https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text Gravity Support Forums Topic: Best Way to Use Placeholder Text? en-US Mon, 20 Apr 2026 02:36:50 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.1 q https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/search.php https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-55274 Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:02:53 +0000 Rob Harrell 55274@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Right on, glad you got it working. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-55187 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:01:18 +0000 Jonathan 55187@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Thanks a ton Alex. I can't believe I didn't think about turning off AJAX. Once I did that it worked perfectly. I appreciate you guys working with me so much on this one. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-55184 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:29:31 +0000 Alex Cancado 55184@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Is your form and AJAX form? If not, gform_enqueue_scripts should fire when the form is being loaded with a validation error. Can you post your custom code so that I can take look? </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-55143 Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:34:37 +0000 Jonathan 55143@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Hmm, the problem is that I need to run PHP since the placeholder value is kept in a field in Gravity Forms. Any other suggestions?</p> <p>Thanks for all the help guys. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-55036 Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:18:45 +0000 Alex Cancado 55036@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>The gform_post_render javascript hook will fire every time a form gets loaded. That might be what you are looking for.<br /> <a href="http://www.gravityhelp.com/documentation/page/Gform_post_render" rel="nofollow">http://www.gravityhelp.com/documentation/page/Gform_post_render</a> </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-54931 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:39:08 +0000 Jonathan 54931@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>The issue I see with that approach is that required fields are submitted even if no text has been entered. </p> <p>I know you can write custom php to make it not validate, but we would have to do that individually for each form, which would probably get very time consuming.</p> <p>When the form is recreated after validation, is there an action besides gform_enqueue_scripts that runs so we can add our custom javacript?</p> <p>Thanks again for the help. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-54924 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:18:46 +0000 Rob Harrell 54924@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Im not familiar with that approach you are trying, and it seems fairly involved because it looks like it's trying to write in the placeholder attribute I'd imagine. The link I gave you above should be much simpler.</p> <p>Since there isn't currently a way to add "placeholder" text, you could hide the existing field labels with a CSS rule, then you can use the method in the link I supplied (using default values) to emulate placeholder text inside the inputs, which clears onclick. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-54922 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:10:56 +0000 Jonathan 54922@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Thanks a lot for your feedback. I am trying to use the script listed at <a href="http://askwpgirl.com/gravity-forms-placeholder-text-works-with-ie/" rel="nofollow">http://askwpgirl.com/gravity-forms-placeholder-text-works-with-ie/</a> to add placeholder values, but I am running into a small issue.</p> <p>I am using the gform_enqueue_scripts action to call the function and run my JavaScript. This works when the form first loads, but if there are any validation errors it doesn't seem to run again. Is there a different hook I can use that would work?</p> <p>Thanks a lot for your help.</p> <p>Jonathan </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-54874 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:13:33 +0000 Rob Harrell 54874@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Sometimes, people want to place their labels within their inputs, either by using the placeholder text as you've mentioned and then hiding the label via CSS, or by actually placing the label itself within the input (which can be done via jQuery).</p> <p>I think a common rule/considertion of label usage is most dependent upon the device that is being used. But here is a good write up by Luke W on the topic, as well as links in the article about label placement:</p> <p><a href="http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?687" rel="nofollow">http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?687</a></p> <p>For clearing placeholder text via jQuery you can see this here:</p> <p><a href="http://www.gravityhelp.com/clearing-default-form-field-values-with-jquery/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gravityhelp.com/clearing-default-form-field-values-with-jquery/</a> </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/best-way-to-use-placeholder-text#post-54822 Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:16:22 +0000 Jonathan 54822@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>What is the best way to use placeholder text with Gravity Forms instead of using labels? Or, is there a significant usability reason to always include labels with forms?</p> <p>Thanks. </p>