resize

The resize event is fired when the document view has been resized.

An event handler can be registered for the resize event using attribute window.onresize or using window.addEventListener('resize', ...)

In some earlier browsers it was possible to register resize event handlers on any HTML element. It is still possible to set onresize attributes or use addEventListener() to set a handler on any element. However, resize events are only fired on (sent to) the window object (document.defaultView). Only handlers registered on the window object will receive events.

There is a new proposal (2017) to allow all elements to be notified of resize changes. See Resize Observer to read the draft document, and Github issues to read the on-going discussions.

General info

Specifications

DOM L3, CSSOM View

Interface

UIEvent

Bubbles

No

Cancelable

No

Target

defaultView (window)

Default Action

None

Properties

Examples

Since resize events can fire at a high rate, the event handler shouldn't execute computationally expensive operations such as DOM modifications. Instead, it is recommended to throttle the event using requestAnimationFrame, setTimeout or customEvent*, as follows:

* IMPORTANT: Please note that IE11 needs the customEvent polyfill to function correctly.

requestAnimationFrame + customEvent

(function() {
    var throttle = function(type, name, obj) {
        obj = obj || window;
        var running = false;
        var func = function() {
            if (running) { return; }
            running = true;
             requestAnimationFrame(function() {
                obj.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent(name));
                running = false;
            });
        };
        obj.addEventListener(type, func);
    };

    /* init - you can init any event */
    throttle("resize", "optimizedResize");
})();

// handle event
window.addEventListener("optimizedResize", function() {
    console.log("Resource conscious resize callback!");
});

requestAnimationFrame

var optimizedResize = (function() {

    var callbacks = [],
        running = false;

    // fired on resize event
    function resize() {

        if (!running) {
            running = true;

            if (window.requestAnimationFrame) {
                window.requestAnimationFrame(runCallbacks);
            } else {
                setTimeout(runCallbacks, 66);
            }
        }

    }

    // run the actual callbacks
    function runCallbacks() {

        callbacks.forEach(function(callback) {
            callback();
        });

        running = false;
    }

    // adds callback to loop
    function addCallback(callback) {

        if (callback) {
            callbacks.push(callback);
        }

    }

    return {
        // public method to add additional callback
        add: function(callback) {
            if (!callbacks.length) {
                window.addEventListener('resize', resize);
            }
            addCallback(callback);
        }
    }
}());

// start process
optimizedResize.add(function() {
    console.log('Resource conscious resize callback!')
});

setTimeout

(function() {

  window.addEventListener("resize", resizeThrottler, false);

  var resizeTimeout;
  function resizeThrottler() {
    // ignore resize events as long as an actualResizeHandler execution is in the queue
    if ( !resizeTimeout ) {
      resizeTimeout = setTimeout(function() {
        resizeTimeout = null;
        actualResizeHandler();
     
       // The actualResizeHandler will execute at a rate of 15fps
       }, 66);
    }
  }

  function actualResizeHandler() {
    // handle the resize event
    ...
  }

}());