Character Counts...

[Clanad]

No, not a morality tale... but could a character counter be incorporated into the answering system? Some longer posts, especially in Science for example, soon exceed the 2,000 character (not word) limit. Such an incorporation would help in knowing when to end and begin another frame...

[joko]

good idea.

its very annoying when that box pops up telling you you are over the limit and then you have to start editing

[Buenchico]

I can see the point of the suggestion but I don't think that it's technically possible.

As longer as the 'over-length' message pops up, I don't have a great problem with posting long answers. I simply highlight and cut everything except the amount of text which will fit into the first post. Then I paste the remainder of the text into a second post. If that's also too long, I just repeat the process. (No editing needed!).

Chris

[Clanad]

I, too use that technique, Buenchico... the problem comes, though, when trying to pick a place to "cut" the over-long post. If you guess incorrectly and cut at the wrong place and are still over-long, you're now faced with creating a word document to paste the remainder into since the program holding the "cut" remainder will not accept yet another "cut" without losing the first.... am I making that convoluted idea clear? You may well be correct that this site cannot, technically, produce such a feature.but it is available... Thanks!

[B00]

Awesome idea!

No good to me mind, I dont think I even know 2000 words, but it'd be good for all you boffin type Abers :-)

[Clanad]

Thanks, Boo, but the problem is compounded by the fact that it's not 2,000 words, which would actually be more than sufficient in most cases, but rather it's 2,000 characters, such as each letter in a word or each comma. This limit is quickly reached even in the most mundane of posts...

[B00]

Ahhhh yes....now I've read it properly I can now see you did say characters....

Now this proves my point.....I ain't a boffin!

:-(

[Buenchico]

There's no need to create a Word document if you misjudge the position to cut the text.

If, after cutting, the 'over-length' warning comes up, simply paste the text on the clipboard back into the original post. (i.e. return to the original position where the entire post is in a single frame). Then highlight and cut again.

Chris

[jno]

Chris, I was posting on a site somewhere the other day (sorry, I forget where) which did have a character counter just as Clanad says, so it must be technically possible, though of course it may not be easy to set up.

[Clanad]

You're exactly right (as usual) Chris... but Word Count is readily available on Windows XP and has been, as far as I know, on all Windows based software since at least Windows 98... so it seemed feasible, at least to see if a character counter would be available... I'm pretty certain it won't be... but, hey, can't hurt to ask, no?