Another simple solution (not very elegant, but not too ugly also) is to place a inner div / span
then get his height ($(this).find('span).height()
).
Here is an example of using this strategy:
$(".more").click(function(){_x000D_
if($(this).parent().find('.showMore').length) {_x000D_
$(this).parent().find('.showMore').removeClass('showMore').css('max-height','90px');_x000D_
$(this).parent().find('.more').removeClass('less').text('More');_x000D_
} else {_x000D_
$(this).parent().find('.text').addClass('showMore').css('max-height',$(this).parent().find('span').height());_x000D_
$(this).parent().find('.more').addClass('less').text('Less');_x000D_
}_x000D_
});
_x000D_
* {transition: all 0.5s;}_x000D_
.text {position:relative;width:400px;max-height:90px;overflow:hidden;}_x000D_
.showMore {}_x000D_
.text::after {_x000D_
content: "";_x000D_
position: absolute; bottom: 0; left: 0;_x000D_
box-shadow: inset 0 -26px 22px -17px #fff;_x000D_
height: 39px;_x000D_
z-index:99999;_x000D_
width:100%;_x000D_
opacity:1;_x000D_
}_x000D_
.showMore::after {opacity:0;}_x000D_
.more {border-top:1px solid gray;width:400px;color:blue;cursor:pointer;}_x000D_
.more.less {border-color:#fff;_x000D_
}
_x000D_
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>_x000D_
<div>_x000D_
<div class="text">_x000D_
<span>_x000D_
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum._x000D_
</span></div>_x000D_
<div class="more">More</div>_x000D_
</div>
_x000D_
(This specific example is using this trick to animate the max-height and avoiding animation delay when collapsing (when using high number for the max-height property).