Hide div but keep the empty space

Try:

$(".description").css("visibility", "hidden")

hide() is the equivalent to: $(".description").css("display", "none");

Which does not reserve the space the element was taking.

Hidden makes the element invisible, but stills reserves the space.

It's important to note that dfsq's example using Opacity:0 will still allow the contents to be selected, copy/pasted, etc., although there is no visible text-highlighting when selecting.

And another option for the sake of completeness. Toggle opacity:

$(".description").css('opacity', 0); // hide
$(".description").css('opacity', 1); // show

http://jsfiddle.net/KPqwt/

However using visibility is prefered for this task.

Use visibility css property for this

visibility:

The visibility property specifies whether the boxes generated by an element are rendered.

$(".description").css('visibility', 'hidden');

Demo: Fiddle