How to Truncate Text in a Paragraph Based on Height in CSS

Discover effective techniques to `truncate text` in HTML paragraphs without affecting other elements on your page.
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How to Truncate Text in a Paragraph Based on Height in CSS

In web development, it's common to encounter issues with text that might overflow its container, especially in scenarios where you have a predefined layout with titles, descriptions, and buttons. This can lead to a disorganized look where elements overlap or are pushed out of view. Fortunately, there are effective methods to handle text overflow gracefully by truncating it.

The Problem

Imagine you have a web page that features a box containing a title, a detailed description, and a button labeled “Open”. If the description is too long, it can disrupt the layout, making it difficult for users to interact with UI elements as intended.

For instance, consider the following long description:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

When this description exceeds a certain length, we want to truncate it so that it appears like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This ensures that all necessary elements are visible and positioned correctly, enhancing the user experience.

The Solution

The solution to truncating text in a paragraph based on its height involves using some specific CSS properties. Below, I’ll guide you through a simple approach to achieve this.

Step-by-Step Method

1. Use CSS Properties:
To effectively truncate text, we need to combine the following CSS properties:

white-space: nowrap;

This prevents the text from wrapping onto multiple lines.

overflow: hidden;

This hides any text that exceeds the boundary of its container.

text-overflow: ellipsis;

This adds an ellipsis (...) to indicate that there is more text than is being displayed.

2. Set a Monospace Font:
By using a monospace font (where each character has the same width), you can accurately control the width of the container using em units.

Example Code

Here is how you can implement this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

And in your HTML, you would wrap your description in a paragraph tag:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

By using these simple CSS techniques, you can effectively truncate text in your paragraph elements to maintain a clean and organized layout on your webpage. Not only does it enhance the overall appearance, but it also improves user interaction by ensuring all elements are visible and accessible.

Now, whenever you face text overflow issues, you can confidently apply these methods to keep your designs looking sharp!