Question

Hi I am trying to implement a simple chatbox in django and was wondering how to scroll to the bottom of a div class using javascript? Basically when the page loads I would like so that users can see the most recent message sent to them instead of the least recent.

Answer 1

I had to do this recently for a similar thing. I found a basic jquery plug-in that will smoothly scroll an element onto the screen.

(function($) {

  $.fn.scrollMinimal = function() {

    var cTop = this.offset().top;
    var cHeight = this.outerHeight(true);
    var windowTop = $(window).scrollTop();
    var visibleHeight = $(window).height();

    if (cTop < windowTop) {
      $('body').animate({'scrollTop': cTop}, 'slow', 'swing');
    } else if (cTop + cHeight > windowTop + visibleHeight) {
      $(jQuery.browser.webkit ? "body": "html")
        .animate({'scrollTop': cTop - visibleHeight + cHeight}, 'slow', 'swing');
    }
  };

}(jQuery));

which is used like this:

$('#chat').scrollMinimal();