WordPress: echoing just the first 60characters of the post title

I am styling a WordPress Theme and I would like to make sure that if the post title is longer than 60 characters it shows the first 6ß0 characters + three points (...) at the end

In Native Php would like:

<?php    
     if (strlen($title) <= 60) {
        echo %title
     }  else {
        echo (substr($title, 60) . "..."
     }                          
?>  

My problem is that inside WordPress the syntax of variables is not $title but %title as you could see in the code:

<?php previous_post_link( '%link', '%title ' ); ?>

My questions are:

1. How would be the final IF inside WordPress
2. How would be in shorthand if/else (ternary) form?

Thanks