Cross browser issue with offset() jquery function

Question

I am having a cross browser issue with the offset() function in jQuery. For example, I am looking for the offset of an anchor tag

eg. $('#anchorid').offset().top

• In Firefox 3.6 = 205
• In IE8 = 204
• In IE7 = 553

As you can see the difference in each returned value. I am not too concerned with the difference between FF & IE8 but I am with IE7 and the others.

Is there another function I could use that would be the same or similar cross browsers or a possible fix for this?

Answer 1

The chances are there is something wrong (non-crossbrowser) with your markup. But as alternative you could try using native javascript instead.

document.getElementById('anchorid').offsetTop

Of if you wanted to get the offset on the whole page you could use a function like:

function findTotalOffset(obj) {
  var ol = ot = 0;
  if (obj.offsetParent) {
    do {
      ol += obj.offsetLeft;
      ot += obj.offsetTop;
    }while (obj = obj.offsetParent);
  }
  return {left : ol, top : ot};
}

Answer 2

I get this problem in IE8 when my script is loaded on a page where the element that we want to get the offset().top of does not exist.

I solved it like this:

if ($('#element').length){
    $('#element').offset().top // ...
}

Never execute offset().top if the element does not exist.