Long term, you will be able to use the ResizeObserver.
new ResizeObserver(callback).observe(element);
Unfortunately it is not currently supported by default in many browsers.
In the mean time, you can use function like the following. Since, the majority of element size changes will come from the window resizing or from changing something in the DOM. You can listen to window resizing with the window's resize event and you can listen to DOM changes using MutationObserver.
Here's an example of a function that will call you back when the size of the provided element changes as a result of either of those events:
var onResize = function(element, callback) {
if (!onResize.watchedElementData) {
// First time we are called, create a list of watched elements
// and hook up the event listeners.
onResize.watchedElementData = [];
var checkForChanges = function() {
onResize.watchedElementData.forEach(function(data) {
if (data.element.offsetWidth !== data.offsetWidth ||
data.element.offsetHeight !== data.offsetHeight) {
data.offsetWidth = data.element.offsetWidth;
data.offsetHeight = data.element.offsetHeight;
data.callback();
}
});
};
// Listen to the window's size changes
window.addEventListener('resize', checkForChanges);
// Listen to changes on the elements in the page that affect layout
var observer = new MutationObserver(checkForChanges);
observer.observe(document.body, {
attributes: true,
childList: true,
characterData: true,
subtree: true
});
}
// Save the element we are watching
onResize.watchedElementData.push({
element: element,
offsetWidth: element.offsetWidth,
offsetHeight: element.offsetHeight,
callback: callback
});
};