HTML5 offers the maxLength attribute. Otherwise, you'd need some javascript, in jQuery, you'd do something like
maxLength = 50;
$("textarea").on("keydown paste", function(e){
if ($(this).val().length>=maxLength) e.preventDefault();
});
you can use the maxlength="255" (it specifies the maximum number of characters allowed in the element.)
or you can also do this by the jquery here i found the tutorial
html
<textarea cols="30" rows="5" maxlength="10"></textarea>
jquery
jQuery(function($) {
// ignore these keys
var ignore = [8,9,13,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,46];
// use keypress instead of keydown as that's the only
// place keystrokes could be canceled in Opera
var eventName = 'keypress';
// handle textareas with maxlength attribute
$('textarea[maxlength]')
// this is where the magic happens
.live(eventName, function(event) {
var self = $(this),
maxlength = self.attr('maxlength'),
code = $.data(this, 'keycode');
// check if maxlength has a value.
// The value must be greater than 0
if (maxlength && maxlength > 0) {
// continue with this keystroke if maxlength
// not reached or one of the ignored keys were pressed.
return ( self.val().length < maxlength
|| $.inArray(code, ignore) !== -1 );
}
})
// store keyCode from keydown event for later use
.live('keydown', function(event) {
$.data(this, 'keycode', event.keyCode || event.which);
});
});
