- From: John M Slatin <john_slatin@austin.utexas.edu>
- Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 09:19:01 -0600
- To: "Jens Meiert" <jens.meiert@erde3.com>, "lisa seeman" <seeman@netvision.net.il>
- Cc: <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
That's the correct: I was *not* proposing placeholder text. The content of the title attribute would not be visible on the screen, but would be spoken by screen readers and talking browsers. A visual prompt is provided by the submit button, which is labeled "Search" (not simply submit). At least this is how I understood the situation. In other words, sighted users see a button labeled "Search" immediately to adjacent to the empty input field. Visually, then, the button works like a label. I think placeholder text would be both redundant and potentially confusing, because some user agents automatically select the placeholder text (so that entering the search text would replace the placeholder) while others do not. In the latter case, a user might enter the search term but submit a query that also contained the placeholder text, leading to confusing results. John "Good design is accessible design." Please note our new name and URL! John Slatin, Ph.D. Director, Accessibility Institute University of Texas at Austin FAC 248C 1 University Station G9600 Austin, TX 78712 ph 512-495-4288, f 512-495-4524 email jslatin@mail.utexas.edu web http://www.utexas.edu/research/accessibility/ -----Original Message----- From: Jens Meiert [mailto:jens.meiert@erde3.com] Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 9:02 am To: lisa seeman Cc: John M Slatin; w3c-wai-gl@w3.org Subject: RE: Form and label element association > [...] I think it would be legitimate to use the title attribute on the > <input> element to prompt the user *before* she or he tabs to the > Search button. <snip /> > What if the place holding text for the text box read "enter search > text here" First, John meant use of the title attribute (which IMO is the better solution) not of place holding text, CMIIW. Second, I rather recommend to say 'enter search text' than 'enter search text here', since 'here' is unnecessary to say (as is to use 'click here'). Jens. -- Jens Meiert Interface Architect http://meiert.com/
Received on Wednesday, 10 December 2003 10:19:16 UTC