On 22 and 24 Sep 2011, Bjartur Thorlacius wrote: > > The semantics of the placeholder and title attributes of inputs overlap > slightly; the placeholder attribute may contain a hint to aid the user, > while title is to contain "other advisory text." I can think of two > valid uses of placeholder: example value, and the text "click here to > type" or "enter search query here." The latter is obviously user > interface that should be implemented by interactive user agents. Then > there is the third use, use it as a title attribute (but with richer > presentation). > > Users might want values falling under the first to be prefixed with > "e.g.", "for example" or equivalent - but by allowing the latter use > forces authors to add it to all example values, rather than letting the > user's style sheet take care of it. Thus I suggest narrowing the > semantics of the attribute to example values, allowing for easier > styling by users (or agents, on their behalf). The second one should > have no valid representation. Lastly, the specification should make it > clearer what the title attribute is appropriate for; a description of > the input or format. > > Also, I see no reason to suggest not rendering the text when the input > is focused - in special on 1D devices such as speech - considering that > JavaScript dependent sites (such as Hotmail) have placed example values > in a small font below the input so that it can be visible while the user > is typing, and, more importantly, after the input has been focused > (whether automatically or manually), but before the user starts typing. > > As for the argument against using the title attribute for everything > that it would break existing sites, I do believe rendering the title > attribute of an empty and unfocused input inside of it is an improvement > over displaying a tooltip a second or two after the user positions a > cursor over the input (irrespective of focus). How on Earth is anyone to > think of doing that? Displaying the title attribute in a floating box in > a margin when an input is focused, followed by the example value > prefixed with "e.g." would be my preferred rendering, but that's just my > opinion.
> Should @placeholder be renamed @eg, and used exclusively for example > input? I think you're overthinking it. :-) In theory, the main differences between title="" and placeholder="" is that title="" can be longer and would be shown on request, while placeholder="" is shorter, shown as part of the input feature, typically only when there's no input already, and would be specifically about the input format. In practice, on visual media, this means title="" is a tooltip and placeholder="" is an inline caption. > P.S. The last paragraph of the section on the pattern attribute links > twice to <semantics.html#the-title-element>. Should it not link to > <elements.html#the-title-attribute>? Fixed, thanks. -- Ian Hickson U+1047E )\._.,--....,'``. fL http://ln.hixie.ch/ U+263A /, _.. \ _\ ;`._ ,. Things that are impossible just take longer. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'