getting percent CSS position with jQuery

Question

I\'m trying to get an element\'s CSS (top and left) with jQuery:

$(element).css(\'top\');

but instead of \"12%\" like it should be, I get the p

Answer 1

There is a (very easy) way to do this!
Even when using stylesheets.
The key is to prevent jquery from calculating the value by temporarily hiding the parent.

$(element).parent().hide();
var top = $(element).css("top");
$(element).parent().show();
console.log(top);

voila!

If you want just the number without the "%" use

top = parseFloat(top);

BTW: Don't worry, the hiding and reshowing is so quick, it won't be visible for your users.