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.