This is the third in a little trio of articles where I’m showing how quickly and easily you can implement common web features without relying on heavy libraries or complicated frameworks. This time, I worked on a "read more" button for clipped content - with maximal automation.
Feel Free to Use the Code
The code is straightforward, just vanilla JavaScript—no libraries, no magic. It's super lightweight and easy to integrate. It uses IntersectionObserver so it doesn't even run on elements until they're visible, saving performance overhead (though you may want to remove this optimization for smaller webpages).
https://gist.github.com/TomJPro/39e96d2cd6cbfcf908ad99273b2211a5
Discover a Whole New World of Simplicity
I assumed libraries existed for this because the problem seemed complex. But when I tried writing it myself, my head was stuck in the idea that it needed a complicated solution—my mind lied to me! Now I’m convinced these libraries exist because other developers also overthink the problem or try to solve every possible scenario with one huge solution. That can never truly work in a world where we count milliseconds.
When I wrote my first simple piece of code that did the job, it was just 20 lines compared to 100kb of a library, and it was even easier to customize for each project. It honestly felt like discovering a new world.
Want to See How I Built It?
I'm having fun with live streams. Come chat with me next time!
Final Thoughts
After seeing three common features (like a carousel, line clipping with a "read more", and similar scripts) coded in just a few minutes (including JS, HTML, and CSS), I hope it's clear that you often don't need heavy libraries. Sometimes, plain old JavaScript and a dash of CSS is all it takes to achieve slick, performant results.
Top comments (1)
Wanna know why I think developers often use plugins? Because there's no clear intention behind what they want to achieve. "I want a carousel" is all they think, without considering how it should work, how it fits into the site, UI, and UX. They don’t know what to do, so they grab the first thing that looks good as a standalone feature. At that moment, it's not a 10-minute coding task—it's an hour (at best) of not knowing what direction to take. I've been there.
Do you have your solution for these “I’m stuck” moments?