jquery - Change header background colour when page scrolls

Question

I've been looking at a solution for this but I cannot get it to work.

I would like my page header to change from a transparent background to a white background as the user begins scrolling the page.

HTML code is:

<div class="header">
    <div class="topbar"></div>
    <div class="sitelogo"></div>
    <nav id="navigation">
        <ul>
            <li id="twitter"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/iamdanmorris"><em>Twitter</em></a></li>
            <li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>
            <li><a href="#blog">Blog</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Portfolio</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">About</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
        </ul>
    </nav>
    <div style="clear:both;"></div>
</div>

CSS code is:

.header {
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    width: 100%;
    padding: 0;
    z-index: 10000;
    -webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25);
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25);
    box-shadow: 0 1px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25);
    transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
    height: auto;
    background-color:transparent;   
}

Answer 1

$(window).on("scroll", function() {
    if($(window).scrollTop() > 50) {
        $(".header").addClass("active");
    } else {
        //remove the background property so it comes transparent again (defined in your css)
       $(".header").removeClass("active");
    }
});

fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/634d6vgq/2/

This will add the background-color: #fff to the element if user has scrolled more than 50 pixels from the top

This will add a class "active" so you can style it within the css (easier to maintain)

edit:

$(function() {
    $(window).on("scroll", function() {
        if($(window).scrollTop() > 50) {
            $(".header").addClass("active");
        } else {
            //remove the background property so it comes transparent again (defined in your css)
           $(".header").removeClass("active");
        }
    });
});

And your css:

.active { background-color: #fff}

Make sure you also add this css rule, orherwise the background color will not change