[whatwg] Hide placeholder on input controls on focus

[Garrett Smith]

On 3/18/13, Markus Ernst <derernst at gmx.ch> wrote:
> Hello Whatwg
>
> On several occasions I encountered that users got confused by the
> placeholders on input fields. In a doodle.com survey last week, 2 out of
> 5 people answered me via e-mail that they were not able to fill in their
> names in the "name" field, because they tried to highlight and delete
> the placeholder saying "Your name".
>
As an example, ergo-log.com search box uses the INPUT's 'value' for
placeholder text, requiring the user to select and change its value.


> User agents should present this hint to the user, after having stripped
> line breaks from it, when the element's value is the empty string or the
> control is not focused (or both), e.g. by displaying it inside a blank
> unfocused control and hiding it otherwise.
>
Awkward.

> To:
>
> ...when the element's value is the empty string _and_ the control is not
> focused, e.g. by displaying ...
Clearer and makes sense from a U/X perspective.

When the field is focused automatically with autofocus, should the
placeholder be hidden or is this a special case?
-- 
Garrett
Twitter: @xkit
personx.tumblr.com