hedge

Website-elements which are collapsable help avoiding visual noise these days and give control to the user, what they want to see. Dagon Design developed a WordPress-Plugin called “<a href="http://www.dagondesign.com/articles/expanding-text-plugin-for-wordpress" rel="nofollow ugc">Expanding Text</a>” which enables a blogger to make any part of a post collapsable. I wasn’t entirely convinced with it, so I forked my own plugin.
<h4>
 Improvements compared to Expanding Text 
 </h4>
<ul>
<li>
 You can freely choose a text to be shown in front of the expand-link (default is a double-arrow), which indicates whether the part is collapsed or expanded next
 </li>
<li>
 the expand-part will expand via a jQuery-animation. This looks a lot better, than having the text just appear all of the sudden.
 </li>
<li>
 You can add expanding text directly with a media-button in the article editor
 </li>
</ul>

Text Expander

Allows you to define areas of text that expand/collapse when clicked.

Jose Varghese

The Read More Button plugin is the ultimate solution for managing long content on your WordPress site. Whether you have lengthy blog posts, detailed product descriptions, or extensive service pages, this content expander tool allows you to keep your layout clean and user-friendly.
By adding a customizable read more button, you can truncate text after a specific number of lines, encouraging users to click to expand content. This improves the user experience by preventing large blocks of text from overwhelming your visitors. The best part? The content expands instantly without refresh, ensuring a seamless reading experience.
Why Use a Read More Plugin? 
Improving readability is key to retaining visitors. A read more tag or button ensures that your users see the most important information first. This expand text functionality is perfect for mobile users who prefer scrolling through concise summaries before diving into deep content.
Key Features:
<ul>
<li>Customizable Read More Button: Style your show more button to match your theme.</li>
<li>Collapse / Show Less Button: After expanding, a “Show Less” button lets users collapse the content back. Both button labels are fully configurable.</li>
<li>Automatic Content Truncation: Automatically limit posts and pages by line count.</li>
<li>Instant Expansion: Smoothly reveal text and show hidden content without page reload.</li>
<li>Shortcode Support: Use <code>[read_more_button]</code> anywhere in post content for manual control.</li>
<li>Keyboard Accessible: Fully operable with keyboard – buttons respond to Enter/Space and focus is managed correctly after each interaction.</li>
<li>SEO Friendly: Hidden content remains accessible to search engines.</li>
<li>Exclusion Options: Exclude specific pages/posts by ID</li>
<li>Post Type Selection: Choose which post types to apply the functionality to</li>
<li>Flexible Content Control: Set after how many lines the button should appear</li>
<li>Custom Button Text: Change the button text to match your site’s tone</li>
<li>Public CPT Support: Works with all public custom post types</li>
<li>Performance Optimized: Lightweight code that only loads where needed</li>
</ul>
Perfect for:
<ul>
<li>Blog posts with long content</li>
<li>Product descriptions</li>
<li>Service pages</li>
<li>News articles</li>
<li>Any content where you want to improve readability and user engagement</li>
</ul>
Easy Setup:
<ol>
<li>Install and activate the plugin</li>
<li>Go to Settings > Read More Button</li>
<li>Configure your preferences (colors, text, line count, post types)</li>
<li>The button will automatically appear on your selected content types</li>
</ol>
Love using this plugin? Please consider <a href="https://superwebshare.com/read-more-plugin-donate" rel="nofollow ugc">donating</a> to support its development.
<h3>Developer Information</h3>
Technical Details: 
* Uses WordPress coding standards and security practices 
* All data properly sanitized and escaped 
* Follows WordPress plugin guidelines 
* Uses proper enqueue methods for scripts and styles 
* Implements WordPress hooks and filters correctly 
* Translation ready with proper text domain
Shortcode:
<pre><code>[read_more_button text="Read More" lines="14" collapse_text="Show Less"]Content here[/read_more_button]
</code></pre>
<ul>
<li><code>text</code> (optional) – Read More button label. Defaults to the value set in Settings.</li>
<li><code>lines</code> (optional) – Number of lines before truncation. Defaults to the value set in Settings.</li>
<li><code>collapse_text</code> (optional) – Show Less button label. Defaults to the value set in Settings.</li>
</ul>
Hooks and Filters: 
* <code>click_to_read_more_button_content_filter</code> – Filter the content before applying read more functionality 
* <code>click_to_read_more_button_button_text</code> – Filter the button text 
* <code>click_to_read_more_button_should_show</code> – Filter to control where the button should appear (receives <code>$show</code> bool and <code>$post_id</code>)
CSS Customisation: 
The fade gradient on truncated content uses the CSS variable <code>--ctrmb-bg</code> (default: <code>#fff</code>) so it blends with any background colour. If your theme uses a non-white background, add this to your theme’s stylesheet:
<pre><code>body { --ctrmb-bg: #your-background-colour; }
</code></pre>
Translation: 
Translation-ready <code>.pot</code> file located at <code>languages/click-to-read-more-button.pot</code>. Place translated <code>.po</code>/<code>.mo</code> files in the <code>languages/</code> folder using the naming convention <code>click-to-read-more-button-{locale}.po</code>.
Support: 
For support and feature requests, please contact the plugin author or submit issues through the WordPress.org support forums.
Donate: 
<a href="https://superwebshare.com/read-more-plugin-donate" rel="nofollow ugc">Donate Here</a>

Text Expander vs Read More Button – Expand Content Without Refresh