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General Discussion

Posted by Alex Chow
Alex Chow
4,521 Points

Clear default text in textarea when in focus

Hi there,

I have a contact form that has three input fields and one textarea field for comments. I have used some javascript plug-ins to clear the default text when in focus for the input fields but I'm not sure how to do it with the textarea field. If anyone could help me or point me to the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Let me know if you need me to submit the tutorial I used or line of code(s).

Thank you.

1 Answer

mikes02
PLUS
mikes02
Courses Plus Student 16,968 Points
mikes02
mikes02
Courses Plus Student 16,968 Points

Why not just use the placeholder attribute?

 <textarea placeholder="Placeholder text here..."></textarea>
Alex Chow
Alex Chow
4,521 Points

Hi there,

I currently have placeholder active in my code with the text "Leave A Message." I would like the effect to match my input fields for continuity.

mikes02
mikes02
Courses Plus Student 16,968 Points

You could use the placeholder attribute on input fields as well.

Alex Chow
Alex Chow
4,521 Points

Yes, I originally had that before applying the clear default text method. However, when the user clicked on the field, the text cursor would be placed at the end of it and would not automatically overwrite or clear the current message. (i.e. If the input field said "name", the text cursor would come after the e and if someone started typing it would become "namealex.") It just seemed inefficient to have the user delete the text inside in order to write new content to contact me.

This may have been something I incorrectly coded but that was my experience with it so I didn't really like using it.