How to Create an Infinite Mousewheel Marquee with Vanilla JavaScript

Discover how to turn a simple mousewheel marquee into an `infinite scrolling effect` using vanilla JavaScript and CSS.
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Creating an Infinite Mousewheel Marquee

If you've ever worked with marquees, you know how they can enhance the user experience on a website, by allowing users to scroll through content effortlessly. Recently, I was tasked with building a multi-control marquee, which would enable scrolling through categories using the mouse wheel. However, I ran into a challenge: how to make the marquee scroll infinitely. In this post, I will show you how to solve this problem while keeping your marquee smooth and engaging.

The Problem

While a basic implementation of a mousewheel marquee may function correctly, it often stops scrolling when items reach the left or right boundaries. This limitation can hinder the user experience. The goal here is to create an infinite scroll effect, allowing users to scroll indefinitely without interruptions.

The Solution

To achieve this infinite scrolling effect, we can manipulate the inner_categories elements directly. Instead of traditional scrolling, we'll move items between the beginning and the end of the list as the user rolls the mouse wheel. Here's how we can do it step-by-step!

Step 1: Basic Markup Structure

Let's start by defining the basic HTML structure of the marquee. We will create a container for the categories, where each category will be a clickable link.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 2: CSS Styling

To ensure the marquee looks visually appealing, we'll apply some basic CSS styles:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 3: JavaScript Functionality

Now it's time to add the JavaScript that will handle the mousewheel events and create the infinite scroll effect.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

How This Works

Listen for Mouse Wheel Events: The JavaScript listens for mouse wheel events on the categories div.

Scroll Up: If the user scrolls up, the last category is prepended to the front, again creating a seamless flow of content.

Conclusion

By following these simple steps, you've transformed a basic mousewheel marquee into an infinite scroll that enhances user experience. The key to this functionality lies in moving elements back and forth without the need for scrollbars or fixed limits.

Feel free to adapt and expand this code for your own projects. Happy coding!