Custom WordPress theme causing scrolling issues on Mac browsers

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1

Hey everyone,

I’m stuck with a weird problem while making a custom WordPress theme. Everything was fine until I started converting my HTML/CSS to PHP. Now the page won’t scroll on Mac browsers!

Here’s what’s happening:

  • The front page is too long to fit on one screen
  • There’s no scroll bar
  • Scrolling doesn’t work in Safari, Chrome, or Firefox on Mac
  • It works fine on a Windows PC using Chrome

I’ve checked for errors by turning on debugging. There are a few plugin-related issues, but those plugins were working before this problem started.

I’m not using any JavaScript or jQuery, so I’m totally lost. Any ideas on what could be causing this? I’d really appreciate some help figuring this out!

Has anyone run into something similar while developing WordPress themes? What fixed it for you?

2

I’ve encountered a similar issue while developing a custom WordPress theme. In my case, the culprit was an unintended CSS rule that was affecting the body element. Check your CSS for any ‘overflow: hidden’ or ‘height: 100%’ properties on the body or html elements. These can sometimes interfere with scrolling, especially on Mac browsers.

Another thing to consider is your PHP structure. Make sure you’re closing all your divs properly and that your footer.php is being called correctly. I once had a situation where a misplaced PHP tag was causing the footer to render incorrectly, leading to scrolling issues.

If those don’t work, try temporarily disabling your custom styles and re-enabling them one by one. This helped me pinpoint the exact CSS rule causing the problem. Also, use browser developer tools to inspect the page structure and CSS. Sometimes, you’ll spot the issue right away when you can see how the styles are being applied.

Lastly, check if you’re using any CSS reset or normalize stylesheets. These can sometimes behave differently across operating systems and browsers. Good luck troubleshooting!

3

I’ve dealt with similar scrolling problems in WordPress themes before. One often overlooked cause is the viewport meta tag. Check your header.php file and ensure you have a proper viewport meta tag, like:

Without this, some browsers (especially on Mac) might not render the page correctly for scrolling.

Another potential issue could be with your main wrapper div. Make sure it’s not set to a fixed height or using vh units incorrectly. Try setting it to min-height: 100vh instead of height: 100vh if you’re using that.

Lastly, check for any JavaScript that might be interfering with the default scroll behavior. Even if you’re not intentionally using JS, a plugin might be. Try disabling plugins one by one to isolate the issue.

4

hey, i had a similar problem once. turned out to be a weird css thing with the html and body tags. try adding this to ur stylesheet:

html, body {
height: auto;
overflow-y: visible;
}

it fixed it for me on macs. hope this helps!