Virtual scrolling renders only visible items in large lists, dramatically improving performance by reducing DOM nodes from thousands to dozens regardless of total dataset size. As the creator of CoreUI, a widely used open-source UI library, I’ve implemented virtual scrolling in data-intensive dashboards throughout my 12 years of frontend development since 2014. The most reliable approach is using vue-virtual-scroller library which handles viewport calculations, item positioning, and dynamic sizing automatically. This method provides smooth scrolling performance, supports variable item heights, and maintains accessibility without complex manual calculations.

Large lists cause performance issues through excessive DOM nodes, re-rendering overhead, and memory consumption when displaying thousands of items simultaneously. As the creator of CoreUI, a widely used open-source UI library, I’ve optimized large data tables and lists throughout my 12 years of frontend development since 2014. The most effective approach is combining pagination, virtual scrolling, computed property caching, and v-memo directive to minimize rendering and reactivity overhead. This method reduces DOM size, prevents unnecessary re-renders, and maintains smooth scrolling performance even with massive datasets.