I've written a function that "condenses" a string if it is too long. Code: function shortenMsg(msg,maxLen){ if (msg.length > maxLen){ var over = msg.length - maxLen, // amount that needs to be trimmed method1 = (msg.match(/,\s/g) || []).length, // amount that method1 can trim method2 = (msg.match(/\]\s\[/g) || []).length; // etc... method3 = (msg.match(/demonstration/gi) || []).length * 6, // etc... if ...