How to Add Click-to-Reveal Spoiler Text in WordPress (No Plugins)

In the modern digital landscape, information density is a double-edged sword. While readers crave detail, providing too much information at once—especially sensitive data like movie endings, game solutions, or complex code answers—can ruin the user experience. This is where the Click-to-Reveal “Spoiler” Text utility becomes essential.

For review sites, educational platforms, and technical blogs, the ability to gate content behind a user interaction is more than just a “cool effect.” It is a functional UX strategy that respects the reader’s choice and prevents accidental “information overflow.”

Why Use Interactive Spoilers?

Static content is passive. Interactive content is engaging. By hiding specific text, you achieve several psychological and technical goals:

• Curiosity Gap: Hiding an answer encourages the user to think for themselves before revealing the solution, which is vital for educational tutorials.
• Reduced Clutter: Long code snippets or detailed plot summaries can make a page look overwhelming. Spoilers keep the UI clean.
• User Autonomy: You empower the reader to decide exactly what they want to see, improving overall satisfaction and decreasing bounce rates.

The Ultimate Spoiler Text Generator

Use the tool below to generate your interactive spoiler component. We have designed five distinct styles tailored for different niches: Standard, Gaming (Pixel), Cybersecurity (Redacted), Academic (Fold), and Modern Glass.

The customization logic for behavior—such as “Click to Close” or “Auto-Hide”—is integrated directly into the code.

<!-- INTERACTIVE SPOILER -->
<div class="spoiler-wrapper" onclick="this.classList.toggle('revealed')">
    <span class="spoiler-hint">Click to reveal spoiler</span>
    <span class="spoiler-content">Your hidden text or code goes here!</span>
</div>

<style>
.spoiler-wrapper { 
    display: inline-block; cursor: pointer; position: relative; transition: all 0.3s;
    background: #f1f5f9; border: 1px dashed #cbd5e1; padding: 2px 8px; border-radius: 4px;
}
.spoiler-content { filter: blur(5px); opacity: 0.3; pointer-events: none; }
.spoiler-hint { 
    position: absolute; left: 50%; top: 50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
    font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; color: #475569; white-space: nowrap; 
}
.revealed .spoiler-content { filter: blur(0); opacity: 1; pointer-events: auto; }
.revealed .spoiler-hint { display: none; }

</style>

Live Preview

Part 1: How the Spoiler Logic Works

This utility uses a combination of State Switching and Visual Obfuscation.

1. State Switching: We use a simple JavaScript classList.toggle('revealed') function attached to the container. This allows the user to click once to see the content and click again to hide it if they choose.
2. Visual Obfuscation: * Blur Method: The content is present in the DOM but rendered unreadable via CSS filter: blur(). This is great for accessibility as screen readers can still technically parse the text if configured correctly.
   • Opacity/Hidden Method: Used in the Gaming and Academic styles, this completely removes the content from sight until the trigger is activated.
3. The “Hint” Overlay: To ensure the user knows the block is interactive, an absolute-positioned hint is placed over the obfuscated text.

Part 2: Customizing the Behavior

The code provided is built to be “Zero-Config,” but you can change the behavior by editing two lines:

Toggle vs. Permanent Reveal

Currently, the code uses toggle. This means clicking again hides the spoiler. If you want the reveal to be permanent until the page is refreshed, change: onclick="this.classList.toggle('revealed')" to onclick="this.classList.add('revealed')"

Changing the Trigger Message

Inside the HTML, you will see <span class="spoiler-hint">. You can change this text to anything:

• “Show Answer”
• “Warning: Plot Spoilers!”
• “View Solution”

Part 3: SEO and Accessibility Considerations

One of the biggest concerns with hidden text is whether Google will penalize you for “hidden content.”

Good news: Google’s modern crawlers understand user-activated content. Since this content is visible in the HTML source and only hidden via CSS, it is generally treated as “Content Not Visible on Load” rather than “Maliciously Hidden Text.”

Accessibility Tip: For users who rely on screen readers, it is best practice to add aria-expanded="false" to your wrapper and use JavaScript to switch it to true when clicked. This communicates the state of the component to assistive technology.

Part 4: Where to Place the Code

For Post-by-Post Use:

Use the Custom HTML Block in the WordPress Gutenberg editor. Paste the code exactly where you want the spoiler to appear.

For Global Use:

If you want to use this frequently, add the <style> section to your theme’s Additional CSS (Appearance > Customize). Then, you only need to paste the 4 lines of HTML whenever you want a spoiler.