Creating jQuery Functions to Manipulate CSS Visibility

In jQuery, the .hide() and .show() methods conveniently set the CSS display property to none and block, respectively. However, is there a similar function that explicitly sets the CSS visibility property to hidden?

Solution

While jQuery doesn't provide a native function specifically for setting visibility, you can easily create your own.

Creating custom visibility functions:

jQuery.fn.visible = function() {
    return this.css('visibility', 'visible');
};

jQuery.fn.invisible = function() {
    return this.css('visibility', 'hidden');
};

jQuery.fn.visibilityToggle = function() {
    return this.css('visibility', function(i, visibility) {
        return (visibility == 'visible') ? 'hidden' : 'visible';
    });
};

Example usage:

$('#element').visible(); // Makes element visible
$('#element').invisible(); // Makes element invisible
$('#element').visibilityToggle(); // Toggles visibility

Overloading the native toggle() function (not recommended):

!(function($) {
    var toggle = $.fn.toggle;
    $.fn.toggle = function() {
        var args = $.makeArray(arguments),
            lastArg = args.pop();

        if (lastArg == 'visibility') {
            return this.visibilityToggle();
        }

        return toggle.apply(this, arguments);
    };
})(jQuery);

This allows you to use toggle('visibility') as a shortcut for toggling the visibility. However, this is not generally recommended as it can override the default behavior of toggle() in other contexts.

Interactive jsFiddle Demonstration:

https://jsfiddle.net/