diff --git a/djangoapps/courseware/capa/inputtypes.py b/djangoapps/courseware/capa/inputtypes.py
index 81de186f9a..789887243d 100644
--- a/djangoapps/courseware/capa/inputtypes.py
+++ b/djangoapps/courseware/capa/inputtypes.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ class textline(object):
     def render(element, value, state):
         eid=element.get('id')
         count = int(eid.split('_')[-2])-1 # HACK
-        size = element.get('size') or 0
+        size = element.get('size')
         context = {'id':eid, 'value':value, 'state':state, 'count':count, 'size': size}
         html=render_to_string("textinput.html", context)
         return etree.XML(html)
diff --git a/templates/textinput.html b/templates/textinput.html
index c8de0f2f66..a4e6455093 100644
--- a/templates/textinput.html
+++ b/templates/textinput.html
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 <section class="text-input">
-  <input type="text" name="input_${id}" id="input_${id}" value="${value}" size="${size}" />
+  <input type="text" name="input_${id}" id="input_${id}" value="${value}" 
+	 % if size 
+	 size="${size}"
+	 % endif 
+	 />
 
   <span id="answer_${id}"></span>