Editorial Policy
How the guides and reference data on this site are produced, checked and corrected, stated as it actually is.
Last updated
Purpose of the content
Everything published here supports one aim: helping people count text accurately and understand the number they get. Guides are written to answer a specific question someone has, such as whether spaces count, why an emoji changed a message’s length or what a form’s limit really measures. A guide is published only if it adds something the tools and the existing pages do not already explain. There are no pages written merely to target a search phrase.
Sources
Facts are taken from sources in this order of preference:
- Standards and specifications: the Unicode Standard and its annexes, 3GPP technical specifications for SMS, the HTML Standard, RFCs.
- Official documentation from the platform or vendor concerned: help centres, developer references, product documentation.
- Authoritative technical references such as MDN Web Docs, and peer-reviewed research where a figure comes from a study.
Third-party blog posts, marketing pages and “limits” lists are not used as sources for facts. Each guide lists the sources it relies on at the end. We do not invent citations, statistics, studies or quotations. Where something is not documented by an official source, the guide says so instead of filling the gap.
How the tools’ behaviour is checked
Claims about how the tools count are checked against the code, not written from memory:
- The counting rules are covered by automated tests, including emoji sequences, combining characters, line endings and SMS segment boundaries.
- The example tables on How We Count, the homepage and the SMS page are generated by the counting code when the site is built, so they cannot drift from what the tools do.
- Guides do not contain typed-in platform limits. Those figures are inserted from the same data file the tools use.
Platform limit verification
Each entry on the platform limits page records its source and the date that source was last read and found to match. The most recent verification was on .
- A limit is listed only if an official or primary source states it.
- Enforced maximums are labelled “Platform limit”. Rules of thumb with no enforced maximum, such as search title length, are labelled “Common guideline” and are never presented as a platform’s rule.
- Entries are due for review each quarter. The “last verified” date changes only when the source has actually been re-read.
- If a source no longer states a figure, the entry is removed.
Use of AI
This site was built, and its guides were drafted, with the assistance of AI tools. That is stated here because it is true and because readers are entitled to know it.
AI-assisted drafts are checked against the primary sources listed on each guide and against the site’s own counting code and tests. Every guide carries a short note at the end saying how it was produced and whether the publisher has individually reviewed it.
At present 20 of the 21 published guides have been individually reviewed by the publisher, and 1 have not yet; each guide says which applies.
We do not describe content as “expert-reviewed”, “fact-checked by a specialist” or similar, because no such review has taken place. Guides are attributed to Naveed Qadir, the software engineer who builds and publishes the site; the about page says who that is. No credentials beyond that are claimed.
Updates
Guides show the date they were published and, if they have changed materially since, the date they were updated. Small corrections of spelling or wording do not change the date. When a platform limit changes, the data file is updated and every page that shows that limit changes with it.
Corrections
If you believe something on the site is wrong, please use the contact page and include the page, the statement and, if you can, a source. Reports are checked against primary sources. When a report is confirmed, the page is corrected, its updated date is changed, and if the error was one of substance the correction is noted on the page.
Independence and advertising
The site may carry advertising. Advertisers have no say in how the tools count, which limits are listed or what the guides conclude. The site contains no sponsored articles, no paid reviews and no affiliate recommendations. It does not publish testimonials, ratings or usage figures.