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Text Character Calculator
This tool can be used to calculate the characters contained in a text and display them.
Text character counter
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1 Words
Table of contents
What are the "Characters" of Writing Contests?
Writing is built on characters. It doesn't matter if you are writing a writing contest entry or a headline or tweet; it is crucial to use the correct number of characters in your writing. What counts as a character? Are spaces considered characters? What about periods and commas?
Spaces, punctuation, letters of the alphabet, numbers, and punctuation count towards a character limit most of the time. For example, if you're tweeting, the 280 character limit covers everything you write.
Contest rules can be slightly different. For example, some contests do not count punctuation or spaces in their character count. Check the contest rules to determine what characters are included. You can count all characters even if the rules do not specify which characters are exempted from the character count.
How to count the characters within your Entry
Don't worry if your entry isn't within the allowed characters limit. You don't even have to count each letter manually. There are several ways to count your characters:
Use a Word Processor - To see how many characters your entry contains, open a word processing program like MS Word.
Get a free character count - Many websites offer a character count for no cost. Simply copy-paste your text, and it will show you how many characters the site contains. You can even specify whether spaces are counted or not by using some websites.
Use a Writing-Specific Processor - Writing programs such as Scrivener automatically keep track of your character and word count at either the bottom or side of your screen. This keeps track of your writing progress and is helpful to see as you work on your essay.
How to reduce your character count
Do not worry about having too many characters in your essay competition entry. Your length can be reduced with some editing:
Begin by reading through your essay and identifying areas that could be made more concise. You must be as concise as possible and eliminate repetition.
Next, examine the phrases that you use. You may be able to find shorter alternatives. Prepositions, for example, are not necessary for phrases like "Open up a letter,” but "Open up the letters" does just as well. Similar to the above, you can substitute phrases like "In Order to ..." for shorter ones such as "To ..."."
Can't sacrifice content for length anymore? Look at your words; consider replacing long words with shorter ones.
Character Counts vs. word Counts
Avoid confusing character count limits (which are typically used in shorter pieces) with word count limitations, limiting the length of more extended essays. A 500-word essay will take approximately one page. A 500-character essay would take about 100 to 150 pages. Before you start planning out your essay, be sure to understand your terminology.
Why is the number of characters substantial?
Having the right amount of characters on each line is key to the readability of your text. It shouldn’t merely be your design that dictates the width of your text; it should also be a matter of legibility.
The optimal line length for your body text is considered to be 50-60 characters per line, including spaces (“Typographie,” E. Ruder).
Downsides of violating the character range
Too broad - Too many lines of text can cause a reader to lose focus and make it difficult for them to read the text. This is due to the difficulty of judging where the line begins or ends. Additionally, it is sometimes difficult to follow the correct line through large blocks.
Too narrow - If a length is too small, the eye will travel back too often, disrupting the reader's rhythm. Too short lines can also cause stress to readers. The eye will travel back too often, which may lead to them starting the following sequence without finishing the one before it is finished (hence skipping words that could be important).
Avoid too many words and too little text. We suggest that your text be between 50-75 characters for each line. This will allow you to keep your reader engaged but avoid the potential drawbacks of too much or too little.
Article author
Parmis Kazemi
Parmis is a content creator who has a passion for writing and creating new things. She is also highly interested in tech and enjoys learning new things.
Text Character Calculator English
Published: Sun Feb 06 2022
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