One of the most common mistakes that disrupt user experience on websites is the occurrence of an unwanted horizontal scroll bar. This situation usually stems from overflowing content or incorrectly sized elements. The html { overflow-x: hidden; } rule used in CSS effectively resolves this issue. In this article, we will examine the function of this code, why it is used, and the points to consider in detail.

Code:

html {
  overflow-x: hidden;
}

Meaning:

html: The element selected to apply the rule at the entire page level.
overflow-x: Controls only the horizontal (x-axis) overflow behavior.
hidden: Hides the overflowing content, meaning no horizontal scroll bar appears.

Usage Purposes

Disabling the Horizontal Scroll Bar
Prevents unwanted overflows in mobile and desktop views.
Ensuring Visual Cleanliness in Responsive Designs
Hides shifts caused by width calculation errors.
Preventing Overflows from Fixed-Width Elements
For example, a very long div, img, or externally embedded code can create overflow.

Things to Consider

Only hides the visual scroll bar; the overflowing content is still in the DOM.
Since the scroll is hidden, the content may be cut off, so the source of the problem should be found and a solution applied.
If you want to break the content instead of hiding the scroll, CSS properties such as word-break, max-width should also be applied.

Alternative and Supportive Uses

The same rule can also be used on the body element:

body {
  overflow-x: hidden;
}

For a complete solution, it can be used together on both elements:

html, body {
  overflow-x: hidden;
}

Tip for Identifying Problematic Elements

To identify the elements causing overflows in Chrome Developer Tools (DevTools):

Observe the elements that overflow the page in the Elements tab.
Mark visual overflows with the Layout > Overflow option.

The code html { overflow-x: hidden; } provides a cleaner and more professional look by hiding unwanted horizontal scrolling. However, this line is not a "solution" but a symptom concealer. It is also necessary to correct the structural errors that cause the overflow, which is the real problem. Therefore, while using this code as a temporary fix, be sure to investigate the underlying cause.