I have elements with this pattern (XML, not HTML, but CSS should still work):
<expan abbr="XX">YY</expan>
Sometimes I want to see "YY" in the output, sometimes I want to see "XX". No problem when I want to see "YY" and not the attribute value: just leave it as is. No problem if I want to see BOTH the element content and the attribute value: this bit of CSS does that:
expan:after {content:attr(abbr);}
will display <expan abbr="XX">YY</expan> as "YYXX".
But: problem if I want to see the attribute value and NOT the element content -- that is, if I want to see just "XX". I can use either CSS display or visibility to hide the element <expan>. But it hides EVERYTHING, including the :after pseudo-element. So, this code:
expan:after {content:attr(abbr);}
expan {display:none;}
Shows nothing at all.
So, good folk... help. This seems a very obvious thing to want to do. Of course, I could do it pretty easily manipulating the DOM with Javascript. But for various reasons, I don't have that option. I'd like to do it with simple CSS. Can I??