UI Design Patterns — Character Limits

Learn to design user-friendly character limits

Character limits are used on text fields to indicate the maximum amount of characters that can be entered into that field.

These components are important as they provide immediate feedback to the user when they fill in a form. If you’re a fan of usability heuristics, you’ll know this trait relates to the heuristic: visibility of system status.

Character limits provide important feedback to the user, so it’s important they are designed correctly.

With that in mind, I have put together this article to share with you my knowledge of character limit components including how they work, and design best practices.

Existing Design Patterns For Character Limit Components

If you are learning about a new design component, it’s a good idea to look at real-world examples.

Twitter has a good example of a character limit UI.

Here’s how it works:

1 As you start typing a tweet, a progress indicator appears showing you how far away you are from the character limit.

2 As you continue typing, the progress indicator continues to fill in.