Form Field Patterns

Don’t use the Placeholder attribute

I don’t know any accessibility professionals who recommend using the placeholder attribute. I know a few who have provided ways to make placeholders less harmful (usually with content guidelines), but that’s as close as anyone gets to recommending this component.

Here’s a list of articles backing up this surprisingly volatile topic.

• Don’t Use the Placeholder Attribute by Eric Bailey on Smashing Magazine
• re-upped: placeholder — the piss-take label by Steve F.
• 11 reasons why placeholders are problematic by Adam Silver on Medium
• Placeholders in Form Fields are Harmful by Katie Sherwin at Nielsen Norman Group
• The Anatomy of Accessible Forms: The Problem with Placeholders by Raghavendra Satish at Deque
• Accessibility Considerations section of the Text Input guidelines on VA.gov indicating that placeholder text should be avoided.