Can text be hidden and shown using just CSS (no JavaScript code)? [closed]

Answer 1

Use "display: none;" attribute.

Answer 2

You could hide a checkbox, but allow it to be checked/unchecked via its associated <label> element.

Based on whether the checkbox is checked or not, you can hide/show the additional text, and even change the text of the label from "More" to "Less".

I've included some additional details in the CSS so that each definition's intentions can be a bit more clear.

1. With one toggle "More" / "Less" button:

.more-text, #more-checkbox {          /* Hide the second paragraph and checkbox */
  display: none;
}

input:checked ~ .more-text {          /* Show the second paragraph when checked */
  display: block;
}

.more-label::after {                  /* Label underline, hand cursor, color */
  cursor: pointer;
  text-decoration: underline;
  color: #666;
}

input ~ .more-label::after {          /* Set label text to "More" by default */
  content: 'More';
}

input:checked ~ .more-label::after {  /* Set label text to "Less" when checked */
  content: 'Less';
}

<p>
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam ullamcorper, arcu ut facilisis interdum, lacus felis fringilla nulla, vel scelerisque massa quam vel leo.
</p>

<input type="checkbox" id="more-checkbox" />
<label class="more-label" for="more-checkbox"></label>

<p class="more-text">
  Sed a ullamcorper ex. In elementum purus ullamcorper justo gravida aliquet. Aliquam erat volutpat. Maecenas in ante quam.
</p>

---

2. With "More" button at the top and "Less" button at the bottom:

.more-text, #more-checkbox, .less-label {
  display: none;
}

.more-label, .less-label {          
  cursor: pointer;
  text-decoration: underline; 
  color: #666;
}

input:checked ~ .more-text, input:checked ~ .less-label {
  display: block;
}

input:checked ~ .more-label {
  display: none;
}

<p>
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam ullamcorper, arcu ut facilisis interdum, lacus felis fringilla nulla, vel scelerisque massa quam vel leo.</p>

<input type="checkbox" id="more-checkbox" />
<label class="more-label" for="more-checkbox">More</label>

<p class="more-text">
  Sed a ullamcorper ex. In elementum purus ullamcorper justo gravida aliquet. Aliquam erat volutpat. Maecenas in ante quam.
</p>

<label class="less-label" for="more-checkbox">Less</label>

Answer 3

now you can hide/show text using only CSS too! If you are using text input and want to show/hide text based on the state of the input box, you can use the new CSS pseudo-class :placeholder-shown for <input> or <textarea>. Here is an example/demo of the above-mentioned pseudo-class!:

/* Some base style  */
.app {
  margin: 10px auto;
  padding: 10px;
}

code {
  background-color: lightgray;
  padding: 4px;
}

input {
  padding: 5px 10px;
}

input:focus {
  outline: none;
}

/* When there is something in input box give 
  it a solid blue border */

input:not(:placeholder-shown) {
  border: solid 2px #42A5F5
}

/* Hide the p initially */
p {
  background-color: #F0F4C3;
  padding: 5px;
  opacity: 0;
  transition: all 300ms ease-in-out;
}


/* Show the p when the placeholder is not shown. 
  i.e. Something is in the input box and placeholder is gone */
input:not(:placeholder-shown)+p {
  opacity: 1
}

<div class="app">
  <h1>Hide/Show Text using input's <code>:placehoder-shown</code> psuedo class!</h1>
  <label for="name">Enter your name</label>
  <input type="text" id="name" placeholder="Your Name">
  <p class="msg">Well done!</p>
</div>

Here is Link to MDN Docs.

This is an experimental technology Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

Answer 4

There’s the <details> element, which isn’t yet built into Edge:

<details>
  <summary>more <!-- a bad summary --></summary>
  <p>Some content</p>
</details>

I’m not sure how hard it is to style consistently across browsers.

There’s a common checkbox hack (where the checkbox can be hidden and the label can be styled to look like anything):

#more:not(:checked) ~ #content {
  display: none;
}

<input id="more" type="checkbox" /> <label for="more">more</label>

<p id="content">Some content</p>

but it’s not always (maybe ever? hmm) appropriate to use it; you can usually just fall back on showing the content when JavaScript fails to load, and have the “more” link link to it.

There’s also :target, but it’s probably even less appropriate, since it's harder to build in the closing mechanism.

#content {
  display: none;
}

#content:target {
  display: block;
}

#less {
  display: none;
}

#content:target ~ #less {
  display: block;
}

<a href="#content" id="more">More</a>
<p id="content">Lorem ipsum</p>
<a href="#" id="less">Less</a>

Answer 5

Maybe somebody will find this solution more intuitive and easier to implement. The mechanics of this is that the link targets itself and in that case it's easy to select anything what comes next in the DOM.

.toggle-hide,
.toggle-content {
  display: none;
}
.toggle-show:target + .toggle-hide,
.toggle-show:target + .toggle-hide + .toggle-content {
  display: block;
}
.toggle-show:target {
  display: none;
}

<a id="target" class="toggle-show" href="#target">Show</a>
<a class="toggle-hide" href="#" >Hide</a>
<p class="toggle-content">Lorem ipsum</p>

Answer 6

Yes, this is possible with pure CSS. You're able to click on an element by making use of a checkbox's :checked attribute in combination with a <label> element's for attribute.

Because the checkbox can be unchecked, you can use this to toggle visibility by simply adding visibility: hidden to an element stemming from :checked (once the checkbox is clicked again, this pseudo-selector will be invalid, and the CSS selector will no longer match the target).

This can be extended to a <label> with use of the for attribute, so that you can completely hide the checkbox itself, and apply your own styling to the <label> directly.

The following makes use of the adjacent sibling combinator (+) to toggle the class toggle when the <label> element is clicked:

input[type="checkbox"] {
  display: none; /* Hide the checkbox */
}

/* This is tied to the invisible checkbox */
label {
    background-color: #4CAF50;
    border: 2px solid black;
    border-radius: 20px;
    color: white;
    padding: 15px 32px;
    text-align: center;
    font-size: 16px;
    display: inline-block;
    margin-bottom: 20px;
    cursor: pointer;
    user-select: none;
}

/* The target element to toggle */
input[type="checkbox"]:checked + label + .toggle {
  visibility: hidden;
}

<input type="checkbox" id="checkbox" />
<label for="checkbox">Click me to toggle the content</label>
<div class="toggle">CONTENT</div>