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JavaScript jQuery Basics Understanding jQuery Events and DOM Traversal Spoiler Revealer: Breaking it Down

When I hide an HTML element at the start of my script, I can still see it for an instant when it loads. Any fixes?

For example,

I can still see the spoiler text briefly even after developing a correct app.js script that hides the text and then shows the text and hides the button when the button is clicked.

The same was true for the flash message in the previous project. I could see it briefly whenever I reloaded the page.

I am using a fairly powerful tower PC, Windows 10, and the latest version of chrome.

7 Answers

Michael Schut
Michael Schut
739 Points

The reason you can see it for a small amount of time is because the page is still loading. The way a webpage loads is top to bottom. If you have the "<script src="app.js"></script>" at the bottom of the <body> then that will be the last item on the page to load. It is waiting for everything else to load in then it will process the javascript.

Another possible answer is if you have a "$(window).load();" surrounding your javascript. That means that every single element on the page will load before running the javascript inside the load callback.

Hope this answers your question!

So is there simple way to fix it ? I'v tried to place <script...> in the top of the <body> element, but then app.js doesn't run at all. Thanks in advance

Alan McClenaghan
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Alan McClenaghan
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 56,501 Points

In the CSS file, change .spoiler span to { display: none; }. This will prevent the spoiler being revealed but will mean the span element has no padding applied. Then in the JavaScript, rather than use the .show() method, you should instead use .css('display', 'block') to change the css property value back to block.

David Toops
David Toops
19,151 Points

I realize it's been over a year since this question was posted -- but I didn't see the suggestion of loading the span w/o text and inserting it when the button is pressed.

From index.html <p class="spoiler"> <span></span> <button>Reveal Spoiler</button> </p>

from app.js const spoilerText = "Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's Father! Noooooooooooo!"

$('.spoiler button').click(function(){ //Show the spoiler text $('.spoiler span').text(spoilerText); $('.spoiler span').show(); //Hide the "Reveal Spoiler" button $('.spoiler button').hide(); });

Thanks, Michael. I guess the fix would be to code the HTML to hide the content, and use JavaScript/JQuery to unhide it.

Kate C
Kate C
13,589 Points

I have the same question as what Dominykas Kuizinas has asked. Why move the <script> to the top of the <body> element or inside (head> doesn't run at all?? If they can be load first, isn't the problem would be solved?

I know it is better to put <script>at the bottom before <body>, but a small project like this, i guess it is ok???

Here's my solution to fix the spoiler showing on load. Maybe it's helpful to someone.

HTML: <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>Star Wars Spoilers</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css" type="text/css" media="screen" title="no title" charset="utf-8"> </head> <body> <img src="img/deathstar.png" /> <div class="spoiler"> <span>Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's Father! Noooooooooooo!</span> </div> <div class="button"> </div>

<script src="js/jquery-3.2.1.min.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> <script src="js/app.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>

</body> </html>

APP.JS: const spoiler = $('.spoiler'); const buttonDiv = $('.button'); const $button = $('<button>Reveal the spoiler</button>');

buttonDiv.append($button)

$button.click(function(){ spoiler.slideDown(1000); })

CSS: body { background: #2f558e url(../img/bg.png) repeat 0 0; background-size: 400px auto; font-family: sans-serif; } img { display: block; width: 150px; margin: 100px auto; } button { background: #dae1e4; border: none; border-radius: 5px; color: #1d3c6a; font-size: 24px; width: 480px; padding: 40px 0; margin: 0px -20px; outline: none; cursor: pointer; } .button { background: #1d3c6a; width: 440px; margin: 0 auto 20px; border-radius: 5px; text-align: center; font-size: 24px } .spoiler { background: #1d3c6a; width: 440px; margin: 0 auto 20px; border-radius: 5px; text-align: center; font-size: 24px; display:none; } .spoiler span { color: #dae1e4; padding: 40px 20px; display:inline-block; }

Tomas Vesely
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Tomas Vesely
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 22,327 Points

I created a "hidden" class attribute in CSS. Which I appended to a span. css: .hidden { display: none;}

html: <span class="hidden">Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's Father! Noooooooooooo!</span>

That way the span will not show at the very begining.

Then then I found removeClass() method. When a button is clicked, "hidden" class is removed and a span pops up.