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[Bug]: Category landing pages smooth-scroll to footer on load in WebKit/Safari #45322

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[Bug]: Category landing pages smooth-scroll to footer on load in WebKit/Safari#45322
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contentThis issue or pull request belongs to the Docs Content teamtriageDo not begin working on this issue until triaged by the team

Description

@schimanko
schimanko
opened on Jul 27, 2026

Code of Conduct

What article on docs.github.com is affected?

Summary

When navigating directly to category landing pages or short-link redirects in WebKit/Safari, the browser automatically performs a smooth scroll animation all the way down to the footer upon initial load/reload.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open Safari.
  2. Navigate directly to https://docs.github.com/en/account-and-profile.
  3. Allow the page to hydrate or reload the page (Cmd + R or Cmd + Option + R).
  4. Observe the viewport smoothly animating down to the footer (~1000px+).

Expected Behavior

The viewport should remain anchored at the very top (scrollTop = 0) if I entered the page directly.

Actual Behavior

The page executes a smooth-scroll animation down to the footer.

Screen.Recording.2026-07-27.at.17.34.09.mov

What changes are you suggesting?

Possible root cause

Primer CSS applies scroll-behavior: smooth; unconditionally on html. During Next.js client-side hydration, as document height expands while WebKit handles initial scroll restoration, WebKit's smooth-scroll animation miscalculates target progress relative to the shifting DOM height and animates the viewport down to the bottom. In other words, Safari's a mess.

Possible fix

I have identified a fix in src/frame/stylesheets/index.scss by scoping scroll-behavior: smooth to html:focus-within and am ready to submit a PR linking to this issue.

Additional information

Reproducible URLs

  • https://docs.github.com/en/account-and-profile
  • https://docs.github.com/copilot (redirects to /en/copilot)

Browser / Environment

  • Browser: Safari / WebKit (macOS 26.3.1 & iOS 27.0 Beta)
  • Engine: WebKit

Activity

  1. schimanko
    added
    contentThis issue or pull request belongs to the Docs Content team
    on Jul 27, 2026
  2. github-actions
    added
    triageDo not begin working on this issue until triaged by the team
    on Jul 27, 2026

  3. schimanko commented on Jul 27, 2026

    @schimanko
    schimanko
    on Jul 27, 2026
    Author

    PR Details

    For maintainers looking to resolve this:

    Root Cause:

    Primer CSS applies scroll-behavior: smooth; unconditionally to html. During Next.js client-side hydration in Safari/WebKit, as the document height expands while WebKit handles initial scroll restoration, WebKit's smooth-scroll engine miscalculates the target scroll progress relative to the shifting DOM height and animates the viewport all the way down to the footer (~1000px+).

    Verified Fix:

    Overriding scroll-behavior: auto !important; on html and scoping scroll-behavior: smooth to html:focus-within in src/frame/stylesheets/index.scss resolves the autoscroll bug completely on page load while preserving smooth scrolling for anchor links (#section-id) and keyboard navigation:

    /* Prevent WebKit smooth-scroll hydration bug on page load */
html {
  scroll-behavior: auto !important;
}

/* Enable smooth scrolling when navigating via keyboard or anchor links */
html:focus-within {
  scroll-behavior: smooth;
}

    I closed #45323 since external contributions to src/** aren't accepted per repository policy.

  4. Sharra-writes commented on Aug 6, 2026

    @Sharra-writes
    Sharra-writes
    on Aug 6, 2026
    Contributor

    @schimanko This is site functionality, not documentation, so we can't handle it from this repository. This will have to go through the support team.

  5. Sharra-writes
    closed this as completedon Aug 6, 2026

  6. spacexm406-web commented on Sep 1, 2026

    @spacexm406-web
    spacexm406-web
    on Sep 1, 2026

    Yes you have full permission

  7. github
    locked as spam and limited conversation to collaborators on Sep 1, 2026
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