Alerts are available for any length of text, as well as an optional dismiss button. For proper styling, use one of the four **required** contextual classes (e.g., `.alert-success`). For inline dismissal, use the [alerts jQuery plugin](#dismissing).
<p>Aww yeah, you successfully read this important alert message. This example text is going to run a bit longer so that you can see how spacing within an alert works with this kind of content.</p>
- If you're building our JS from source, it [requires `util.js`]({{ site.baseurl }}/docs/getting-started/javascript/#util). The compiled version includes this.
- Add a dismiss button and the `.alert-dismissible` class, which adds extra padding to the right of the alert and positions the `.close` button.
- On the dismiss button, add the `data-dismiss="alert"` attribute, which triggers the JavaScript functionality. Be sure to use the `<button>` element with it for proper behavior across all devices.
Note that closing an alert will remove it from the DOM.
### Methods
| Method | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `$().alert()` | Makes an alert listen for click events on descendant elements which have the `data-dismiss="alert"` attribute. (Not necessary when using the data-api's auto-initialization.) |
| `$().alert('close')` | Closes an alert by removing it from the DOM. If the `.fade` and `.show` classes are present on the element, the alert will fade out before it is removed. |