[jquery] Total width of element (including padding and border) in jQuery

Anyone else stumbling upon this answer should note that jQuery now (>=1.3) has outerHeight/outerWidth functions to retrieve the width including padding/borders, e.g.

$(elem).outerWidth(); // Returns the width + padding + borders

To include the margin as well, simply pass true:

$(elem).outerWidth( true ); // Returns the width + padding + borders + margins