![Parallax scrolling example scene](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Parallax_scrolling_example_scene.gif)
In
computer display
A computer monitor is an output device that displays information in pictorial or textual form. A discrete monitor comprises a visual display, support electronics, power supply, housing, electrical connectors, and external user controls.
The d ...
s,
filmmaking
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...
,
television production
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures but moves (
pans
Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware ...
or
tilts) the user's view across what is apparently a larger image that is not wholly seen. A common television and movie special effect is to scroll credits, while leaving the background stationary. Scrolling may take place completely without user intervention (as in film credits) or, on an interactive device, be triggered by
touchscreen
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...
or a keypress and continue without further intervention until a further user action, or be entirely controlled by
input device
In computing, an input device is a piece of equipment used to provide data and control signals to an information processing system, such as a computer or information appliance. Examples of input devices include keyboards, mouse, scanners, cameras ...
s.
Scrolling may take place in discrete increments (perhaps one or a few lines of text at a time), or continuously (smooth scrolling).
Frame rate
Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ca ...
is the speed at which an entire image is redisplayed. It is related to scrolling in that changes to text and image position can only happen as often as the image can be redisplayed. When frame rate is a limiting factor, one smooth scrolling technique is to blur images during movement that would otherwise appear to "jump".
Computing
Implementation
Scrolling is often carried out on a computer by the CPU (''software scrolling'') or by a
graphics processor
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobil ...
. Some systems feature ''hardware scrolling'', where an image may be offset as it is displayed, without any
frame buffer manipulation (see also
hardware windowing
Hardware may refer to:
Technology Computing and electronics
* Electronic hardware, interconnected electronic components which perform analog or logic operations
** Digital electronics, electronics that operate on digital signals
*** Computer hardw ...
). This was especially common in 8 and 16bit video game consoles.
UI paradigms
In a
WIMP
Wimp, WIMP, or Wimps may refer to:
Science and technology
* Weakly interacting massive particle, a hypothetical particle of dark matter
* WIMP (computing), the "window, icon, menu, pointer" paradigm
* WIMP (software bundle), the web stack of Wind ...
-style
graphical user interface
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
(GUI), user-controlled scrolling is carried out by manipulating a
scrollbar
A scrollbar is an interaction technique or widget in which continuous text, pictures, or any other content can be scrolled in a predetermined direction (up, down, left, or right) on a computer display, window, or viewport so that all of the con ...
with a mouse, or using
keyboard shortcuts, often the
arrow key
Arrow keys or cursor movement keys are buttons on a computer keyboard that are either programmed or designated to move the cursor in a specified direction.
The term "cursor movement key" is distinct from "arrow key" in that the former term may ...
s. Scrolling is often supported by
text user interfaces and
command line interface
A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...
s. Older
computer terminals changed the entire contents of the display one screenful ("page") at a time; this paging mode requires fewer resources than scrolling. Scrolling displays often also support page mode. Typically certain keys or
key combination
computing, a keyboard shortcut also known as hotkey is a series of one or several keys to quickly invoke a software program or perform a preprogrammed action. This action may be part of the standard functionality of the operating system or a ...
s page up or down; on
PC-compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...
keyboards the
page up and page down keys or the
space bar are used; earlier computers often used
control key
In computing, a Control key is a modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, performs a special operation (for example, ); similar to the Shift key, the Control key rarely performs any function when pressed by itself. ...
combinations.
[The widely used Wordstar word processor used the "diamond" of Ctrl-S/E/D/X to move the cursor left, up, right, and down, and Ctrl-R and Ctrl-C to page up and down.] Some
computer mice
A computer mouse (plural mice, sometimes mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional space, two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer (user interface ...
have a
scroll wheel
A scroll wheel is a wheel used for scrolling. The term usually refers to such wheels found on computer mice (where they can also be called a mouse wheel). It is often made of hard plastic with a rubbery surface, centred around an internal rotary ...
, which scrolls the display, often vertically, when rolled; others have
scroll ball
A scroll wheel is a wheel used for scrolling. The term usually refers to such wheels found on computer mouse, computer mice (where they can also be called a mouse wheel). It is often made of hard plastic with a rubbery surface, centred around an ...
s or
tilt wheel
A computer mouse (plural mice, sometimes mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows a smooth ...
s which allow both vertical and horizontal scrolling.
Some software supports other ways of scrolling.
Adobe Reader has a mode identified by a small hand icon ("
hand tool
A hand tool is any tool that is powered by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches, pliers, cutters, files, striking tools, struck or hammered tools, screwdrivers, vises, clamps, snips, hacksaws, drills, and kni ...
") on the document, which can then be dragged by clicking on it and moving the mouse as if sliding a large sheet of paper. When this feature is implemented on a
touchscreen
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...
it is called ''kinetic scrolling''.
Touch-screens often use ''inertial scrolling'', in which the scrolling motion of an object continues in a decaying fashion after release of the touch, simulating the appearance of an object with
inertia. An early implementation of such behavior was in the "Star7"
PDA
PDA may refer to:
Science and technology
* Patron-driven acquisition, a mechanism for libraries to purchase books
*Personal digital assistant, a mobile device
* Photodiode array, a type of detector
* Polydiacetylenes, a family of conducting poly ...
of
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
ca. 1991–1992.
Scrolling can be controlled in other software-dependent ways by a PC mouse. Some scroll wheels can be pressed down, functioning like a button. Depending on the software, this allows both horizontal and vertical scrolling by dragging in the direction desired; when the mouse is moved to the original position, scrolling stops. A few scroll wheels can also be tilted, scrolling horizontally in one direction until released. On
touchscreen
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...
devices, scrolling is a
multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CER ...
gesture, done by swiping a finger on the screen vertically in the direction opposite to where the user wants to scroll to.
If any content is too wide to fit on a display, horizontal scrolling is required to view all of it. In applications such as
graphics
Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture ...
and
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...
s there is often more content than can fit either the width or the height of the screen at a comfortable scale, and scrolling in both directions is necessary.
Infinite scrolling
In 2006,
Aza Raskin
Aza Raskin (born February 1, 1984) is the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and of the Earth Species Project. He is also a writer, entrepreneur, inventor, and interface designer. He is the son of Jef Raskin, a human–computer inte ...
developed the infinite scrolling technique, whereby
pagination of web pages is eliminated, in favor of continuously loading content as the user scrolls down the page.
Raskin later expressed regret at the invention, describing it as "one of the first products designed to not simply help a user, but to deliberately keep them online for as long as possible". Usability research suggests infinite scrolling can present an accessibility issue.
The lack of stopping cues has been described as a pathway to
smartphone addiction
Problematic smartphone use is proposed by some researchers to be a form of Psychological dependence, psychological or behavioral dependence on Mobile phone, cell phones, closely related to other forms of digital media overuse such as social med ...
and
social media addiction
Relationships between digital media use and mental health have been considerably researched, debated, and discussed among experts in several disciplines. Research suggests that mental health issues arising from social media use affect women more ...
.
Text
In
languages written horizontally, such as most Western languages, text documents longer than will fit on the screen are often displayed
wrapped and sized to fit the screen width, and scrolled vertically to bring desired content into view. It is possible to display lines too long to fit the display without wrapping, scrolling horizontally to view each entire line. However, this requires inconvenient constant line-by-line scrolling, while vertical scrolling is only needed after reading a full screenful.
Software such as
word processor
A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features.
Word processor (electronic device), Early word processors were stand-alone devices ded ...
s and
web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...
s normally uses word-wrapping to display as many words in a single line as will fit the width of the screen or window or, for text organised in columns, each column.
Demos
Scrolling texts, also referred to as ''scrolltexts'' or ''scrollers'', played an important part in the birth of the computer
demo culture. The
software cracker
Software cracking (known as "breaking" mostly in the 1980s) is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software (software cracker), especially copy protection featur ...
s often used their deep knowledge of
computer platform
A computing platform or digital platform is an environment in which a piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the operating system (OS), even a web browser and associated application programming interfaces, or other underlying s ...
s to transform the information that accompanied their releases into
crack intro __NOTOC__
A crack intro, also known as a cracktro, loader, or just intro, is a small introduction sequence added to cracked software. It aims to inform the user which "cracking crew" or individual cracker removed the software's copy protection and ...
s. The sole role of these intros was to scroll the text on the screen in an impressive way.
Film and television
Scrolling is commonly used to display the credits at the end of
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s and
television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...
s.
Scrolling is often used in the form of a
news ticker towards the bottom of the picture for content such as
television news
News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televis ...
, scrolling sideways across the screen, delivering short-form content.
Video games
In
computer and video games
''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...
, scrolling of a playing field allows the player to control an object in a large contiguous area. Early examples of this method include
Taito
is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...
's 1974 vertical-scrolling
racing video game ''
Speed Race
is a 1974 arcade racing video game developed and manufactured by Taito and released under the titles ''Racer'' and ''Wheels'' in North America by distributor Midway Manufacturing in 1975. Designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, the gameplay involves th ...
'',
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's 1976
forward-scrolling racing game
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...
s ''
Moto-Cross
Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom.
History
Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...
''
(''Fonz'')
and ''Road Race'',
and ''Super Bug''. Previously the
flip-screen
This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players.
0–9
A
...
method was used to indicate moving backgrounds.
The
Namco Galaxian
Namco was a video game developer and publisher, originally from Japan.
Bandai Namco Entertainment is the successor to Namco and continues manufacturing and distributing video games worldwide. For Namco games released following the 2006 merger wit ...
arcade system board
An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...
introduced with ''
Galaxian'' in 1979 pioneered a
sprite system that animated pre-loaded sprites over a scrolling background, which became the basis for
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
's ''
Radar Scope
is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Nintendo R&D2 and published by Nintendo. The player assumes the role of the Sonic Spaceport starship and must wipe out formations of an enemy race known as the Gamma Raiders before they destroy the ...
'' and ''
Donkey Kong'' arcade hardware and
home console
A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. Home consoles are generally less powerful and customizable than ...
s such as the
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
.
Parallax scrolling, which was first featured in ''
Moon Patrol
is a 1982 arcade video game developed and released by Irem. It was licensed to Williams for distribution in North America. The player controls a moon buggy which can jump over and shoot obstacles on a horizontally scrolling landscape as well as ...
'', involves several
semi-transparent layers (called playfields), which scroll on top of each other at varying rates in order to give an early
pseudo-3D
2.5D (two-and-a-half dimensional) perspective refers to gameplay or movement in a video game or virtual reality environment that is restricted to a two-dimensional (2D) plane with little to no access to a third dimension in a space that otherwise ...
illusion of depth.
is a method used in side-scrolling
beat 'em up
The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...
games with a downward camera angle where players can move up and down in addition to left and right.
Studies
A 1993 article by George Fitzmaurice studied spatially aware
palmtop computers. These devices had a 3D sensor, and moving the device caused the contents to move as if the contents were fixed in place. This interaction could be referred to as “moving to scroll.” Also, if the user moved the device away from their body, they would zoom in; conversely, the device would zoom out if the user pulled the device closer to them.
Smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
camera
A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...
s and “
optical flow” image analysis utilize this technique nowadays.
A 1996 research paper by
Jun Rekimoto Jun Rekimoto (暦本 純一) is a Professor of Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies at The University of Tokyo. He is also a co-founder of Koozyt Inc., and a Deputy Director of the Interaction Laboratory at Sony Computer Sciences Laborato ...
analyzed tilting operations as scrolling techniques on small screen interfaces. Users could not only tilt to scroll, but also tilt to select menu items. These techniques proved especially useful for field workers, since they only needed to hold and control the device with one hand.
A more recent study from 2013 by Selina Sharmin, Oleg Špakov, and Kari-Jouko Räihä explored the action of reading text on a screen while the text auto-scrolls based on the user's
eye tracking patterns. The control group simply read text on a screen and manually scrolled. The study found that participants preferred to read primarily at the top of the screen, so the screen scrolled down whenever participants’ eyes began to look toward the bottom of the screen. This auto-scrolling caused no statistically significant difference in reading speed or performance.
See also
*
Flip page
A flip page effect is a software GUI effect that visually shows a representation of a newspaper, book or leaflet as virtual paper pages that appear to be turned manually through computer animation. It is an alternative to scrolling pages.
Flip p ...
an alternate visual effect for navigating digital publications
Notes
References
{{reflist, 35em
Television technology
Video game design
Computer graphics
Demo effects
User interface techniques