Input

Textarea

A tall box for typing several lines of free text, such as comments or a description.

Feedback (up to 200 characters)

200 characters left

Also known as

Text area — Carbon Design System
テキストエリア — デジタル庁デザインシステム

How to recognize it

A bordered rectangle several lines tall, with a label above it. A character count often appears below, and the bottom-right corner may have a resize handle.

Behavior

Enter starts a new line instead of submitting the form.
The text scrolls inside the box when it gets longer than the visible lines.
This demo shows the remaining characters and lets you type past the limit, showing how many characters are over instead of cutting the text off.

Keyboard

Key	Action
`Tab`	Moves focus into or out of the box.
`Enter`	Inserts a line break.
`← / → / ↑ / ↓`	Moves the text cursor.

Usage notes

Free text takes effort to write. Narrow the question first, for example by asking only people who chose “Other”.
Put the character limit in the label. For limits of more than about 20 characters, always show a counter.
Do not let the limit become visible only through an error. When the text is too long, say so in an error message along with the current count.
Set the height to match the expected length of the answer.

Text field: A text area takes several lines of free text; a text field takes one short line.

Sources

MDN: <textarea> (Last checked: 2026-10-20)
GOV.UK Design System: Textarea (Last checked: 2026-10-20)
GOV.UK Design System: Character count (Last checked: 2026-10-20)
デジタル庁デザインシステムウェブサイト「テキストエリア」をもとに作成 (Last checked: 2026-10-20)

Demo