jQuery - Calculate width of text from DOM element or string.

text-width.js

$.fn.textWidth = function (text, font, transform) {
    if (!$.fn.textWidth.fakeEl) $.fn.textWidth.fakeEl = $('<span>').hide().appendTo(document.body);
    $.fn.textWidth.fakeEl.text(text || this.val() || this.text())
        .css('font', font || this.css('font'))
        .css('text-transform', transform || this.css('text-transform'));
    return $.fn.textWidth.fakeEl.width();
};