On 2013-05-31 5:37 PM, Matthew Walker wrote:

Instead of worrying about 50 shades of grey for label and placeholder
text, Jared asked "Why have both placeholders and labels"?

IMHO:

* A label identifies what a field is for, even after text is placed inside of it.

* A placeholder gives an example of field content.

These are somewhat opposed. A further way of looking at it is to imagine a long form fully filled out -- how do you verify, as a user, if you've filled it out correctly if the labels are no longer visible (because you've filled in the field).

On mobile, for short well known forms: e.g. password forms; there might be an argument. But I would certainly rather not see this as the default.

 

~Matt Walker

Wikimedia Foundation

Fundraising Technology Team

Labels are also readable by screen readers. Something I'm not so sure about on placeholders.

~Daniel Friesen (Dantman, Nadir-Seen-Fire) [http://danielfriesen.name/]

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