jQuery .hide()

With no parameters, the .hide() method is the simplest way to hide an element:

$( ".target" ).hide();

The matched elements will be hidden immediately, with no animation. This is roughly equivalent to calling .css( "display", "none" ), except that the value of the display property is saved in jQuery’s data cache so that display can later be restored to its initial value. If an element has a display value of inline and is hidden then shown, it will once again be displayed inline.

When a duration, a plain object, or a "complete" function is provided, .hide() becomes an animation method. The .hide() method animates the width, height, and opacity of the matched elements simultaneously. When these properties reach 0, the display style property is set to none to ensure that the element no longer affects the layout of the page.

Durations are given in milliseconds; higher values indicate slower animations, not faster ones. The strings 'fast' and 'slow' can be supplied to indicate durations of 200 and 600 milliseconds, respectively.

Note that .hide() is fired immediately and will override the animation queue if no duration or a duration of 0 is specified.

As of jQuery 1.4.3, an optional string naming an easing function may be used. Easing functions specify the speed at which the animation progresses at different points within the animation. The only easing implementations in the jQuery library are the default, called swing, and one that progresses at a constant pace, called linear. More easing functions are available with the use of plug-ins, most notably the jQuery UI suite.

If supplied, the callback is fired once the animation is complete. This can be useful for stringing different animations together in sequence. The callback is not sent any arguments, but this is set to the DOM element being animated. If multiple elements are animated, it is important to note that the callback is executed once per matched element, not once for the animation as a whole.

We can animate any element, such as a simple image:

<div id="clickme">
 Click here
</div>
<img id="book" src="book.png" alt="" width="100" height="123">

// With the element initially shown, we can hide it slowly:
$( "#clickme" ).click(function() {
 $( "#book" ).hide( "slow", function() {
 alert( "Animation complete." );
 });
});