Components
Character count
Character count helps users know how much text they can enter when there is a limit on the number of characters.
Passed WCAG 2.1 AA
Testing has revealed some issues with this component. Learn more in the known issues section on this page.
<form class="usa-form">
<div class="usa-character-count">
<div class="usa-form-group">
<label class="usa-label" for="with-hint-input">Text input</label>
<span id="with-hint-input-hint" class="usa-hint"
>This is an input with a character counter.</span
>
<input
class="usa-input usa-character-count__field"
id="with-hint-input"
maxlength="25"
name="with-hint-input"
aria-describedby="with-hint-input-info with-hint-input-hint"
/>
</div>
<span id="with-hint-input-info" class="usa-character-count__message"
>You can enter up to 25 characters</span
>
</div>
</form>
<form class="usa-form">
<div class="usa-character-count">
<div class="usa-form-group">
<label class="usa-label" for="with-hint-textarea">Textarea</label>
<span id="with-hint-textarea-hint" class="usa-hint"
>This is a textarea with a character counter.</span
>
<textarea
class="usa-textarea usa-character-count__field"
id="with-hint-textarea"
maxlength="50"
name="with-hint-textarea"
rows="5"
aria-describedby="with-hint-textarea-info with-hint-textarea-hint"
></textarea>
</div>
<span id="with-hint-textarea-info" class="usa-character-count__message"
>You can enter up to 50 characters</span
>
</div>
</form>Guidance
When to use the character count component
- Brevity is desired. When users are likely to provide more detail than is needed, and you want to force them to use fewer words. Note: this will likely increase the amount of time it takes users to submit the form because editing requires thinking. In the words of Mark Twain, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
- Legal requirement. When there is a legal reason where an entry must be under a certain number of characters.
When to consider something else
- Backend limitations. If your users keep hitting the character limit imposed by the backend of your service then try to increase the limit rather than use a character count.
- Already implied. If the character length is apparent or implied by the data type (i.e. phone number or zip code).
- Exceeding the character limit is highly unlikely. If the vast majority of users (well over 99%) are very unlikely to run afoul of backend validation, such as an address field that has a database field limit of 250 characters.
Accessibility guidance
- Associate the character count message to the input. Use
aria-describedbyon the input to allow the message to be announced to those using screen readers.
Using the character count component
- Add component classes. The structure should include a base element with the class
usa-character-count. Inside of that base element there should be an input element (input or textarea) with the classusa-character-count__fieldand an message element (span or div) with the classusa-character-count__message. - Add a
maxlengthattribute to the input element. This will be used as the limit referenced in the message and for validation. - Provide a backup message for environments without JavaScript. In your markup, add a default message in the
usa-character-count__messageelement that refers to the character limit. This will appear in instances when JavaScript does not load.
Character count settings
This component has no settings.
Character count variants
This component has no variants.
Accessibility test status
The USWDS team did 9 tests based on WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria.
| Total tests |
Passed
|
Passed with exceptions
|
Conditional
|
Failed
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Overview of recent accessibility test results:
Learn more on the character count accessibility tests page.
Known issues
All known issues for character count are tracked in GitHub . Notable usability issues are tracked below:
- Screen reader and screen magnifier users had trouble recognizing when they exceeded the character count limit. More information on GitHub: uswds#5574
Help fix these issues or add details on GitHub. Don't have an account? Please join our community to share feedback and contribute to USWDS.
Package
-
Package usage:
@forward "usa-character-count"; - Dependencies:
uswds-core
Latest updates
Meaningful code and guidance updates are listed in the following table:
| Date | USWDS version | Affects | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-04 | 3.9.0 |
|
Enhanced visual cue when |
| 2024-05-15 | N/A |
|
Added WCAG compliance tag and accessibility test status section. More information: uswds-site#2607 |
| 2024-03-13 | N/A |
|
Added known issues section. More information: uswds-site#2402 |
| 2023-11-20 | N/A |
|
Removed note about adding |
| 2023-11-20 | N/A |
|
Added detail to the instructions for adding defaults for non-JavaScript environments. More information: uswds-site#2149 |
| 2022-10-19 | 3.2.0 |
|
Improved screen reader experience. The character counter now includes a brief pause after input before announcing how many characters remain. Announcing the input no longer prevents the character counter from reading. More information: uswds#4976 |
| 2022-04-28 | 3.0.0 |
|
Breaking Updated to Sass module syntax and new package structure. More information: uswds#4656 |
