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Asked: 2026-05-17T22:37:12+00:00

I have a really simple external css stylesheet that has the following : div.hideBox

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I have a really simple external css stylesheet that has the following :

div.hideBox {
    display:none;
}

So when the html page loads, the div with that class attribute ‘hideBox’ will not show on the page, which is what I want. But I the box to show/appear when a user clicks on a button on that same page. I tried to use the onclick event to do this, but the div won’t show.

So for example, the code would be :

<script language="javascript">
function showmydiv() {
document.getElementById('mybox').style.display = "";
}

</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="mybox" class="hideBox">
some output of text
</div>
<input type="button" name="ShowBox" value="Show Box" onclick="showmydiv()">

What’s strange is that a setup similar to this works when I use visibility:hidden; position:absolute; and I can use a JavaScript function to show the <div>.

What am I doing wrong here?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Because setting the div‘s display style property to "" doesn’t change anything in the CSS rule itself. That basically just creates an “empty,” inline CSS rule, which has no effect beyond clearing the same property on that element.

    You need to set it to something that has a value:

    document.getElementById('mybox').style.display = "block";

    What you’re doing would work if you were replacing an inline style on the div, like this:

    <div id="myBox" style="display: none;"></div>

document.getElementById('mybox').style.display = "";
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