character limit cursor

**Raccoon** · 07-03-2008

How feasible would it be to have a cursor (say, a solid square) to indicate the character limit when composing a pm or rep comment? I have had to manually edit down a character count until the message "fits"...
Of course, I am a long-winded raccoon... I doubt the issue comes up for too many people... Unless they are trying to include images...

**Charlie F** · 07-03-2008

I think the rep comment box could do with being longer, because I've had to cut out stuff from a rep comment so it would fit...

**Moo** · 07-03-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie F

I think the rep comment box could do with being longer, because I've had to cut out stuff from a rep comment so it would fit...

I agree. Unfortunately the database system is set to only support 250 characters for the reputation reason field... and changing that might cause issues when I upgrade the database later. I don't really want to risk a corrupted database!

I'm afraid you're just going to have to be concise with your reasons. I've enlarged the editing box (but not the maximum value it will accept!) to make editing easier.

**Raccoon** · 09-03-2008

I wasn't complaining about the character limit... there has to be some kind of limit anyway. I was simply wondering if there was a way to see where the limit was when composing.

**Moo** · 12-03-2008

Unfortunately not. The only way to do that would be to enlarge the reputation reason box to make it 250 characters big (say, 5 lines of 50 characters). That would make the reputation box *huge*.

cpndl · 12-03-2008

How about adding a button that lets the person get the "bigger" box. That way for most people they have the regular size box, but if Raccoon needs a bigger box to show how much he can type, it's available.

cpndl

**Moo** · 12-03-2008

Changed box size to be a 50x5 character box. I tried other methods, including spending three hours developing a javascript-based "X characters remaining" counter... but it diddn't work, due to the way vB handles AJAX. Trying the textarea method had a more severe problem - it lets users insert carriage returns into the rep comment, and there's no "limit input to X characters" ability in textareas. So I've gone back to the original 80 char wide box.

Sorry Raccoon, I really tried, but there is just no easy way to do this.

**Raccoon** · 12-03-2008

Thank-you for trying, your effort is appreciated. And thank-you extra extra much for explaining why it wasn't feasible. That alone I found very interesting.

Mr Alex · 12-03-2008

250 for rep is above adequate IMO.

Martin · 13-03-2008

With me it just doesn't type anymore in there after a certain point. Are you using IE?

07-03-2008	#1 (permalink)
Raccoon Regular Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Alberta, Great White North Posts: 775 Threads: 34	character limit cursor How feasible would it be to have a cursor (say, a solid square) to indicate the character limit when composing a pm or rep comment? I have had to manually edit down a character count until the message "fits"... Of course, I am a long-winded raccoon... I doubt the issue comes up for too many people... Unless they are trying to include images...

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07-03-2008	#2 (permalink)
Charlie F Indecisive Historical Donor Senior Staff Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: England, UK Age: 18 Posts: 1,868 Threads: 30 Gallery Uploads: 11 Wiki Edits: 45 Blog Entries: 58	I think the rep comment box could do with being longer, because I've had to cut out stuff from a rep comment so it would fit...

09-03-2008	#4 (permalink)
Raccoon Regular Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Alberta, Great White North Posts: 775 Threads: 34	I wasn't complaining about the character limit... there has to be some kind of limit anyway. I was simply wondering if there was a way to see where the limit was when composing.

12-03-2008	#5 (permalink)
Moo Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: New York Posts: 858 Threads: 84 Wiki Edits: 55	Unfortunately not. The only way to do that would be to enlarge the reputation reason box to make it 250 characters big (say, 5 lines of 50 characters). That would make the reputation box huge.

12-03-2008	#6 (permalink)
cpndl Lurker Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Midwest Posts: 123 Threads: 3 Reputation: 5	How about adding a button that lets the person get the "bigger" box. That way for most people they have the regular size box, but if Raccoon needs a bigger box to show how much he can type, it's available. cpndl

12-03-2008	#7 (permalink)
Moo Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: New York Posts: 858 Threads: 84 Wiki Edits: 55	Changed box size to be a 50x5 character box. I tried other methods, including spending three hours developing a javascript-based "X characters remaining" counter... but it diddn't work, due to the way vB handles AJAX. Trying the textarea method had a more severe problem - it lets users insert carriage returns into the rep comment, and there's no "limit input to X characters" ability in textareas. So I've gone back to the original 80 char wide box. Sorry Raccoon, I really tried, but there is just no easy way to do this.

12-03-2008	#8 (permalink)
Raccoon Regular Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Alberta, Great White North Posts: 775 Threads: 34	Thank-you for trying, your effort is appreciated. And thank-you extra extra much for explaining why it wasn't feasible. That alone I found very interesting.

12-03-2008	#9 (permalink)
Mr Alex Regular Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Michigan Age: 16 Posts: 2,162 Threads: 58 Gallery Uploads: 2 Wiki Edits: 11	250 for rep is above adequate IMO.

13-03-2008	#10 (permalink)
Martin What's up doc? Historical Donor Staff Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: The Netherlands Age: 17 Posts: 2,201 Threads: 40 Gallery Uploads: 127 Wiki Edits: 93 Blog Entries: 28	With me it just doesn't type anymore in there after a certain point. Are you using IE?