[whatwg] Placeholder option for text input boxes

[Andy Lyttle]

On Oct 3, 2008, at 1:31 PM, Adrian Sutton wrote:

> On 03/10/08 20:56, "Nils Dagsson Moskopp"
> <nils-dagsson-moskopp at dieweltistgarnichtso.net> wrote:
>> Am Freitag, den 03.10.2008, 20:41 +0100 schrieb Adrian Sutton:
>>> <label for=”date”>Date: <input type=”text” placeholder=”1 Jan 2008”
>>> id=”date” /></label>
>> Wouldn't three comboboxes be more appropriate ?
>
> While that's a common solution it's a terribly inefficient and  
> frustrating
> user interface. Besides, the specific examples aren't as important  
> as the
> idea that placeholder is an excellent way to provide suggestions  
> and thus
> distinct from the label of the field.

Exactly, that was my point as well.  People have been saying that the  
only places they've noticed a placeholder being used, it was  
performing the job of a label, but if it were easy to use (a simple  
attribute instead of lots of JavaScript hacking), I think it would be  
used appropriately as a hint more often.  Yes, it would also be  
abused, but what else is new?  If we provide a good way to do it  
right, designers who care about doing it right will do it right, and  
the ones who don't will continue to do whatever they want.

Obviously <input type="date"> kicks ass for this particular example.

-- 
Andy Lyttle
whatwg at phroggy.com