JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground by Nikki Rabbitt May 04, 2015 HTML <div id="web_view_container"> <span class="sentences">Hello, this is last sentence this is last sentence this is last sentence this is last sentence this is last sentence.</span> </div> <p class="lines"></p> CSS #web_view_container { position:absolute; top:100px; left:100px; width:306px; height:202px; overflow:auto; } .sentences { font-family:Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size:20px; } JavaScript var $sent = $('.sentences'), lh = $sent.css('line-height'), ws = $sent.css('white-space'); if (lh === 'normal') { $sent.css('white-space', 'nowrap'); lh = $sent.height(); $sent.css('white-space', ws); } $('.lines').text(Math.ceil($('.sentences').height() / parseInt(lh, 10)));