$(document).ready(function() { var description = document.getElementById('description'); var counter = document.getElementById('counter'); countCharact(); }); function countCharact() { $(description).bind("keyup",function() { var nbCharacter = $(this).val().length; var nbWords = jQuery.trim($(this).val()).split(' ').length; if($(this).val() === '') { nbWords = 0; } var msg = ' ' + nbWords + ' word(s) | ' + nbCharacter + ' character(s) / 150'; $(counter).text(msg); if (nbCharacter > 150) { $(counter).addClass("bad"); }else { $(counter).removeClass("bad"); } }); }