<div id="messagewindow">
This area will be used to display the messages.
</div>
</div>
<div id="footer">
<div id="footer_a">
This is just a example to learn jQuery.
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
$(document).ready(function(){
$("#counter").html($("#message").val().length + "");
$("#message").keyup(function(){
// get new length of characters
$("#counter").html($(this).val().length);
});
});