A simple textarea delimiter and counter using Vanilla Javascript http://jsfiddle.net/yru532m4/

textarea_limit_characters_vanilla.js

let textareas = document.querySelectorAll('.limit-text')

Array.from(textareas).forEach(el => {

    let maxlength = el.getAttribute('maxlength')
    el.parentNode.querySelectorAll('.count_message')[0].innerHTML = maxlength + ' remaining'
	
    el.addEventListener('keyup', function(event) {
      let length = this.value.length
      let text_remaining = maxlength - length
      this.parentNode.querySelectorAll('.count_message')[0].innerHTML = text_remaining + ' remaining'
    })

})

textareas.html

<div>  
  <h5>
    <em class="count_message"></em>
  </h5> 
  <textarea class='limit-text' placeholder="Type in your message" rows="5" maxlength="200"></textarea>
</div>

<div>
  <h5>
    <em class="count_message"></em>
  </h5> 
  <textarea class='limit-text' placeholder="Type in your message" rows="5" maxlength="600"></textarea>
</div>