Text limiter jQuery plugin

gistfile1.js

// Limits the number of characters in a textarea and displays characters remaining
// Accepts a jQuery element statusElem which displays how many characters are remaining

$.fn.textLimiter = function(statusElem, length) {

    return this.each(function() {
        var input = $(this);
        var visible = true;
        var initial = statusElem.text();

        input.bind("keydown keyup paste input", function() {
            var text = input.val();
            if (text.length == 0) {
                statusElem.text(initial);
                if (!visible) statusElem.stop().animate({opacity: 1});
                visible = true;
            }
            else if (text.length > 5) {
                statusElem.text(Math.max(length - text.length, 0)+" characters left");
                if (!visible) statusElem.stop().animate({opacity: 1});
                visible = true;
            }
            else {
                if (visible) statusElem.stop().animate({opacity: 0});
                visible = false;
            }

            if (text.length > length) {
                input.val(input.val().substr(0, length));
            }
        });
    });
};