Stef Walter @stephaniewalter@front-end.social
Public

Let’s talk about placeholder, format indication and accessibility.

Short and simple version: don't placeholders to communicate input format indication.

In this example, from a real I filled a couple of days ago, the birthdate expected format is indicated with placeholder: YYYY-MM-DD. As soon as the user starts typing, it disappears. If they forget the expected format, they must erase their input just to see the format indication again.

Visual tip about accessibility in form design, stating “Placeholders should not be used for format indication.” Shows a birthdate input field with a disappearing date format placeholder and a user confused about the format. Caption emphasizes that input formats should be persistent and visible.
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