Short Answer Text Box Character Count

Jun 20, 2018

Our LMS, Cornerstone, will only report data on text-entry questions if there are less than 250 characters entered (short answer has a 256 max). Is there a way to visibly count the remaining characters in the text box, 0 to 250, then have a message pop up that tells them they are over the limit as they type when they hit 250?

 Are there other suggestions of how to get around this? I have read many of the forums and suggestions, but I don't have a lot of javascript experience so this has proven to be a bit challenging for me.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

10 Replies
Susan Chen

Hi Matt,

Thanks for replying! Chinese, for example, is not alphabetical. There is no letter/character, but a block of strokes. I just tested, the word limit does not work. I could type endless Chinese words and Storyline Short Answer Text Entry would take all. This will impose problems when we do the translated version. 

Vincent Scoma

Hey Susan,

Thank you for letting us know what you are seeing! I am happy to help!

I tested this setup in a demo course and found that when using Chinese characters with the Short Answer Text Entry, I was able to reach the max limit of 256 characters. May I ask how the Short Answer Text Entry was set up in your course? Also, would it be okay if you could share a screen recording of what you are seeing?

Please let me know if you have any additional questions!

Maria Costa-Stienstra

Hi, Adam.

I have great news to share!

We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 53, we’ve included important fixes and new features.

One of the fixes we’ve included is:

Essay questions stopped enforcing the maximum number of characters specified by the author.

To take advantage of this update, launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here.

Please let us know if you have any questions by posting here or directly reaching out to our Support Engineers