function countChars(textarea1, textbox1, minLength, maxLength)
{
	if( (findDOM(textarea1, false).value.length == maxLength) ) 
	{ 
		findDOM(textbox1, true).backgroundColor = '#FFC0CB'; 
		findDOM(textbox1, false) = (findDOM(textarea1, false).value.length); 
	} 
	else if( (findDOM(textarea1, false).value.length > maxLength) ) 
	{ 
		findDOM(textbox1, true).backgroundColor = '#FFC0CB'; 
		findDOM(textbox1, false).value = (findDOM(textarea1, false).value.length); 
		alert('Please shorten your answer.  You may have up to ' + maxLength + ' characters.  Watch the counter box to tell you how many remaining characters you have.'); 
		findDOM(textarea1, false).value = findDOM(textarea1, false).value.substr(0,maxLength); 
		findDOM(textbox1, false).value = (findDOM(textarea1, false).value.length); 
	} 
	else 
	{
		findDOM(textbox1, false).value = (findDOM(textarea1, false).value.length); 
		findDOM(textbox1, true).backgroundColor = '#ffffff'; 
	}
}

var isDHTML = 0;
var isID = 0;
var isAll = 0;
var isLayers = 0;
if (document.getElementById) {isID = 1; isDHTML = 1;}
else {
if (document.all) {isAll = 1; isDHTML = 1;}
else {
browserVersion = parseInt(navigator.appVersion);
if ((navigator.appName.indexOf('Netscape') != -1) && (browserVersion == 4)) {isLayers = 1; isDHTML = 1;}
}}
function findDOM(objectID,withStyle) {
	if (withStyle == 1) {
		if (isID) { return (document.getElementById(objectID).style) ; }
		else { 
			if (isAll) { return (document.all[objectID].style); }
		else {
			if (isLayers) { return (document.layers[objectID]); }
		};}
	}
	else {
		if (isID) { return (document.getElementById(objectID)) ; }
		else { 
			if (isAll) { return (document.all[objectID]); }
		else {
			if (isLayers) { return (document.layers[objectID]); }
		};}
	}
}