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words

About word counting

Word counting has a long and storied history on the Internet. In fact, simple applications like this web-based word counter were among the first, and most prolific tools of Internet 1.0.

This was a time when word processors such as Microsoft Word still ruled users’ desktops, and web tools such as these lurked quietly in the periphery.

Still, a new generation of Internet nerds, enterprising students and verbal pioneers began relying on such web utilities, and the rest – as they say – is history.

Please enjoy this free, ready-to-use word counter and have a nice day.

A note about brevity

When counting words, many find themselves questioning the ideal length of content that is ideal for Internet copy.

Shorter is better.

It’s easy: if you are questioning the length of something that is going to go on the Internet, always go with the shorter option. Contemporary readers truly do prefer short phrases, words and scannable text. In general, always challenge your copy to say more using less words.

Common reasons for using a word counter:

• Twitter
  Twitter limits to 160 characters. Sure – there’s a built in character counter, but what about words? Knowing the number of words can be a helpful proxy by which to judge your Twitter content.
• School work
  Most schools use words, not characters, as the main benchmark for judging text length.
• Comparisons
  There are many ways to compare bodies of text. The number of words may be one of them. Knowing the comparative length of multiple bodies of text might be helpful depending on one’s definition of “helpful.”