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Window: screenX property

The Window.screenX read-only property returns the horizontal distance, in CSS pixels, of the left border of the user's browser viewport to the left side of the screen.

Note: An alias of screenX was implemented across modern browsers in more recent times — Window.screenLeft. This was originally supported only in IE but was introduced everywhere due to popularity.

Value

A number equal to the number of CSS pixels from the left edge of the browser viewport to the left edge of the screen.

Examples

In our screenleft-screentop (source code) example, you'll see a canvas onto which has been drawn a circle. In this example we are using Window.screenLeft/Window.screenTop plus Window.requestAnimationFrame() to constantly redraw the circle in the same physical position on the screen, even if the window position is moved.

js

initialLeft = window.screenLeft + canvasElem.offsetLeft;
initialTop = window.screenTop + canvasElem.offsetTop;

function positionElem() {
  let newLeft = window.screenLeft + canvasElem.offsetLeft;
  let newTop = window.screenTop + canvasElem.offsetTop;

  let leftUpdate = initialLeft - newLeft;
  let topUpdate = initialTop - newTop;

  ctx.fillStyle = "rgb(0, 0, 0)";
  ctx.fillRect(0, 0, width, height);
  ctx.fillStyle = "rgb(0, 0, 255)";
  ctx.beginPath();
  ctx.arc(
    leftUpdate + width / 2,
    topUpdate + height / 2 + 35,
    50,
    degToRad(0),
    degToRad(360),
    false,
  );
  ctx.fill();

  pElem.textContent = `Window.screenLeft: ${window.screenLeft}, Window.screenTop: ${window.screenTop}`;

  window.requestAnimationFrame(positionElem);
}

window.requestAnimationFrame(positionElem);

These work in exactly the same way as screenX/screenY.

Also in the code we include a snippet that detects whether screenLeft is supported, and if not, polyfills in screenLeft/screenTop using screenX/screenY.

js

if (!window.screenLeft) {
  window.screenLeft = window.screenX;
  window.screenTop = window.screenY;
}

Specifications

Specification
CSSOM View Module
# dom-window-screenx

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet
screenX 1 12
1Before Firefox 28, Gecko was using device pixels instead of CSS pixels; in other words, it was assuming a value of screenPixelsPerCSSPixel of 1 for any device.
 9 ≤12.1 1 4.4 18
4Before Firefox 28, Gecko was using device pixels instead of CSS pixels; in other words, it was assuming a value of screenPixelsPerCSSPixel of 1 for any device.
 ≤12.1 1 1.0

See also

© 2005–2023 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/screenX