Show More/Less Text With Just HTML And JavaScript

August 26, 2022 Post a Comment

I am needing to create a show more/less text function, but with just JavaScript and HTML.. I can't use any additional libraries such as jQuery and it can't be done with CSS. The sa

Solution 1:

My answer is similar but different, there are a few ways to achieve toggling effect. I guess it depends on your circumstance. This may not be the best way for you in the end.

The missing piece you've been looking for is to create an if statement. This allows for you to toggle your text.

Solution 2:

With some HTML changes, you can absolutely achieve this with CSS:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
<p id="textarea">
    <!-- This is where I want to additional text-->
    All that delicious text is in here!
</p>
<!-- the show/hide controls inside of the following
     list, for ease of selecting with CSS -->
<ul class="controls">
    <li class="show"><a href="#textarea">Show</a></li>
    <li class="hide"><a href="#">Hide</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Here is some more text</p>

Coupled with the CSS:

#textarea {
    display: none; /* hidden by default */
}

#textarea:target {
    display: block; /* shown when a link targeting this id is clicked */
}

#textarea + ul.controls {
    list-style-type: none; /* aesthetics only, adjust to taste, irrelevant to demo */
}

/* hiding the hide link when the #textarea is not targeted,
   hiding the show link when it is selected: */
#textarea + ul.controls .hide,
#textarea:target + ul.controls .show {
    display: none;
}

/* Showing the hide link when the #textarea is targeted,
   showing the show link when it's not: */
#textarea:target + ul.controls .hide,
#textarea + ul.controls .show {
    display: inline-block;
}

JS Fiddle demo.

Or, you could use a label and an input of type="checkbox":

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
<input id="textAreaToggle" type="checkbox" />
<p id="textarea">
    <!-- This is where I want to additional text-->
    All that delicious text is in here!
</p>
<label for="textAreaToggle">textarea</label>

<p>Here is some more text</p>

With the CSS:

#textarea {
    /* hide by default: */
    display: none;
}

/* when the checkbox is checked, show the neighbouring #textarea element: */
#textAreaToggle:checked + #textarea {
    display: block;
}

/* position the checkbox off-screen: */
input[type="checkbox"] {
    position: absolute;
    left: -1000px;
}

/* Aesthetics only, adjust to taste: */
label {
    display: block;
}

/* when the checkbox is unchecked (its default state) show the text
   'Show ' in the label element: */
#textAreaToggle + #textarea + label::before {
    content: 'Show ';
}

/* when the checkbox is checked 'Hide ' in the label element; the
   general-sibling combinator '~' is required for a bug in Chrome: */
#textAreaToggle:checked ~ #textarea + label::before {
    content: 'Hide ';
}

JS Fiddle demo.

Solution 3:

Try to toggle height.

function toggleTextArea()
{
  var limitedHeight = '40px';
  var targetEle = document.getElementById("textarea");
  targetEle.style.height = (targetEle.style.height === '') ? limitedHeight : '';
}

Solution 4:

This is my pure HTML & Javascript solution:

var setHeight = function (element, height) {
    if (!element) {;
        return false;
    }
    else {
        var elementHeight = parseInt(window.getComputedStyle(element, null).height, 10),
        toggleButton = document.createElement('a'),
        text = document.createTextNode('...Show more'),
        parent = element.parentNode;

        toggleButton.src = '#';
        toggleButton.className = 'show-more';
        toggleButton.style.float = 'right';
        toggleButton.style.paddingRight = '15px';
        toggleButton.appendChild(text);

        parent.insertBefore(toggleButton, element.nextSibling);

        element.setAttribute('data-fullheight', elementHeight);
        element.style.height = height;
        return toggleButton;
    }
}

var toggleHeight = function (element, height) {
    if (!element) {
        return false;
    }
    else {
        var full = element.getAttribute('data-fullheight'),
        currentElementHeight = parseInt(element.style.height, 10);

        element.style.height = full == currentElementHeight ? height : full + 'px';
    }
}

var toggleText = function (element) {
    if (!element) {
        return false;
    }
    else {
        var text = element.firstChild.nodeValue;
        element.firstChild.nodeValue = text == '...Show more' ? '...Show less' : '...Show more';
    }
}


var applyToggle = function(elementHeight){
    'use strict';
    return function(){
        toggleHeight(this.previousElementSibling, elementHeight);
        toggleText(this);
    }
}


var modifyDomElements = function(className, elementHeight){
    var elements = document.getElementsByClassName(className);
    var toggleButtonsArray = [];


    for (var index = 0, arrayLength = elements.length; index < arrayLength; index++) {
        var currentElement = elements[index];
        var toggleButton = setHeight(currentElement, elementHeight);
        toggleButtonsArray.push(toggleButton);
    }

    for (var index=0, arrayLength=toggleButtonsArray.length; index<arrayLength; index++){
        toggleButtonsArray[index].onclick = applyToggle(elementHeight);
    }
}

You can then call modifyDomElements function to apply text shortening on all the elements that have shorten-text class name. For that you would need to specify the class name and the height that you would want your elements to be shortened to:

modifyDomElements('shorten-text','50px');

Lastly, in your your html, just set the class name on the element you would want your text to get shorten:

<div class="shorten-text">Your long text goes here...</div>

Solution 5:

This should resolve your problem:

function toggleSeeMore() {
    if(document.getElementById("textarea").style.display == 'none') {
        document.getElementById("textarea").style.display = 'block';
        document.getElementById("seeMore").innerHTML = 'See less';
    }
    else {
        document.getElementById("textarea").style.display = 'none';
        document.getElementById("seeMore").innerHTML = 'See more';        
    }
}

The complete working example is here: http://jsfiddle.net/akhikhl/zLA5K/

JavaScript Guy