Unexpected and annoying scrolling behaviour when viewing github action logs

[timrutter]

Github Action Logs

Product Feedback

Annoying scroll to end behaviour when viewing action logs

When you view an action in github it auto scrolls you to the bottom of the page. This is odd behaviour and can be quite annoying. The developer does not know where the user wants to look and assuming that they always want to look at the end of the logs is a complete guess as to their needs.
Here is a list of the many reasons why the user does not want to be sent to the end of the logs (and then have scroll all the way back to the top)
I want to click "rerun failed tasks"
I want to view something in the middle of the logs (eg cypress log output)
I want to view something at the start of the logs
I want to swap to a previous log run
I want to click back to pull request
I want to click cancel workflow
...

I have to do those operations a lot and that is a lot times where i'm having to scroll back to the top = annoyance. It is quite a surprising decision that has been made to assume you know what the user wants and therefore make access to a lot of key functions more difficult.

of course i understand there are times when going to the end of the logs is important and that the user in these cases should be able to do this quickly but what you have now is not the correct solution.
How about you add a new "Scroll to end" button for the cases where the user wants to go to the end? This is a simple addition and solves all the use cases whilst removing the annoyance.

I have opened this before as an issue and it was immediately dismissed. For me this is a significant annoyance and pain which makes using github unpleasant. Please consider improvements in this area. And please do not close this to give it time to see if others agree.

[nickBento]

How has no one responded to this? This is extremely annoying

[Programming-Ocean-Academy]

⚠️ Common Reasons for Scrolling/File View Issues on GitHub

1. Large Files or Diff Views

• GitHub struggles with rendering large files or large diffs (especially in pull requests).

• This causes delays, scroll jumping, or reflows while GitHub is trying to lazily load/unload content.

✅ Fix: Avoid loading entire files or PR diffs if they're huge. Use the ?w=1 URL flag to ignore whitespace (helps reduce diff size).

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2. Heavy Syntax Highlighting

• GitHub uses a syntax highlighter (Linguist + TextMate grammars).

• Long files with lots of syntax elements cause re-painting, which can shake the view.

✅ Fix: View the raw file instead (Raw button), or clone and view it locally.

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3. Sticky Headers or Line Selection

• The sticky file header or line selection box (clicking line numbers to link) can cause layout reflows.

• Selecting too many lines at once may "jump" the viewport to the selected anchor.

✅ Fix: Avoid mass line highlighting. Use keyboard shortcuts carefully (like L to jump to lines).

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4. Browser Extensions / Themes

• Dark mode extensions, ad blockers, or dev-focused plugins like Octotree or Refined GitHub can interfere with GitHub rendering.

✅ Fix: Disable extensions and reload GitHub to isolate the issue.

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5. Unstable Internet or Delayed Lazy Loading

• If you're on a flaky connection, GitHub may be fetching parts of the file view asynchronously.

• Lazy loading isn't smooth when resources are slow.

✅ Fix: Ensure a stable internet connection, or use GitHub Desktop or git clone to view locally.

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🛠 How to Avoid This in General?

Issue | Suggestion -- | -- Viewing large files | Use local tools (VSCode, Sublime, etc.) Scroll issues | Try a different browser (Chrome, Firefox) Rendering bugs | Disable extensions, clear cache PR diffs too big | Use git diff locally or break into smaller PRs GitHub performance slow | Check GitHub status: https://www.githubstatus.com/

[timrutter]

The provided answer here is completely missing the point. It's a terrible ux design and needs to be changed.

[aaron-williamson-kr]

Bumping this yet again