Question

So say i have a <div> with a long text inside and defined height, and when text overflows that div height i want to display ... at the end of the text, so this is easy with a little css, but i want something a bit more advanced.

What i want is to have that ... and a button (Show more), and i kind of made it, but it’s quite a dirty hack and i know there should be better solution, anyways please take a look a this fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/DgBR2/1/

Basically i just floated another div with white background on top of the text, but if i would want to change that text height or something else this would create problems in the future, so i want something better.

Answer 1

Revised 11/07/2012

Robust Text Overflow Slider

Robust Fiddle

Features:
1. Auto adjusts for font size
2. Auto Adjusts for ‘Show More / Show Less’ Buttons
3. Easily Change Animation Speed
4. Easily Change ‘Show More / Show Less’ Button Spacing
5. Easily Choose Which side the ‘Show More / Show Less’ Displays On
6. Easily Set how many Lines of Text should initially appear

JQuery

//Editable Values

var lines = 5; //Choose how many lines you would like to initially show
var buttonspacing = 7; //Choose Button Spacing
var buttonside = 'right'; //Choose the Side the Button will display on: 'right' or 'left'
var animationspeed = 1000; //Choose Animation Speed (Milliseconds)


//Do not edit below

var lineheight = $('.text').css("line-height").replace("px", "");
startheight = lineheight * lines;
$('.text_container').css({'height' : startheight });

var buttonheight =  $('.button').height();

$('div.container').css({'padding-bottom' : (buttonheight + buttonspacing ) });

if(buttonside == 'right'){
    $('.button').css({'bottom' : (buttonspacing / 2), 'right' : buttonspacing });
}else{
   $('.button').css({'bottom' : (buttonspacing / 2), 'left' : buttonspacing });
}

$('.open').on('click', function(){
        var newheight = $(this).parent('div.container').find('div.text').height();
        $(this).parent('div.container').find('div.text_container').animate({'height' : newheight }, animationspeed );
        $(this).hide().siblings('.close').show();

        });

$('.close').on('click', function(){
    var h = $(this).parent('div.container').find('div.text').height();
    $(this).parent('div.container').find('div.text_container').animate({'height' : startheight }, animationspeed );
    $(this).hide().siblings('.open').show();
    });


$('div.container').each(function(){
    if( $(this).find('div.text').height() >= $(this).find('div.text_container').height() ){
        $(this).find('.button.open').show();

    }
});

HTML

<div class="container">
    <div class="text_container">
        <div class='text'>

           // Text goes Here

        </div>
     </div>
    <div class='button open'>...Show More</div>
    <div class='button close'>...Show Less</div>
</div>

CSS

.button {position:absolute; z-index:5; display:none; cursor:pointer; color:#555555;}
.close {display:none; }
.open {display:none;}

.container{
    width:200px;
    overflow:hidden;
    border:1px solid #cacaca;
    border-radius:5px;
    font-size:12px;
    position:relative;
    margin:auto;
    padding:10px 10px 0px 10px;
    float:left;
    margin:5px;
}

.text_container{
    height:105px;
    overflow:hidden;

}

.text {}