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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, overflow and linear-gradient. Something like this.

max-height:200px;
overflow:hidden;
text-overflow: ellipsis;
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#000, #fff);

The full fiddle is available. I am trying to achieve effect similar to this one enter image description here

and I am kind of close. The problem is that in my case text start to fade-out from the very beginning and I want it to start fading out only if it is really close to maximum size. Lets say start fading out if it is already 150px. Also I am using only -webkit prefix and I assume that there may be other prefixes that I can add for other rendering engines.

Is there a way to do this in pure CSS?

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2
  • 1
    Detecting when the overflow happens in CSS is something impossible unless we have to use some layout trick in combination with CSS. If you mean the overflow is considered to happen if the height reaches about 150px, then the text should be faded out, here is the solution for you, this uses a gradient layer on top of the text and it works for all browsers supporting linear-gradient, so I think it's better than your solution using -webkit-background-clip:text which is supported only by webkit-based browsers (I think): jsfiddle.net/b9vtW/1
    – King King
    Commented Apr 2, 2014 at 10:26
  • I've made a few pens similar to the request: pen 1 & pen 2
    – vsync
    Commented May 12, 2021 at 18:29

12 Answers 12

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143

Looks like your requirement is just to fade out the text beginning at a certain height (about 150px), the text (if any) presenting at that height is considered as overflow. So you can try using some kind of transparent linear gradient layer placed on top of the text area, we can achieve this in a neat way using the pseudo-element :before like this:

.row:before {
  content:'';
  width:100%;
  height:100%;    
  position:absolute;
  left:0;
  top:0;
  background:linear-gradient(transparent 150px, white);
}

Fiddle

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6
  • 36
    Very nice. I also had to set position:relative on the .row. One issue though was that the overlaid pseudo-element made it impossible to click on links inside the original element. To fix this I added pointer-events: none to the pseudo-element's styling.
    – joeytwiddle
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 7:39
  • @joeytwiddle - thanks for pointer-events tip. As a side note, pointer-events and linear-gradients are supported in IE9+ and :before is supported in IE8+, so IE8 users will get the psuedo-element but won't see the gradient and won't be able to click anything below it. Detecting IE8 and removing the psuedo-element could be advisable.
    – TheCarver
    Commented Jul 9, 2016 at 0:31
  • 7
    If you're wondering why this isn't working on iOS Safari, that's because transparent isn't allowed there. Use rgba(255,255,255,0) instead, per this SO post: stackoverflow.com/questions/16816648/…
    – Mark Bao
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 18:47
  • 1
    Just wanted to point out a few things: opacity in rgba values (the last value)are from 0 - 1.0 incase you don't want it to fade out completely, and if you want links such as a more link below the text, then you could use the above styling for say, a p tag instead of the .row
    – user3791372
    Commented Aug 12, 2016 at 15:31
  • 1
    This text-overflow: ellipsis; content: ""; Not useful in your class row
    – Matohawk
    Commented Oct 8, 2017 at 22:11
69

I used this method derived from reddit pages & it works fine

.fade {
    -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 60%, transparent);
  }
<div>
    <div class="fade">
    Text text text text<br />
    Text text text text<br />
    Text text text text<br />
    Text text text text<br />
    Text text text text<br />
    Text text text text<br />
    Text text text text<br />
    Text text text text<br />
    Text text text text<br />
    Text text text text<br />
    </div>
</div>
Expand snippet

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6
19

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/

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2
  • 1
    Nice, but if you use bottom:0; instead of top:160px; then it will be more universal. Gradient will only occupy bottom of the parent element with height being height of the gradient.
    – Nux
    Commented Jul 18, 2017 at 15:44
  • @nux using bottom instead of top won't work as expected if the element has max-height and no height. If you use bottom:0, gradient will be applied even if text only occupies one line when it should just have the gradient on the last line (could 3rd, 4th, etc)
    – jbdeguzman
    Commented Mar 6, 2018 at 1:57
10

The right one guys

-webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 60%, transparent);

Just make the Hight Fixed and apply this, it´s going to work just fine.

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2
5

I think your are looking for something like this, right?

http://jsfiddle.net/QPFkH/

.text {
    position:relative;
    width:200px;
    max-height:10em;
    overflow:hidden;
}
.shadow {
    position:absolute;
    top:8em;
    width:100%;
    height:2em;
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(transparent, white);
    background: -o-linear-gradient(transparent, white);
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(transparent, white);
    background: linear-gradient(transparent, white);
}
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5

Your code is correct just the liner gradient percent must be set

background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,#000 70%, #fff);

Try the fiddle link

http://jsfiddle.net/ShinyMetilda/kb4fL/1/

You could alse specfiy it in pixel like this

 background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,#000 140px, #fff);

Both works the same

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4

If you don't need to rely on percentage values, use box-shadow instead of background-image. It makes it possible to let the user interact with the elements behind your fading-thingy, without the need of pointer-events: none (http://caniuse.com/#feat=pointer-events):

box-shadow: 0 0 2em 1em #f00;
height: 0;

But be warned, box-shadow can slow down scrolling:

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2

I recomend you to use http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/.

What you are looking for may be:

background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%, rgba(255,255,255,0) 80%, rgba(0,0,0,1) 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(255,255,255,0)), color-stop(80%,rgba(255,255,255,0)), color-stop(100%,rgba(0,0,0,1))); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(255,255,255,0) 80%,rgba(0,0,0,1) 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(255,255,255,0) 80%,rgba(0,0,0,1) 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(255,255,255,0) 80%,rgba(0,0,0,1) 100%); /* IE10+ */
background: linear-gradient(to bottom,  rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(255,255,255,0) 80%,rgba(0,0,0,1) 100%); /* W3C */
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#00ffffff', endColorstr='#000000',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */

and if not workign as you wish, copy and paste those css in the url (css window) and modifie it at will.

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2
  • The problem is that I need to specify starting point in pixels, not percentage. with percentage if the text is too small it still fades-out. And apparently syntax of commands, you suggested does not allow this.
    – Salvador Dali
    Commented Apr 2, 2014 at 10:44
  • well. you may use insteed this solution who may work on all browsers (unless pseudo-element after):jsfiddle.net/b9vtW/3.. just add an absolut positioned div with the height you wish inside your wrap align to bottom with the gradiant as backgroud. easy and safe
    – Alvaro Menéndez
    Commented Apr 2, 2014 at 11:02
2

I had a similar problem with a bootstrap button which has a vertical gradient and also change of gradient on hover. This worked for me.

<button class="btn btn-success" style="width:250px">
      <div class="faderflow">
         SOME TEXT THAT'S TOO LONG FOR THE BUTTON
      </div>
</button>



.faderflow {
    overflow: hidden;

   /* same color as text (white) */
    background: linear-gradient(to right, rgb(255, 255, 255) 80%,rgba(255, 255, 255, 0) 100%);
    background-clip: border-box;
    -webkit-background-clip: text;
    -webkit-text-fill-color: #fff0;

   /* overwrite the bootstrap text shadow  */
    text-shadow: 0 -1px 0 rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2);
}

https://codepen.io/andyg2/pen/qGmKKN

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2
1

My variant with a gradient appearing with overflowing

.row {
  width: 300px;
  max-height: 200px;
  position: relative;
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: column-reverse wrap;
  overflow: hidden;
}

.content {
  max-height: 100%;
  overflow: hidden;
}

.background {
  width: 100%;
  height: 1px;
  position: relative;
}

.background:before {
  content: '';
  display: block;
  width: 100%;
  height: 150px;
  left: -100%;
  bottom: 0;
  position: absolute;
  background: linear-gradient(transparent, white);
  pointer-events: none
}
<div class="row">
  <div class="content">content</div>
  <div class="background"></div>
</div>
Expand snippet

JSFiddle

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0

I used this method to make the bottom transparent.

http://jsfiddle.net/IAMCHIEF/x7qLon18/4/

.row{
    position:relative;
    width: 300px;
    margin-bottom: 5px;
    padding-bottom: 5px;
    border-bottom: 3px solid #777;
    max-height:200px;
    overflow:hidden;
    color:#fff;
    background:#000;
}
.row:after {
  content: "";
position: absolute;
top: 137px;
left: 0;
height: 40px;
width: 100%;
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(rgba(255, 255,255, .4), rgba(255, 255, 255, 1));
}
<div class="row">
	Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
</div>
<div class="row">
	Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
</div>
<div class="row">
	Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed
</div>
Expand snippet

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0

You need to have a containing outer <div> set to position: realtive; with something like <p>Some text to be faded in here</p> with a position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0;. You also need another <div> inside the outer <div> and at the same level as the <p>, also set with position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; and a height and width set to match the area you wish to fade. This should also have z-index: 10; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, rgba(255,255,255,1));. This removes the need for the webkit options.

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