diff --git a/examples/dev_sandbox.css b/examples/dev_sandbox.css
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2e348e134
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/dev_sandbox.css
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/* CSS file for dev_sandbox.py */
+
+App > View {
+  docks: side=left/1;
+  text: on #20639b;
+}
+
+Widget:hover {
+  outline: heavy;
+  text: bold !important;
+}
+
+#sidebar {
+  text: #09312e on #3caea3;
+  dock: side;
+  width: 30;
+  offset-x: -100%;
+  transition: offset 500ms in_out_cubic;
+  border-right: outer #09312e;
+}
+
+#sidebar.-active {
+  offset-x: 0;
+}
+
+#header {
+  text: white on #173f5f;
+  height: 3;
+  border: hkey;
+}
+
+#header.-visible {
+  visibility: hidden;
+}
+
+#content {
+  text: white on #20639b;
+  border-bottom: hkey #0f2b41;
+  offset-y: -3;
+}
+
+#content.-content-visible {
+  visibility: hidden;
+}
+
+#footer {
+  text: #3a3009 on #f6d55c;
+  height: 3;
+}
diff --git a/examples/dev_sandbox.py b/examples/dev_sandbox.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d53946fb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/dev_sandbox.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+from rich.console import RenderableType
+from rich.panel import Panel
+
+from textual.app import App
+from textual.widget import Widget
+
+
+class PanelWidget(Widget):
+    def render(self) -> RenderableType:
+        return Panel("hello world!", title="Title")
+
+
+class BasicApp(App):
+    """Sandbox application used for testing/development by Textual developers"""
+
+    def on_load(self):
+        """Bind keys here."""
+        self.bind("tab", "toggle_class('#sidebar', '-active')")
+        self.bind("a", "toggle_class('#header', '-visible')")
+        self.bind("c", "toggle_class('#content', '-content-visible')")
+
+    def on_mount(self):
+        """Build layout here."""
+        self.mount(
+            header=Widget(),
+            content=PanelWidget(),
+            footer=Widget(),
+            sidebar=Widget(),
+        )
+
+
+BasicApp.run(css_file="test_app.css", watch_css=True, log="textual.log")
diff --git a/src/textual/dom.py b/src/textual/dom.py
index 8b17700ed..566f62858 100644
--- a/src/textual/dom.py
+++ b/src/textual/dom.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from rich.style import Style
 from rich.tree import Tree
 
 from .css._error_tools import friendly_list
-from .css.constants import VALID_DISPLAY
+from .css.constants import VALID_DISPLAY, VALID_VISIBILITY
 from .css.errors import StyleValueError
 from .css.styles import Styles
 from .message_pump import MessagePump
@@ -160,6 +160,22 @@ class DOMNode(MessagePump):
                 f"expected {friendly_list(VALID_DISPLAY)})",
             )
 
+    @property
+    def visible(self) -> bool:
+        return self.styles.visibility != "hidden"
+
+    @visible.setter
+    def visible(self, new_value: bool) -> None:
+        if isinstance(new_value, bool):
+            self.styles.visibility = "visible" if new_value else "hidden"
+        elif new_value in VALID_VISIBILITY:
+            self.styles.visibility = new_value
+        else:
+            raise StyleValueError(
+                f"invalid value for visibility (received {new_value!r}, "
+                f"expected {friendly_list(VALID_VISIBILITY)})"
+            )
+
     @property
     def z(self) -> tuple[int, ...]:
         """Get the z index tuple for this node.
diff --git a/src/textual/layout.py b/src/textual/layout.py
index 72f5e1422..8542e5942 100644
--- a/src/textual/layout.py
+++ b/src/textual/layout.py
@@ -199,6 +199,15 @@ class Layout(ABC):
         raise NoWidget(f"No widget under screen coordinate ({x}, {y})")
 
     def get_style_at(self, x: int, y: int) -> Style:
+        """Get the Style at the given cell or Style.null()
+
+        Args:
+            x (int): X position within the Layout
+            y (int): Y position within the Layout
+
+        Returns:
+            Style: The Style at the cell (x, y) within the Layout
+        """
         try:
             widget, region = self.get_widget_at(x, y)
         except NoWidget:
@@ -217,6 +226,18 @@ class Layout(ABC):
         return Style.null()
 
     def get_widget_region(self, widget: Widget) -> Region:
+        """Get the Region of a Widget contained in this Layout.
+
+        Args:
+            widget (Widget): The Widget in this layout you wish to know the Region of.
+
+        Raises:
+            NoWidget: If the Widget is not contained in this Layout.
+
+        Returns:
+            Region: The Region of the Widget.
+
+        """
         try:
             region, *_ = self.map[widget]
         except KeyError:
@@ -270,7 +291,7 @@ class Layout(ABC):
 
         for widget, region, _order, clip in widget_regions:
 
-            if not widget.is_visual:
+            if not (widget.is_visual and widget.visible):
                 continue
 
             lines = widget._get_lines()
diff --git a/src/textual/view.py b/src/textual/view.py
index d6cd03784..220551eb7 100644
--- a/src/textual/view.py
+++ b/src/textual/view.py
@@ -1,26 +1,19 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-from itertools import chain
-from typing import Callable, Iterable, ClassVar, TYPE_CHECKING
+from typing import Callable, Iterable
 
-from rich.console import RenderableType
 import rich.repr
+from rich.console import RenderableType
 from rich.style import Style
 
-from . import events
 from . import errors
-from . import log
+from . import events
 from . import messages
+from .geometry import Size, Offset, Region
 from .layout import Layout, NoWidget, WidgetPlacement
 from .layouts.factory import get_layout
-from .geometry import Size, Offset, Region
 from .reactive import Reactive, watch
-
-from .widget import Widget, Widget
-
-
-if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from .app import App
+from .widget import Widget
 
 
 class LayoutProperty:
diff --git a/src/textual/widget.py b/src/textual/widget.py
index 51c7e97ab..94d768129 100644
--- a/src/textual/widget.py
+++ b/src/textual/widget.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-from logging import PercentStyle, getLogger
+from logging import getLogger
 from typing import (
     Any,
     Awaitable,
@@ -11,35 +11,29 @@ from typing import (
     NamedTuple,
     cast,
 )
+
 import rich.repr
-from rich import box
 from rich.align import Align
-from rich.console import Console, RenderableType, ConsoleOptions
-from rich.measure import Measurement
-from rich.panel import Panel
+from rich.console import Console, RenderableType
 from rich.padding import Padding
-from rich.pretty import Pretty
-from rich.segment import Segment
-from rich.style import Style, StyleType
+from rich.style import Style
 from rich.styled import Styled
-from rich.text import Text, TextType
+from rich.text import Text
 
-from . import events
 from . import errors
+from . import events
 from ._animator import BoundAnimator
-from ._border import Border, BORDER_STYLES
+from ._border import Border
 from ._callback import invoke
-from .blank import Blank
-from .dom import DOMNode
 from ._context import active_app
-from .geometry import Size, Spacing, SpacingDimensions
+from ._types import Lines
+from .dom import DOMNode
+from .geometry import Size, Spacing
 from .message import Message
 from .messages import Layout, Update
-from .reactive import Reactive, watch
-from ._types import Lines
+from .reactive import watch
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from .app import App
     from .view import View
 
 log = getLogger("rich")
@@ -163,34 +157,29 @@ class Widget(DOMNode):
         styles = self.styles
         parent_text_style = self.parent.text_style
 
-        if styles.visibility == "hidden":
-            renderable = Blank(parent_text_style)
-        else:
-            text_style = styles.text
-            renderable_text_style = parent_text_style + text_style
-            if renderable_text_style:
-                renderable = Styled(renderable, renderable_text_style)
-
-            if styles.has_padding:
-                renderable = Padding(
-                    renderable, styles.padding, style=renderable_text_style
-                )
-
-            if styles.has_border:
-                renderable = Border(
-                    renderable, styles.border, style=renderable_text_style
-                )
-
-            if styles.has_margin:
-                renderable = Padding(renderable, styles.margin, style=parent_text_style)
-
-            if styles.has_outline:
-                renderable = Border(
-                    renderable,
-                    styles.outline,
-                    outline=True,
-                    style=renderable_text_style,
-                )
+        text_style = styles.text
+        renderable_text_style = parent_text_style + text_style
+        if renderable_text_style:
+            renderable = Styled(renderable, renderable_text_style)
+
+        if styles.has_padding:
+            renderable = Padding(
+                renderable, styles.padding, style=renderable_text_style
+            )
+
+        if styles.has_border:
+            renderable = Border(renderable, styles.border, style=renderable_text_style)
+
+        if styles.has_margin:
+            renderable = Padding(renderable, styles.margin, style=parent_text_style)
+
+        if styles.has_outline:
+            renderable = Border(
+                renderable,
+                styles.outline,
+                outline=True,
+                style=renderable_text_style,
+            )
 
         return renderable
 

diff --git a/tests/test_widget.py b/tests/test_widget.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7eee43a54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_widget.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import pytest
+
+from textual.css.errors import StyleValueError
+from textual.widget import Widget
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "set_val, get_val, style_str", [
+        [True, True, "visible"],
+        [False, False, "hidden"],
+        ["hidden", False, "hidden"],
+        ["visible", True, "visible"],
+    ])
+def test_widget_set_visible_true(set_val, get_val, style_str):
+    widget = Widget()
+    widget.visible = set_val
+
+    assert widget.visible is get_val
+    assert widget.styles.visibility == style_str
+
+
+def test_widget_set_visible_invalid_string():
+    widget = Widget()
+
+    with pytest.raises(StyleValueError):
+        widget.visible = "nope! no widget for me!"
+
+    assert widget.visible

Invisible widgets should allow background to be rendered
Currently when a widget is set as invisible, it draws a blank rectangle in place of the content.

It would be better to not render anything and allow any background to show through.
tests/test_widget.py::test_widget_set_visible_true[False-False-hidden] tests/test_widget.py::test_widget_set_visible_true[hidden-False-hidden] tests/test_widget.py::test_widget_set_visible_true[visible-True-visible] tests/test_widget.py::test_widget_set_visible_invalid_string
tests/test_widget.py::test_widget_set_visible_true[True-True-visible]