How to Display a Hidden Child Element in HTML When the Parent is Hidden?

Displaying Hidden Child Elements

In HTML, setting the display property of an element to "none" effectively hides that element from view. However, what happens when a child element within a hidden parent element needs to be displayed?

Original Query

A user encountered this issue while working with nested unordered lists. They wanted to display a validation error message in a child list item, even though the parent list item was hidden. Conventional wisdom suggested that this might not be possible due to the lack of context for the child element when its parent was not visible.

Solution

While it is not possible to directly display a child element when its parent element is display: none, there is an alternative approach that provides similar functionality:

Using Visibility

Instead of setting the display property to "none" for the parent element, set the visibility property to "hidden". This will remove the parent element from view while still allowing its child elements to be displayed.

CSS Example:

<code class="css">.hide {
    visibility: hidden;
}

.reshow {
    visibility: visible;
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
}</code>

Markup Example:

<code class="html"><ul>
    <li>One</li>
    <li class="hide">
        Two
        <ul>
            <li class="reshow">Re Show Me</li>
            <li>Inner 2</li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>Three</li>
</ul></code>

Using this method, the parent element will remain hidden, but the child element with the class "reshow" will be displayed and positioned at the top left of the screen.

Additional Considerations

• The parent element will still occupy space in the layout, even though it is hidden. This could affect the overall appearance of the page.
• This approach only works if the parent element is absolutely positioned or has a specific height and width set.
• It is not recommended to use this technique extensively, as it can lead to confusion and accessibility issues.

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