Next.js 15 Scroll Behavior: A Comprehensive Guide

Next.js 15 introduced significant improvements to navigation and scroll behavior control, giving developers more fine-grained options for creating smooth user experiences. This article dives deep into these features, providing practical examples for both beginners and advanced developers.

Understanding Scroll Behavior in Next.js

Historically, web frameworks have defaulted to scrolling to the top of the page when navigating between routes. While this behavior makes sense in traditional multi-page applications, modern web apps often require more nuanced control over scroll position.

Next.js 15 addresses this with the new scroll property, which gives developers explicit control over scroll restoration during navigation.

Basic Usage: The scroll Prop

With the Link Component

The most straightforward way to control scroll behavior is through the Link component:

import Link from 'next/link'

// Default behavior: scrolls to top
<Link href="/products">View Products</Link>

// Prevents scrolling to top
<Link href="/products" scroll={false}>View Products</Link>

When scroll={false} is specified, Next.js will maintain the user's scroll position after navigation, creating a seamless experience.

With Programmatic Navigation

For programmatic navigation, the scroll option is available through the router:

import { useRouter } from 'next/navigation'

function FilterProducts() {
  const router = useRouter()

  const applyFilter = (filter) => {
    // Maintain scroll position when applying filters
    router.push(`/products?category=${filter}`, { scroll: false })
  }

  return (
    <button onClick={() => applyFilter('electronics')}>
      Filter by Electronics
    </button>
  )
}

Advanced Use Cases

Implementing Infinite Scroll

The scroll={false} option shines when implementing infinite scroll patterns:

import { useEffect, useState } from 'react'
import { useRouter } from 'next/navigation'

function InfiniteProductList() {
  const [page, setPage] = useState(1)
  const [products, setProducts] = useState([])
  const router = useRouter()

  const loadMore = async () => {
    const newPage = page + 1
    // Update URL to reflect new page without scrolling
    router.push(`/products?page=${newPage}`, { scroll: false })

    // Fetch more products
    const newProducts = await fetchProducts(newPage)
    setProducts([...products, ...newProducts])
    setPage(newPage)
  }

  // Intersection Observer to detect when user reaches bottom
  useEffect(() => {
    // Implementation details...
  }, [])

  return (
    <div>
      {products.map(product => (
        <ProductCard key={product.id} product={product} />
      ))}
      <div ref={observerRef}>Loading more...</div>
    </div>
  )
}

Multi-step Forms

For multi-step forms where maintaining context is crucial:

function CheckoutProcess() {
  const router = useRouter()
  const [formData, setFormData] = useState({})

  const goToNextStep = (step) => {
    // Save current form data
    localStorage.setItem('checkout-data', JSON.stringify(formData))

    // Navigate to next step without scrolling to top
    router.push(`/checkout/step-${step}`, { scroll: false })
  }

  return (
    <form onSubmit={() => goToNextStep(2)}>
      {/* Form fields */}
      <button type="submit">Continue to Shipping</button>
    </form>
  )
}

Scroll to Specific Elements

While scroll={false} prevents automatic scrolling to the top, you might want to scroll to specific elements after navigation. You can combine the scroll property with the useEffect hook:

import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
import { useSearchParams } from 'next/navigation'

function ProductPage() {
  const reviewsRef = useRef(null)
  const searchParams = useSearchParams()

  useEffect(() => {
    // Check if we should scroll to reviews section
    if (searchParams.get('section') === 'reviews' && reviewsRef.current) {
      reviewsRef.current.scrollIntoView({ 
        behavior: 'smooth',
        block: 'start'
      })
    }
  }, [searchParams])

  return (
    <div>
      <ProductDetails />
      <div ref={reviewsRef} id="reviews">
        <h2>Customer Reviews</h2>
        {/* Reviews content */}
      </div>
    </div>
  )
}

Performance Implications

The scroll behavior API is implemented efficiently in Next.js 15, but there are some considerations:

1. Memory Usage: When using scroll={false}, Next.js needs to maintain state information about the scroll position, which consumes a small amount of memory.

2. Initial Page Load: The scroll prop only affects navigation between routes within your application, not the initial page load.

3. Nested Layouts: In the App Router, the behavior applies to the changed segments of the route, respecting the nested layout structure.

Best Practices

When to Use scroll={false}

• Filtering or sorting operations where maintaining context is important
• Tabbed interfaces where the content changes but the layout remains the same
• Infinite scroll implementations
• Multi-step forms or wizards

When to Keep Default Scroll Behavior

• Major route changes where new content should be viewed from the top
• When transitioning between fundamentally different sections of your application
• For accessibility reasons, when users would expect to start at the top

Browser Compatibility

Next.js scroll behavior control works across all modern browsers. The implementation uses the History API and falls back gracefully in older browsers.

Custom Scroll Restoration

For more complex scenarios, you might want to implement custom scroll restoration logic:

'use client'

import { useEffect } from 'react'
import { usePathname, useSearchParams } from 'next/navigation'

export function ScrollRestorationManager() {
  const pathname = usePathname()
  const searchParams = useSearchParams()

  useEffect(() => {
    // Save current scroll position for this route
    const saveScrollPosition = () => {
      const positions = JSON.parse(sessionStorage.getItem('scrollPositions') || '{}')
      positions[pathname + searchParams.toString()] = window.scrollY
      sessionStorage.setItem('scrollPositions', JSON.stringify(positions))
    }

    // Restore scroll position if available
    const restoreScrollPosition = () => {
      const positions = JSON.parse(sessionStorage.getItem('scrollPositions') || '{}')
      const savedPosition = positions[pathname + searchParams.toString()]

      if (savedPosition !== undefined) {
        window.scrollTo(0, savedPosition)
      }
    }

    // Add event listeners
    window.addEventListener('beforeunload', saveScrollPosition)
    restoreScrollPosition()

    return () => {
      window.removeEventListener('beforeunload', saveScrollPosition)
    }
  }, [pathname, searchParams])

  return null
}

This component can be included in your layout to provide custom scroll restoration across your entire application.

Integration with Other Next.js Features

With Server Components

Remember that the scroll prop functionality requires client-side JavaScript. When using Server Components, you'll need to create a Client Component wrapper to handle scroll behavior:

// ServerComponent.jsx
export default function ProductList({ products }) {
  return (
    <div>
      {products.map(product => (
        <ProductItem key={product.id} product={product} />
      ))}
    </div>
  )
}

// ClientWrapper.jsx
'use client'
import { useRouter } from 'next/navigation'
import ProductList from './ServerComponent'

export default function ProductListWrapper({ products }) {
  const router = useRouter()

  const handleProductFilter = (category) => {
    router.push(`/products?category=${category}`, { scroll: false })
  }

  return (
    <>
      <div className="filters">
        <button onClick={() => handleProductFilter('electronics')}>Electronics</button>
        <button onClick={() => handleProductFilter('clothing')}>Clothing</button>
      </div>
      <ProductList products={products} />
    </>
  )
}

With Suspense and Loading States

The scroll behavior works well with Suspense boundaries, maintaining the scroll position even when content is still loading:

import { Suspense } from 'react'
import LoadingSpinner from '@/components/LoadingSpinner'
import ProductList from '@/components/ProductList'

export default function ProductsPage() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Products</h1>
      <Suspense fallback={<LoadingSpinner />}>
        <ProductList />
      </Suspense>
    </div>
  )
}

Conclusion

Next.js 15's scroll behavior control options provide a powerful way to create more intuitive navigation experiences. By leveraging the scroll prop in both the Link component and programmatic navigation, developers can craft smooth, context-preserving interactions that maintain user position exactly when needed.

Whether you're building an e-commerce site with infinite product loading, a multi-step form, or just want to improve the feel of your application, these tools offer the right level of control without requiring complex custom implementations.

As web applications continue to evolve toward more app-like experiences, features like scroll control become increasingly important for maintaining user context and creating seamless transitions between different states of your application.

---

🚀 Follow Me for More Insights

I regularly share in-depth articles on JavaScript, ReactJS, Next.js, NestJS, NodeJS and scalable backend architectures. Follow me on these platforms to stay updated and connect!

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hijazi313/

🐙 GitHub: https://github.com/Hijazi313

✉️ Email: [e-mail]

📝 Dev.to: https://dev.to/hijazi313

If you found this article helpful, feel free to like, comment, or share it with fellow developers! 🚀

Comments

[Pam Stums]

Thank you! I wonder what makes scroll so complex on a specific component. I mean does programmatically scrolling a component has logical difficulty? Or is it just JavaScript/React that doesn’t handle it elegantly?