var W3CDOM = document.createElement && document.getElementsByTagName;

function setMaxLength()
{ 
   if (!W3CDOM) return;
    
   var textareas = document.getElementById('theComments');
   var counter = document.createElement('div');
   counter.className = 'counter';
  
   if (textareas.getAttribute('maxlength'))
   {
      var counterClone = counter.cloneNode(true);
      counterClone.innerHTML = '<span>0</span>/'+textareas.getAttribute('maxlength');
      textareas.parentNode.insertBefore(counterClone,textareas.nextSibling);
	  textareas.relatedElement = counterClone.getElementsByTagName('span')[0];
      textareas.onkeyup = textareas.onchange = checkMaxLength;
	  textareas.onkeyup(); 		  
	}	
}

function checkMaxLength() 
{
   var maxLength = this.getAttribute('maxlength');
   var currentLength = this.value.length;
   if (currentLength > maxLength)
      this.relatedElement.className = 'toomuch';
   else
      this.relatedElement.className = '';	
   this.relatedElement.firstChild.nodeValue = currentLength;
}