document.body.scrollTop is always 0 in IE even when scrolling

Question

I am displaying the value of document.body.scrollTop in the status bar while moving the mouse. The value is always 0 in IE. Why is always 0? Is there another way to get how much the scroll bar has moved?

Answer 1

Depending on the DOCTYPE, you would have to use document.body.scrollTop or document.documentElement.scrollTop. Have you tried the second one?

You can do something like this:

var scrollTop = document.documentElement ? document.documentElement.scrollTop :
                                           document.body.scrollTop;

I ran into these links while researching your problem:

• Window size and scrolling (towards the bottom)
• document.body.scrollTop in IE

This may help you out a little more.

Answer 2

You may want to try this for an older doctype in IE:

var top = document.documentElement.scrollTop ? 
              document.documentElement.scrollTop : 
              document.body.scrollTop;