Eighty-seven

How many words must one person type before they enter a state of deep rooted paranoia as a result of their inability to judge whether their post is too long? Too short? I have no idea, but we can all find out together with WordPress.com’s latest feature: Word Count.

Below the post text box, you can now see how many words you’ve typed. The number updates itself as you go (don’t be too harsh, it’s not always super bright) for that sweet hit of instant gratification.

Word Count


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148 Comments

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  1. krislinatin

    This is sweet!
    Thank you!

    Like

  2. abu ameerah

    a helpful feature. thanks! : )

    Like

  3. XiuX

    Nice feature, Thanks

    Like

  4. Steve

    I wish they’d had this way back when I was in high school. My English teacher would say write a 500 or 1,000 word piece on such and such. Glad the days are gone of counting the words with my finger 😛

    Like

  5. Alex

    Hmm…I saw this feature earlier, so its not that new, but awesome none-the-less!

    Like

  6. gpessia

    🙂

    Like

  7. museditions

    I noticed it, and I like it! Now I don’t have to revert to such as the dreaded MSWord for this. Can we have excellent content count now please? 🙂

    Like

  8. Jeff

    I think it’s great that you moved it from where it was next to the Preview link. They overlapped a bit and it looked all funky.

    Like

  9. Ana Pires

    I just noticed and came right over to see if it was something new or if it was something I stupidly missed. It’s new! And I love it, thank you! 😀

    Like

  10. Grace

    Very helpful. Thanks.

    Like

  11. tefuzz

    alright! I can use this…I’m always second guessing my posts

    Like

  12. theonlinecitizen

    Excellent! As an editor, this really helps! Kudos!

    Like

  13. homesweethome

    LOL, any prizes for the highest word count?

    Like

  14. James Hofheins

    Less is more.

    Nice.

    Like

  15. Gustavo

    Will help me to dont type too much…

    Like

  16. Ryan

    Cool, thanks.

    Like

  17. storymode

    Another nifty feature that I may have use for in the future.

    Thanks again, WP! ^_^

    Like

  18. rahulnever2far

    Nice…:)

    Like

  19. Nicola

    Excellent thank you.

    Like

  20. Budi Rahardjo

    Maybe there should be a character count as well? (You just can’t be satisfied, can you? ha ha ha.) But, seriously. When I submit articles to magazines, they use character count instead of word count.

    Like

  21. Wolz14

    cool very helpful! thanks

    Like

  22. Brian

    I just noticed this the other day, very cool! Thanks!

    Like

  23. cronies

    Go WP!

    Like

  24. solework

    You guys just keep getting better and better!

    Thank you, thank you, thank you WordPress!

    Like

  25. Steve

    So, what’s a good number to shoot for? I’m partial to keeping it 250-300.

    Like

  26. Robert

    Very helpful. Thanks so much!

    Like

  27. natanzuelo

    Cool 😀

    Like

  28. Troy

    This is great. Thanks to all the good people here at WordPress for working hard every day to keep us bloggers happier than ever. 😀

    Like

  29. ieba

    WordPress can count my words dynamically as I type, but it can’t maintain a space in front of a sentence (to indent a paragraph.) It keeps deleting any nonbreaking spaces it finds, even when I put them in manually or use the special character tool. No matter, wordpress deletes them en-masse when I go to edit my post.

    I think the priorities are mixed up.

    Like

  30. syafriadi

    Great…

    Like

  31. Mas Kopdang

    keren…(cool..)

    Like

  32. The Bagel of Everything

    Sweet
    All we need now is a spell check, and wordpress will BE the internets!

    Like

  33. brightfeather

    Thanks. I really appreciate this addition. 🙂

    Like

  34. ideasmith

    This is really great for 55-word writers!

    Like

  35. miquie's crew

    awesome!!! and thank you so much!

    Like

  36. thedarwinexception

    Good God. My latest post counts in at 6,453 words.

    Kim

    Like

  37. b

    Noticed that the other day (and thought I had been overlooking it). I like.

    Like

  38. fowgre

    I noticed it almost right away and thought it was interesting, but not very practical. Tell you what would be useful though… a good/better/fantastic quality meter (you’ll notice I didn’t suggest bad/worse/terrible since WP bloggers are all above-average) 😉

    Like

  39. dinsan

    so sweeeeeeet 🙂

    Like

  40. steffi

    thanks for the feature.
    finally, i know if my post is too lengthy..

    Like

  41. Nishu

    Nice work ! But the description is really funny ..

    Like

  42. blayde

    w00t, word count, neat, essential and tells you whether you are writing a one lined statement, or a proper full bodied post, thanks.

    Like

  43. Kunal

    now I’ll know when to stop babbling 😛

    Like

  44. Andy

    You ought to have kept the nested screenshot thing going for at least a few more levels 😉

    Like

  45. jeques

    every now and then an idea comes along that simply works better.

    I wish everybody well ~ Jeques

    Like

  46. lnxwalt

    Cool. I noticed this recently. Good stuff.

    Like

  47. Judy O'Connell

    Cool!

    Like

  48. phpmaniac

    I appreciate this feature, Thanks

    Like

  49. archiearchive FCD

    Neat!

    Like

  50. Sabah Hussain

    I think going with WordPress was a great idea. You guys are constantly coming up with all sorts of updates/features that keep adding to the WordPress WOW factor. Keep it up fellas!

    Like

  51. آناهیتا دانشور

    helpful!
    tnx

    Like

  52. Nita

    I sure need this as my posts are long!

    Like

  53. kOoLiNuS

    yep, nested screenshot in the post were great, maybe you should have played it like Andy has said.

    Also, maybe the word counter was more visible at right of editing buttons like I noticed it was placed last week. But for sure you have tested it intensively so you should know what’s better 😉

    Like

  54. brian t

    Yay! I actually requested this, and here it is. Word Count is an essential tool if you are writing to an assignment target – or if you get paid by the word.

    PS to ieba: using spaces to layout text is one of those things that’s frowned, because it can go wrong if you change formatting e.g. if you select a new WordPress theme. What you’re seeing is WP working as designed, not a fault. Strictly speaking, you’d use CSS for that, not spaces.

    Like

  55. VISHNUVARDHAN

    cool !!!!! now can restrict the number of words ……

    Like

  56. todaii

    Not, realy helpfull …:(

    Like

  57. perplexityshe

    oo 😀

    Like

  58. The 2 Witches

    Another wonderful addition to wordpress’ features. Thank you!

    Mama Kelly

    Like

  59. briosafreak

    Good show

    Like

  60. Lady

    I love using word counts. It matters, especially when you write for a living and the number of words is dependent upon how much money you can make. Thanks!

    Like

  61. Christian

    Good job, guys!

    Like

  62. Manny

    I like this feature. I’m sure it will come in handy from time to time. Thanks.

    Like

  63. unintendedpurpose

    Nice, thats kinda helpful 😉

    Just to remain in limits 😉

    Like

  64. Karura

    I now know that the super long post that used to make my browser time out when editing it is 7000+ words…

    Like

  65. Paurong

    very nice.
    very nice.

    Like

  66. opengiga

    nice features…

    Like

  67. charleslemark

    good addition!

    Like

  68. Fabio Bracht

    For the first time ever, you guys added a feature that is actually useful but kinda misses the point. What’s the point in counting words, when words can be as short as “do” and as long as “pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism”? I’m a journalist and I write for magazines, and they always demand the text to be “C characters long”, not “X words long”.

    I think a character count (with and without spaces) would be far more useful, since a word count serves only the purpose of comparing two posts to see which is longer.

    Like

  69. Alex

    This was so smooth that I didn`t noticed and i`ve enjoyed full part.

    Like

  70. Alex

    Keep up the good work!!!

    Like

  71. Sunny

    ์Noticed the feature a while ago. Thanks for the good work!

    Like

  72. Phil

    Great tool!

    Sometime when you have nothing to do, perhaps you could add a couple of flashing icons:

    [_] “Only 20 words? You sure you have anything to say?”
    and
    [_] “A-Hem! This is really getting long! Make your point and wrap it up, Pal” 😀

    Like

  73. jessdatur53

    Hello!
    the shortest

    Like

  74. anas

    Ups, that’s very nice

    Like

  75. marimann

    I love to see the word count, being just anal enough to want to know how many words I generated at a single blow. Thanks, guys.

    Like

  76. dlennis

    Cool!

    Like

  77. aniMOte

    Big fan!

    Like

  78. Red

    Noticed it.
    Love it.
    Thanks!

    Like

  79. frozentootsies

    Frozen Tootsies, being merely a squirrel, thanks you for this feature which makes blogging more convenient for creatures without opposable thumbs. After all, we squirrels must finish our drive for world domination – see http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1904519 – and every little bit helps.

    Like

  80. savetheoc

    Sweeeet 😛

    Like

  81. BurocraciaNeuronal

    Gracias!

    Like

  82. Cler Oliveira

    Great tool! I’ll call it 87!

    Like

  83. muccamargo

    Great!

    Thank You

    Like

  84. Vi

    This is great! I’m a big fan of the 55-word meme and I used to type my entries in Word, count them, and repost them here. This eliminates that. Thanks! 🙂

    Like

  85. abriendo

    I always write less than ten words!
    Thanks. BYE!
    WORD COUNT: 9

    Like

  86. Cin

    Great idea, especially useful when participating in word-count specific memes…

    Like

  87. Lucas

    W00t! This feature rocks, baby! Now I’m typing much longer posts to get that counter see counting on 😉 Kudos to WordPress.

    Like

  88. Dan

    super!

    (1)

    Like

  89. trollboy

    excellent! This could also help many a high school student… I remember having to count the words in essays manually. With my pencil. When the Tandy was new and cool…

    Like

  90. MobileMan

    Great…:-)

    Like

  91. Robin

    I like this. Thanks. 🙂

    Like

  92. Sai

    Nice! Had noticed it…

    Like

  93. Rae

    YAY! No more counting the individual words with a pen pointed at the screen!

    Like

  94. fleurdelys79

    I love it! Thanks!

    Like

  95. Yassine Sabir

    comes in handy!

    Like

  96. Sankar

    This is cool and simple 🙂

    Like

  97. IPHOTOS

    As always yet another nice feature!!

    Like

  98. justopia

    Oh no, just when I thought I was getting myself over the compulsive addiction to write every day and to not go to bed without publishing, I have a new feature to hook me — word count! I wonder if this will make me less verbose or more? Thanks and keep up the great feature additions!

    Like

  99. Jeffrey

    It gives wrong counts on my Chinese posts, and I don’t know if it will work for other non-western languages.

    Like

  100. planetultramarathon

    but the meaning of life is 42 not 87….

    Like

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