With CSS, use “…” for overflowed block of multi-li

Question

with

overflow: hidden;
text-overflow: ellipsis;
white-space: nowrap;

"..." will be shown in the end of the line if overflowed. However, this will be shown only in one line. But I would like it to be shown in multi-lines.

It may looks like:

+--------------------+
|abcde feg hij   dkjd|
|dsji jdia js ajid  s|
|jdis ajid dheu d ...|/*Here it's overflowed, so "..." is shown. */
+--------------------+

Answer 1

There are many answers here but I needed one that was:

• CSS Only
• Future-proof (gets more compatible with time)
• Not going to break words apart (only breaks on spaces)

The caveat is that it doesn't provide an ellipsis for the browsers that don't support the -webkit-line-clamp rule (currently IE, Edge, Firefox) but it does use a gradient to fade their text out.

.clampMe {
  position: relative;
  height: 2.4em; 
  overflow: hidden;
}

.clampMe:after {
  content: "";
  text-align: right;
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 0;
  right: 0;
  width: 50%;
  height: 1.2em; /* Just use multiples of the line-height */
  background: linear-gradient(to right, rgba(255, 255, 255, 0), rgba(255, 255, 255, 1) 80%);
}

/* Now add in code for the browsers that support -webkit-line-clamp and overwrite the non-supportive stuff */
@supports (-webkit-line-clamp: 2) {
  .clampMe {
      overflow: hidden;
      text-overflow: ellipsis;
      display: -webkit-box;
      -webkit-line-clamp: 2;
      -webkit-box-orient: vertical;
  }
  
  .clampMe:after {
    display: none;
  }
}

<p class="clampMe">There's a lot more text in here than what you'll ever see. Pellentesque habitant testalotish morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Vestibulum tortor quam, feugiat vitae, ultricies eget, tempor sit amet, ante. Donec eu libero sit amet quam egestas semper. Aenean ultricies mi vitae est. Mauris placerat eleifend leo.</p>

You can see it in action in this CodePen and you can also see a Javascript version here (no jQuery).

Answer 2

There are also several jquery plugins that deal with this issue, but many do not handle multiple lines of text. Following works:

• http://pvdspek.github.com/jquery.autoellipsis/
• http://dotdotdot.frebsite.nl/
• http://keith-wood.name/more.html
• http://github.com/tbasse/jquery-truncate

There also some preformance tests.

Answer 3

Great question... I wish there was an answer, but this is the closest you can get with CSS these days. No ellipsis, but still pretty usable.

overflow: hidden;
line-height: 1.2em;
height: 3.6em;      // 3 lines * line-height

Answer 4

thanks @balpha and @Kevin, I combine two method together.

no js needed in this method.

you can use background-image and no gradient needed to hide dots.

the innerHTML of .ellipsis-placeholder is not necessary, I use .ellipsis-placeholder to keep the same width and height with .ellipsis-more. You could use display: inline-block instead.

.ellipsis {
    overflow: hidden;
    position: relative;
}
.ellipsis-more-top {/*push down .ellipsis-more*/
    content: "";
    float: left;
    width: 5px;
}
.ellipsis-text-container {
    float: right;
    width: 100%;
    margin-left: -5px;
}
.ellipsis-more-container {
    float: right;
    position: relative;
    left: 100%;
    width: 5px;
    margin-left: -5px;
    border-right: solid 5px transparent;
    white-space: nowrap;
}
.ellipsis-placeholder {/*keep text around ,keep it transparent ,keep same width and height as .ellipsis-more*/
    float: right;
    clear: right;
    color: transparent;
}
.ellipsis-placeholder-top {/*push down .ellipsis-placeholder*/
    float: right;
    width: 0;
}
.ellipsis-more {/*ellipsis things here*/
    float: right;
}
.ellipsis-height {/*the total height*/
    height: 3.6em;
}
.ellipsis-line-height {/*the line-height*/
    line-height: 1.2;
}
.ellipsis-margin-top {/*one line height*/
    margin-top: -1.2em;
}
.ellipsis-text {
    word-break: break-all;
}

<div class="ellipsis ellipsis-height ellipsis-line-height">
    <div class="ellipsis-more-top ellipsis-height"></div>
    <div class="ellipsis-text-container">
        <div class="ellipsis-placeholder-top ellipsis-height ellipsis-margin-top"></div>
        <div class="ellipsis-placeholder">
           <span>...</span><span>more</span>
        </div>
        <span class="ellipsis-text">text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text </span>
    </div>
    <div class="ellipsis-more-container ellipsis-margin-top">
        <div class="ellipsis-more">
            <span>...</span><span>more</span>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

jsfiddler

Answer 5

a pure css method base on -webkit-line-clamp:

@-webkit-keyframes ellipsis {/*for test*/
    0% { width: 622px }
    50% { width: 311px }
    100% { width: 622px }
}
.ellipsis {
    max-height: 40px;/* h*n */
    overflow: hidden;
    background: #eee;

    -webkit-animation: ellipsis ease 5s infinite;/*for test*/
    /**
    overflow: visible;
    /**/
}
.ellipsis .content {
    position: relative;
    display: -webkit-box;
    -webkit-box-orient: vertical;
    -webkit-box-pack: center;
    font-size: 50px;/* w */
    line-height: 20px;/* line-height h */
    color: transparent;
    -webkit-line-clamp: 2;/* max row number n */
    vertical-align: top;
}
.ellipsis .text {
    display: inline;
    vertical-align: top;
    font-size: 14px;
    color: #000;
}
.ellipsis .overlay {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 50%;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    overflow: hidden;

    /**
    overflow: visible;
    left: 0;
    background: rgba(0,0,0,.5);
    /**/
}
.ellipsis .overlay:before {
    content: "";
    display: block;
    float: left;
    width: 50%;
    height: 100%;

    /**
    background: lightgreen;
    /**/
}
.ellipsis .placeholder {
    float: left;
    width: 50%;
    height: 40px;/* h*n */

    /**
    background: lightblue;
    /**/
}
.ellipsis .more {
    position: relative;
    top: -20px;/* -h */
    left: -50px;/* -w */
    float: left;
    color: #000;
    width: 50px;/* width of the .more w */
    height: 20px;/* h */
    font-size: 14px;

    /**
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    background: orange;
    /**/
}

<div class='ellipsis'>
    <div class='content'>
        <div class='text'>text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text </div>
        <div class='overlay'>
            <div class='placeholder'></div>
            <div class='more'>...more</div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>