[whatwg] [WF2] Clear On Focus attribute

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

On May 22, 2007, at 3:35 AM, Stijn Peeters wrote:
>
> It is becoming increasingly common to have an input field clear its
> value when it is first focused. Though in a lot of cases this is
> actually wrong usage of the value=""  attribute for something which
> should actually be done with <label> (such as a search box filled with
> "Enter search query here" that becomes empty when you first click it),

Indeed.

> it is possible to come up with legitimate use cases; the first thing
> that comes to mind are input fields with placeholder or default values
> that may need to be changed. This goes well together with WF2's new
> abilities for prefilling forms.
>
> It makes sense to clear these values when the field is focused, as the
> user will probably want to insert a new value rather than edit the 
> value that is currently in it.
> ...

I don't understand. What use is a default value if you can't edit it? 
Why not make the field empty to begin with?

Cheers
-- 
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/