Basics
CSS Visibility
Managing Element Visibility
CSS visibility controls element display with visible, hidden, and opacity.
Understanding CSS Visibility
The CSS visibility property allows developers to control the display of elements on a webpage. It determines whether an element should be visible or hidden, but unlike the display property, it does not remove the element from the document flow. This means that even if an element is hidden, it still occupies space on the page.
The visibility Property Values
The visibility property supports three primary values:
- visible: The element is visible.
- hidden: The element is hidden but still takes up space in the layout.
- collapse: Used mainly in tables, behaves like 'hidden' for other elements.
Difference Between Visibility and Display
While visibility controls whether an element is visible or not, it does not affect the document layout. On the other hand, the display property can remove an element from the document flow entirely. Here's a quick comparison:
visibility: hidden;hides the element but keeps its space occupied.display: none;removes the element from the document flow, freeing up space.
Using CSS Opacity for Visibility Control
Another way to control the visibility of elements is by using the opacity property. Unlike visibility: hidden;, opacity: 0; will make an element fully transparent, but it still responds to events like clicks and hover.
Practical Use Cases for CSS Visibility
CSS visibility is particularly useful for:
- Temporarily hiding elements without affecting layout.
- Creating accessible content for screen readers while hiding it visually using different techniques.
- Animating elements by toggling between
visibleandhiddenstates.
