Text Width Checker

The Text Width Checker (TWC) is a small tool that allows easy checking of the number of characters in lines of plain text. This can be useful when drafting to text only mediums such as usenet or web forums or when preparing text based documentation.

Webstart install/launch

The webstart launch of TWC offers desktop integration, and a sandboxed application that automatically updates to the latest version. It runs on any PC with a Java 1.5+ plug-in.

Application download/run

TWC is also available as a 'stand alone' application. It has no desk-top integration, no security banner at the bottom of the screen and no sandbox, but it is small, and can be run from disk on any PC with a Java 1.5+ plug-in.

Help

TWC is relatively simple. It has a tool bar at the top, a ruler to show column width, and the text area for the text being checked.

The first scrollable field on the tool bar shows the Target Width or number of characters to limit the text. This might be 65 characters for a public forum, or 80 characters for documentation.

The Replace Tabs button replaces every tab character with the number of Spaces per tab specified in the last drop-down.

Below the tool bar is the width ruler, then the area for the text to check.

Paste the text in the text area.

If the pasted text is wider than the Target width, the text area will be given a horizontal scroll bar. This means the target text is 'too wide', and will need to be made thinner before it is subject to arbitrary wrapping.

If the text contains tab characters, they will be widened to around 8 or more characters. Activate (click) the Replace Tabs button to replace them. This may make the text thin enough to meet the limit, if so, the horizontal scroll bar will disappear.

If the text is still showing a scroll bar, it will be necessary to reformat lines as appropriate for the medium.