In addition to the above, I would like to point out that client-side validation (HTML code, javascript, etc.) is never enough. Also check the length server-side, or just don't check at all (if it's not so important that people can be allowed to get around it, then it's not important enough to really warrant any steps to prevent that, either).
Also, fellows, he (or she) said HTML, not XHTML. ;)
(by the way, the type is "text", not "textbox" as others are writing), however, you have to use javascript with <textarea>s. Either way the length should be checked on the server anyway.
function limitText(limitField, limitNum) {
if (limitField.value.length > limitNum) {
limitField.value = limitField.value.substring(0, limitNum);
}
}
But anyway, there is no good solution. You can not adapt to every client's bad HTML implementation, it's an impossible fight to win. That's why it's far better to check it on the server side, with a PHP / Python / whatever script.