Prevent horizontal scrolling on mobile safari, overflow-x:hidden breaks site

Question

enter image description here I am looking to prevent horizontal scrolling on my portfolio site in mobile safari. The design features content div's that are off the screen, until a user clicks a menu item then they transition onto the screen. This works fine on desktop, but on mobile it leaves a ton of extra white space that a user can scroll horizontally into.

the site is http://www.robiannone.com

I have used this viewport tag <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, maximum-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=1.0, initial-scale=1" />

and I have tried using overflow-x:hidden with a media query without any luck. When I add overflow-x:hidden to the html or body tag nothing happens, however when I add it to both the html and body tag the site breaks, and puts a scroll bar near the header. I have searched for other solutions but have so far not come up with anything to help. Will it just not work because I am intentionally placing content off screen?

Much thanks for any help you can provide!

Here is the css for the content div's:

.web {
width: 953px;
height: 150px;
position: absolute;
margin-top:40px;
margin-left:0px;
z-index:1;opacity:0;
padding:7px;
-webkit-border-radius: 10px;
-moz-border-radius: 10px;
-o-border-radius: 10px;
-ms-border-radius: 10px;
border-radius: 10px;

/*Transition Effect, Thanks css-tricks.com!  */
-webkit-transition: opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;
-moz-transition: opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;
-o-transition: opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;
-ms-transition: opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;
transition: opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;
}
.video {
width: 953px;
height: 150px;
position: absolute;
margin-top:40px;
margin-left:0px;
z-index:500;
overflow:hidden;
opacity:0;
padding:7px;
-webkit-border-radius: 10px;
-moz-border-radius: 10px;
-o-border-radius: 10px;
-ms-border-radius: 10px;
border-radius: 10px;

/*Transition Effect, Thanks css-tricks.com!  */
-webkit-transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.3s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 0.9s ease, margin-left 1.5s ease;
-moz-transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.3s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 0.9s ease, margin-left 1.5s ease;
-o-transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.3s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 0.9s ease, margin-left 1.5s ease;
-ms-transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.3s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 0.9s ease, margin-left 1.5s ease;
 transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.3s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 0.9s ease, margin-left 1.5s ease;
}
.about {
width: 953px;
height: auto !important;
position: absolute;
margin-top:40px;
z-index:9000;
opacity:0;
padding:7px;

-webkit-border-radius: 10px;
-moz-border-radius: 10px;
-o-border-radius: 10px;
-ms-border-radius: 10px;
border-radius: 10px;
border-radius: 10px;

/*Transition Effect, Thanks css-tricks.com!  */
  -webkit-transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;
  -moz-transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;
  -o-transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;
  -ms-transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear, margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;
    transition:opacity 1s linear 0.3s, height 1s linear 0.2s, z-index 0.1s linear,            margin-top 1.5s ease, margin-left 0.9s ease;  

/*Classes that Div's take once clicked*/
.prime{
width: 953px;
height: 750px;
background:rgba(255,255,255,.9);
margin-left:0px;
position: absolute;
margin-top:75px;
z-index:9001;
opacity:1;
overflow:auto;   
}

.third{
 width: 953px;
height: 200px;
opacity: 0.0 !important;
position: absolute;
margin-top:-499px;
margin-left:1810px;
z-index:1;
overflow:hidden;  
}

.secondary{
width: 953px;
height: 200px;
opacity: 0 !important;
position: absolute;
margin-top:499px;
margin-left:-1810px;
z-index:500;
overflow:hidden;   
}

Toni Leigh Toni Leigh · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-24T13:36:10

I have just solved a similar problem by using a media query to set overflow:hidden on the element when it is loaded onto a small screen.

So I have in my css:

overflow:visible on my div with all my content in waiting to slide
overflow-x:hidden on the html tag to get rid of the side ways scroller that this creates due to content width
a media query to set overflow:hidden on the content div if the screen is small

I figured from a user perspective that when the screen was larger than 1024px they would benefit from the additional visual impact of having content ready to slide onto the screen from either side, but when viewing a 960px wide site on 1024px or smaller this impact would be lost as the content is pretty much invisible anyway.

html
{
    overflow-x:hidden;
}

@media only screen and (max-width: 1024px)
{
    overflowing_content_div { overflow:hidden; }
}

there may a less hacky solution to this and one that will be future proof enough to cope with mobile devices with higher screen resolutions than 1024px, if so I would like to hear it and would prefer it to be voted as the main answer

Prevent horizontal scrolling on mobile safari, overflow-x:hidden breaks site

1 Answers