Anyway, see [link] for the idea in action.

That's sweet, John. Very elegant. Let's just make sure the anti-javascript contingent doesn't have a problem with it, and I'll add it in.

As long as nothing depends on the JS (ie, the PHP code still counts the length of the tagline and spits back an error message (which still means a hit on the server, but it's an error -- it should be reported)), I have only the most transparent of principle objections.

The problem with JS tends to be that people use it for actual important functionality, and don't provide alternate methods to do the same thing. This is a minor piece of frippery, and not anything anyone needs to use the board, so although I think JS is a mostly-bad idea, I don't see any problem with this except the question of where it should go on the edit profile screen so it'll be clear and not cluttery.

ETA: ita and I have much the same general sentiments about Javascript, just phrased differently.

Let's just make sure the anti-javascript contingent doesn't have a problem with it

The trick is that the button itself is written with JavaScript, so, by definition, anyone who doesn't have JavaScript will never see it.

I haven't tested on Netscape and Mozilla and whatever. What did you look at it with?

Oh, and ita, would anything weird happen on submission of the form, now that it's got a new input? I don't think so, but we could always make it a text/image link, not a button, if that was a factor.

John, as long as none of the original elements are altered, the form should be just fine.

I don't see any problem with this except the question of where it should go on the edit profile screen so it'll be clear and not cluttery.

I like John's placement on his sample page: [link]

That should work, though you may want to see if we can get the explanatory text closer to the text-entry box to make it clearer what goes with what.

Actually, as I'm typing this, I'm wondering instead about using a button image that more closely resembles the "post message" one. Different sorts of tasks, sure, but a consistency about what a button looks like can be good as well.

I just did minor tweaking -- Netscape 2 hated it, so I made it three-and-above only.

If you refresh now Jon, you can see the latest version between "start" and "end" comments for your cut-and-pasting pleasure.

I agree about the button, but that would require a fancier javascript function. John's uses the default button that required no special coding.

I just tested it on Mozilla, Netscape 4.7X and IE, all on Windows ME, and it seems to work in al of them. My only aesthetic concern is that the button is kinda big in IE.

t edit Whoops! Didn't get John's newest mod. Back soon.

I'm wondering instead about using a button image that more closely resembles the "post message" one.

Sensible. As I said, it can be a button, an image or even a text link.

What we also need is the wording. "There are x chars in the tagline box. You have a problem."? Boring -- anyone got something a little more Buffistalike?