MR: https://gitlab.wikimedia.org/daanvr/upload-workbench/-/merge_requests/25
Preview: https://upload-workbench.toolforge.org/mr-25/

Some feedback. Uh it now's every time you hit space it makes the text red saying there's a trailing uh white space. Um this is fine that this is not allowed, however, let's never mention the trailing white space and let's just remove the trailing white space whenever The field is deselected. or saved or something like this. What trailing white spaces should never be saved or kept however they should be able while writing they should be possible while writing without seeing a warning.

Let's not worry the user with the maximum of 250 characters before the user gets close to it. So only above 200 characters the user will be warned with an indication that The maximum is two hundred and fifty characters.

When having more than the limit of characters? There is a indication by saying 300 characters of the 300 slash 250 characters so indicating you have more than one uh more than the maximum And then there is a warning message underneath it saying it should be less than 250. That's good, that's okay. However it should doesn't need to repeat the number of characters and it could be on the same line
Now that I think of it. The indication that you're close to the maximum should only be there whenever you're close, so above 200 characters. And the message that you're above it uh can be part of the same error message. Or the same line, the same label basically. So it first shows a grey or black normal neutral. um 210 characters of 250 and then when you go above it becomes red or it just becomes red no message needed just becomes red And the placeholder text before you start typing Does not need to indicate the mac maximum number of characters. Only the short text caption, plain text caption. Um I think there are indications of uh what the goal of the caption is. Maybe that should be the placeholder text and not the requirements Please research it and see how you can fit it in a few words as the placeholder text.

Also, if it's above the maximum and you deselect the field, it shows no problems whatsoever and ready to upload, even though That is not allowed. So the warning should persist even when the f uh thing is deselected, when the cell is deselected

Iterated per feedback (2026-05-11):

• Counter is now hidden below 200 chars (no nag for short captions). 200–250 it sits in neutral grey ("210 / 250"); over 250 it turns red ("300 / 250") with a single short error message beside it on the same line — no count repetition.
• Trailing/leading whitespace silently trimmed on commit; no "trailing whitespace" warning while typing.
• Placeholder now describes the goal of a caption ("Brief description of the file"), not the 250-char limit. (Researched Commons:File_captions: it calls them "short, multilingual descriptions about files" — the placeholder reflects that goal.)
• Persistent in-cell error indicator: an over-limit (or otherwise invalid) saved caption now renders the cell with a red background and a warn icon next to the text, mirroring the visual language of the --missing class. Blurring out of an invalid value no longer hides the warning.

Preview updated: https://upload-workbench.toolforge.org/mr-25/