Question

I found this code: link

$(".show-more a").on("click", function() {
var $this = $(this); 
var $content = $this.parent().prev("div.content");
var linkText = $this.text().toUpperCase();    

if(linkText === "SHOW MORE"){
    linkText = "Show less";
    $content.switchClass("hideContent", "showContent", 400);
} else {
    linkText = "Show more";
    $content.switchClass("showContent", "hideContent", 400);
};

$this.text(linkText);
});​

CSS:

    div.text-container {
    margin: 0 auto;
    width: 75%;    
}

.hideContent {
    overflow: hidden;
    line-height: 1em;
    height: 2em;
}

.showContent {
    line-height: 1em;
    height: auto;
}
.showContent{
    height: auto;
}

h1 {
    font-size: 24px;        
}
p {
    padding: 10px 0;
}
.show-more {
    padding: 10px 0;
    text-align: center;
}

​

It was exactly what I was looking for, but as you can see here, if you modify it (link), the “Show more” link is there if you have only one or two lines, and it is not needed in that case.
Thank you for your answers!

Answer 1

As your sample code was not fully working I decided to enhance one of my own samples I created in a post a while ago.

DEMO – Show more/less and hide the link when not needed

The demo shows the first text to have no link and the second to have a link. If you add a few more characters to the first text you see the link appear when you run the fiddle again.

The idea is to double check the client vs the actual height and determine then if you want to show the link. Similar to the below.

$(".show-more a").each(function() {
    var $link = $(this);
    var $content = $link.parent().prev("div.text-content");

    console.log($link);

    var visibleHeight = $content[0].clientHeight;
    var actualHide = $content[0].scrollHeight - 1; // -1 is needed in this example or you get a 1-line offset.

    console.log(actualHide);
    console.log(visibleHeight);

    if (actualHide > visibleHeight) {
        $link.show();
    } else {
        $link.hide();
    }
});

The demo is using the following HTML:

<div class="text-container">
    <h1>Lorem ipsum dolor</h1>
    <div class="text-content short-text">
        Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut
        labore Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt
    </div>
    <div class="show-more">
        <a href="#">Show more</a>
    </div>
    </div>
<div class="text-container">
    <h1>Lorem ipsum dolor</h1>
    <div class="text-content short-text">
        Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. 
        At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. 
        Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua.
    </div>
    <div class="show-more">
        <a href="#">Show more</a>
    </div>
</div>​

and the following basic CSS:

div.text-container {
    margin: 0 auto;
    width: 75%;    
}

.text-content{
    line-height: 1em;
}

.short-text {
    overflow: hidden;
    height: 2em;
}

.full-text{
    height: auto;
}

h1 {
    font-size: 24px;        
}

.show-more {
    padding: 10px 0;
    text-align: center;
}

​