Вариант установки и индикации maxlength для textarea и input ...
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title></title>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function (a) {
a.fn.setMaxlength = function () {
var e = arguments;
return this.each(function (i) {
var b = a(this),
c = e[i]||"50";
b.attr("maxlength")&&b.attr("maxlength", c);
var d = a("<span />").css({
color: "#FF0000"
});
b.after(d);
d.html("({num} out of {max})".replace("{num}", b.val().length).replace("{max}", c));
b.bind("keypress keydown keyup paste click mouseup", function (e) {
var g = a(this).val();
if (g.length >= c){
a(this).val(g.substring(0,c));
d.html("Max = "+c);
}
else d.html("({num} out of {max})".replace("{num}", g.length).replace("{max}", c))
})
})
}
})(jQuery);
$(function() {
$("textarea, input").setMaxlength(60,15,10);
//$("#short_description").setMaxlength(60);
});
</script>
</head>
<body>
<textarea id="short_description" cols="60"></textarea>
<br />
<input name="a" />
<br />
<input name="b" />
<br />
<input name="c" />
<br />
<input name="d" />
<br />
</body>
</html>