jquery $('selector').css('top') returns different values for IE, firefox and Chrome

Question

I am using the jQuery $(\'selector\').css(\'top\') to get the top value to help position dynamic elements and I find that I get different results based on the browser.

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Answer 1

The thing is, none of your test elements actually have dynamic positioning. See this question: jQuery .css("left") returns "auto" instead of actual value in Chrome

Answer 2

Use $('selector').offset().top to get the numeric value of the top position.
.css() returns the CSS value of the top-position, which could be auto, 1234px, or something similar - not a reliable method to get the top position.

See also:

• http://api.jquery.com/offset/
• http://api.jquery.com/position/