Fading out text on overflow with css if the text is bigger than allowed

Question

I am trying to create a text fade-out effect when the amount of text is bigger than the row can handle. I am achieving this with the mixture of max-height,

Answer 1

I’d suggest something like this:

Apply the gradient to an absolutely positioned pseudo-element (:after), that get’s positioned at say 160px from top with 40px height – that way, it’ll not be shown at all in shorter boxes (because of their max-height in combination with overflow:hidden). And the gradient itself is from totally transparent (rgba(0,0,0,0)) to solid black.

.row{
    position:relative;
    /* … */
}
.row:after {
    content:"";
    position:absolute;
    top:160px;
    left:0;
    height:40px;
    width:100%;
    background: linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0), #000);
}

http://jsfiddle.net/b9vtW/2/