Minimize costly DOM read/write operations
Every time you read a layout property after making a DOM change, the browser must synchronously recalculate layout (reflow) before returning the value. Doing this in a loop — even with just 10 elements — can freeze the page for hundreds of milliseconds. This is called layout thrashing and is one of the most common causes of janky animations and slow renders.
Quick Reference
- Never interleave DOM reads (offsetHeight, getBoundingClientRect) with DOM writes (style changes)
- Batch all reads first, then all writes
- Use requestAnimationFrame for visual updates
- Use DocumentFragment or innerHTML for bulk DOM insertion
- Avoid per-frame React state updates across many visible components when a simpler CSS or reduced-frequency approach would work
- Use passive listeners for scroll, touch, and wheel when you do not call preventDefault
Check
Identify any layout thrashing in this code — places where DOM reads and writes are interleaved in loops. Also flag scroll, touch, and wheel listeners that should be passive to avoid blocking the main thread.
Fix
Refactor this code to batch all DOM reads before writes, eliminating forced synch…