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Fixed toolbars

In browsers that support CSS position: fixed (most desktop browsers, iOS5+, Android 2.2+, BlackBerry 6, and others), toolbars that use the "fixedtoolbar" plugin will be fixed to the top or bottom of the viewport, while the page content scrolls freely in between. In browsers that don't support fixed positioning, the toolbars will remain positioned in flow, at the top or bottom of the page.

Fixed basics

To enable this behavior on a header or footer, add the data-position="fixed" attribute to a jQuery Mobile header or footer element.

Fixed header markup example:


<div data-role="header" data-position="fixed">
	<h1>Fixed Header!</h1>
</div>

Fixed footer markup example:


<div data-role="footer" data-position="fixed">
	<h1>Fixed Footer!</h1>
</div>

Fullscreen Toolbars

Fullscreen fixed toolbars sit on top of the content at all times when they are visible, and unlike regular fixed toolbars, fullscreen toolbars do not fall back to static positioning when toggled. Instead they disappear from the screen entirely. Fullscreen toolbars are ideal for more immersive interfaces, like a photo viewer that is meant to fill the entire screen with the photo itself and no distractions.

To enable this option on a fixed header or footer, add the data-fullscreen attribute to the element.


<div data-role="header" data-position="fixed" data-fullscreen="true">
	<h1>Fixed Header!</h1>
</div>

Forms in toolbars

While all form elements are now tested to work correctly within static toolbars as of jQuery Mobile 1.1, we recommend extensive testing when using form elements within fixed toolbars or within any position: fixed elements. This can potentially trigger a number of unpredictable issues in various mobile browsers, Android 2.2/2.3 in particular (detailed in Known issues in Android 2.2/2.3, below).

Changes in jQuery Mobile 1.1

Prior to version 1.1, jQuery Mobile used dynamically re-positioned toolbars for the fixed header effect because very few mobile browsers supported the position:fixed CSS property, and simulating fixed support through the use of "fake" JavaScript overflow-scrolling behavior would have reduced our browser support reach, in addition to feeling unnatural on certain platforms. This behavior was not ideal, and jQuery Mobile 1.1 took a new approach to fixed toolbars that allows much broader support. The framework now offers true fixed toolbars on many popular platforms, while gracefully degrading non-supporting platforms to static positioning.

Polyfilling older platforms

The fixed toolbar plugin degrades gracefully in platforms that do not support CSS position:fixed properly, such as iOS4.3. If you still need to support fixed toolbars on that platform (with the show/hide behavior) included in previous releases, Filament Group has developed a polyfill that you can use.

Just include the CSS and JS files after your references to jQuery Mobile and Fixed toolbars will work similarly to jQuery Mobile 1.0 in iOS4.3, with the inclusion of the new API for the 1.1 fixedtoolbar plugin.

If you have any improvements to suggest, fork the gist on github and let us know!

Known issue with form controls inside fixed toolbars, and programmatic scroll

An obscure issue exists in iOS5 and some Android platforms where form controls placed inside fixed-positioned containers can lose their hit area when the window is programatically scrolled (using window.scrollTo for example). This is not an issue specific to jQuery Mobile, but because of it, we recommend not programatically scrolling a document when using form controls inside jQuery Mobile fixed toolbars. This ticket from the Device Bugs project tracker explains this problem in more detail.

Known issues in Android 2.2/2.3

Android 2.2/2.3's implementation of position: fixed; can, in conjunction with seemingly unrelated styles and markup patterns, cause a number of strange issues, particularly in the case of position: absolute elements inside of position: fixed elements. While we've done our best to work around a number of these unique bugs within the scope of the library, custom styles may cause a number of issues.

Form elements elsewhere on the page—select menus in particular—can fail to respond to user interaction when an empty absolute positioned element is placed within a fixed position element. In rare cases—and specific to Android 2.2—this can cause entire pages to fail to respond to user interaction. This can seemingly be solved by adding any character to the absolute positioned element, including a non-breaking space, and in some cases even whitespace.
The above-described issue can also be triggered by an absolute positioned image inside of a fixed position element, but only when that image is using something other than its inherent dimensions. If a height or width is specified on the image using CSS, or the image src is invalid (thus having no inherent height and width), this issue can occur. If an image that is inherently, say, 50x50 pixels is placed in a fixed element and left at its inherent dimensions, this issue does not seem to occur.
When a position: fixed element appears anywhere on a page, most 2D CSS transforms will fail. Oddly, only translate transforms seem unaffected by this. Even more oddly, this issue is solved by setting a CSS opacity of .9 or below on the parent of the fixed element.
Combinations of position: fixed and overflow properties are best avoided, as both have been known to cause unpredictable issues in older versions of Android OS.
Any element that triggers the on-screen keyboard, when placed inside a position: fixed element, will fail to respond to user input when using anything other than the default keyboard. This includes Swype, XT9 or, it seems, any input method apart from the standard non-predictive keyboard.

While we will continue to try to find ways to mitigate these bugs as best we can, we currently advise against implementing fixed toolbars containing complicated user styles and form elements without extensive testing in all versions of Android's native browser.

No longer supported: touchOverflowEnabled

Prior to jQuery Mobile 1.1, true fixed toolbar support was contingent on native browser support for the CSS property overflow-scrolling: touch, which is currently only supported in iOS5. As of version 1.1, jQuery Mobile no longer uses this CSS property at all. We've removed all internal usage of this property in the framework, but we've left it defined globally on the $.mobile object to reduce the risk that its removal will cause trouble with existing applications. This property is flagged for removal, so please update your code to no longer use it. The support test for this property, however, remains defined under $.support and we have no plans to remove that test at this time.