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