# help! reply box is only 3 letters wide!!!!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-reply-box-is-only-3-letters-wide/462376>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [September 6, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-reply-box-is-only-3-letters-wide/462376 "2008-09-06T19:38:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-reply-box-is-only-3-letters-wide/462376/1 "2008-09-06T19:38:49Z")

</div>

this is weird!—when I click on “Reply” I get presented with a title box which is only about 5 words long, and the “main” reply box is exactly five characters wide!!! What is going on??  
As I type this, each word or part of a word appears and (after the 5th letter )moves “up” the narrow box, making my typing illegible to me.But when I click on “preview post” I get the regular box, in which I can type normally.

Please fix this! I am totally computer-illiterate and use a standard PC straight out of the box, with Windows XP (home edition 2002, service pack 2 and browser IE 6.0.2900)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sofis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Sofis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofis)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-reply-box-is-only-3-letters-wide/462376/2 "2008-09-06T20:04:11Z")

</div>

You’re not the [only one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10151985&postcount=133).

The problem appears to be at least somehat browser independent (I’m using Opera).  
Also, for me it is not fixed by previewing, but the text area is normally sized when editing a post.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-reply-box-is-only-3-letters-wide/462376/3 "2008-09-06T21:26:55Z")

</div>

Not seeing this in Windows XP/IE7/Firefox/Chrome.

And I have no clue what’s causing the situation you’re seeing.

I’ll let Jerry know but it does sound like perhaps this is complicated by a browser issue of some kind on your end.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-reply-box-is-only-3-letters-wide/462376/4 "2008-09-06T21:32:39Z")

</div>

It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Smaller posts will help the board run faster.