What is the best way to incorporate a scrollbar into a stationary sidebar that is only visible when hovered over?

Working on a website, I decided to make the sidebar fixed on the left and set it to extend to the full height of the page with the following CSS:

sidebar {
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    bottom: 0;
}

While this keeps the sidebar in place, there is an issue when the page is resized to a smaller height. Only the content at the top of the sidebar is visible, making it impossible to see anything at the bottom.

I am aware that adding overflow-y: scroll; will create a scrollbar, but I am looking to implement a dynamic scrollbar that only appears when the sidebar content exceeds the window height and only appears upon hovering. I also want the scrollbar to have a style similar to the sidebars on websites like TheNextWeb or Facebook chat.

Realizing I will need javascript for this functionality, I must admit my javascript skills are limited. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer №1

overflow-y: auto should definitely do the trick:

When it comes to styling, finding a suitable replacement for the scrollbar is key, especially since scrollbar customization is limited to webkit browsers (http://css-tricks.com/custom-scrollbars-in-webkit/). Fortunately, there are plugins available that can help with this complex task:

These are just a few options available.

EDIT: Thanks to suggestions from sheba, I've made some modifications:

.sidebar:hover{
   overflow-y: scroll;
}

http://codepen.io/johannesjo/pen/GcLFn

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