<p>I'm looking for a technique (javascript, CSS, whatever ???) that will let me control the amount of a string that is displayed. The string is the result of a search (and therefore not initially known). A simple Character count approach is trivial, but not acceptable, as it needs to handle proportional fonts. In otherwords if I want to limit to say 70 pixels then the examples below show different character counts (9 and 15) both measuring the same:-</p>

<p>Welcome M...<br>
Hi Iain if I've ...</p>

<p>If you look at Yahoo search results they are able to limit the length of title strings and add ellipsis on the end of long strings to indicate more.
(try  site:loot.com wireless+keyboard+and+mouse to see an example of Yahoo achieving this)</p>

<p>Any Ideas?</p>

Perhaps the CSS property
```
overflow: hidden;
```
can help you, in conjuntion with
```
width
```
.