#! code JavaScript Text Length
Enter some text into the textarea and the tool will tell you the number of characters it contains. It first trims the text so the surrounding white space isn't counted.
Source code.
The Form
<form onsubmit="return false;" action="" id="textLengthCalc">
<textarea name="textarea" rows="10" cols="68" onkeydown="textCounter()" onkeyup="textCounter()"></textarea>
<input readonly="readonly" size="15" type="text" name="len" maxlength="10" value="0" />
</form>
The JavaScript
function textCounter(){
var area = document.getElementById('textLengthCalc');
area.len.value = area.textarea.value.replace(/^\s\s*/, '').replace(/\s\s*$/, '').length;
}