> From: [email protected] > To: [email protected]; [email protected] > Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2013 01:18:26 +0000 > CC: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [whatwg] Hide placeholder on input controls on focus > > I'm skeptical that this is genuinely a significant issue with users, chiefly > because I've never really seen any page authors feel the need to implement > anything like this, and because as stated earlier Safari, Firefox and Chrome > all use non-hiding placeholders in various places in their browser chrome > without any sort of special treatment on focus. > > Surprisingly, the only example I could find of a developer doing something > both on focus *and* once the user starts typing is Opera in its address bar > and search field, which behaves as you describe; the placeholder text goes > lighter on focus. > > Nevertheless, the _only_ browser I can find which actively removes its > placeholder text on focus is IE 8 (in its search field). I can't believe that > there needs to be a different implementation for fields in the browser's own > chrome as for in-page form fields.
Just as an added data-point (that I only noticed today) - Windows 7's placeholder implementation in the Start menu and Explorer's search box: - The text is displayed in grey *and* italic *and* with a space at the start. - Focusing the input box with tab/Control-E or autofocus when opening the Start menu does *not* hide the placeholder. - Typing hides the placeholder and clearing to empty re-shows it. - Control-A or clicking in the textbox hides the placeholder. This to me seems like a very interesting compromise between the two observed behaviours in browsers - autofocus does not prevent the user seeing the placeholder but any attempt to interact with it (by typing, mouse clicking or control-a) removes it. I would be interested in why this behaviour was not adopted in IE10's input[placeholder] implementation. -- James Ross [email protected]
