Default Text Field Values That Disappear on Focus at hocuspokus

You will have noticed this effect out on your travels on the internet - a text input field has some default text in it (often in a slightly dimmed colour), and when you click on the text box, default text disappears and then reappears when you click away from the box. It happens on the search box to the right here too.

I needed this same effect at work today so a quick Google came up with this great blog post - a lovely example of the exact effect I was looking for in both raw javascript and a version using the jQuery library.

The script searches the page that it’s inserted on for all form input fields that have a class of ‘default-value’ applied. Each form input field must also have a unique ID.

When the page loads the script changes the color of the text in the text fields it has found to the value of ‘inactive_color’. If the user clicks on the input field, the default text is blanked, and the colour changed to ‘active_color’. If the user clicks away from the input field, i.e. the input field loses focus, the value of the text field will revert back to the original text, and the colour will change back to ‘inactive_color’, unless the user has entered some other text.

Here’s a copy of the jQuery version for my own personal notes, never know when that could be useful:

/*
 * Written by Rob Schmitt, The Web Developer's Blog
 * http://webdeveloper.beforeseven.com/
 */
 
var active_color = '#000'; // Colour of user provided text
var inactive_color = '#999'; // Colour of default text
 
$(document).ready(function() {
  $("input.default-value").css("color", inactive_color);
  var default_values = new Array();
  $("input.default-value").focus(function() {
    if (!default_values[this.id]) {
      default_values[this.id] = this.value;
    }
    if (this.value == default_values[this.id]) {
      this.value = '';
      this.style.color = active_color;
    }
    $(this).blur(function() {
      if (this.value == '') {
        this.style.color = inactive_color;
        this.value = default_values[this.id];
      }
    });
  });
});

However, we don’t use jQuery at work, our entire site is based around Prototype and script.aculo.us, so I did a bit of butchering and here’s the code adapted to use Prototype:

/*
 * Written by Darren Oakley
 * http://hocuspokus.net
 */
 
var active_color = '#000'; // Colour of user provided text
var inactive_color = '#999'; // Colour of default text
 
Event.observe( window, 'load', function () {
    var default_values = new Array();
    $$("input.default-value").each( function (s) {
        $(s).setStyle({ color: inactive_color });
        $(s).observe( 'focus', function () {
            if (!default_values[s.id]) {
                default_values[s.id] = s.value;
            }
            if (s.value == default_values[s.id]) {
                s.value = '';
                $(s).setStyle({ color: active_color });
            }
            $(s).observe( 'blur', function () {
                if (s.value == '') {
                    $(s).setStyle({ color: inactive_color });
                    s.value = default_values[s.id];
                }
            });
        });
    });
});

Now all you need to do is give your input text fields a unique id, and the class of ‘default-value’, then the script will take care of the rest.

$('input[type="text"]').focus(function() { if (!this.defaultValue) this.defaultValue = value; }); $('input[type="text"]').blur(function() { if (this.value == '') this.value = (this.defaultValue ? this.defaultValue : ''); });

$(document).ready(function(){ $('input[type="text"]').focus(function() { if (this.value == this.defaultValue) this.value = ''; }); $('input[type="text"]').blur(function() { if (this.value == '') this.value = (this.defaultValue ? this.defaultValue : ''); }); });

8 Responses to “Default Text Field Values That Disappear on Focus”

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1 cd

June 16, 2008 at 7:49 pm

if u want simple input text who will disapear when u focus ypur cursor on it just use this

<input onfocus="this.value=''" type="text" value="some text" />

or this

<input onfocus="this.select()" type="text" value="some text" />

2 Andy

July 24, 2008 at 7:03 am

This could be made simpler by assigning a custom property to the object in the DOM. I’ve called it “defaultValue”. Does not address the colour change, but again, it could be assigned as a custom property if necessary.

3 Andy

July 24, 2008 at 10:00 am

Even better, defaultValue is already part of the DOM. I always forget that… So here is a more slimline jQuery powered version

$('input[type="text"]').focus(function() {
  this.value = '';
});
$('input[type="text"]').blur(function() {
  if (this.value == '') this.value = (this.defaultValue ? this.defaultValue : '');
});

4 Daz
July 24, 2008 at 11:09 am

This could be made simpler by assigning a custom property to the object in the DOM. I’ve called it “defaultValue”. Does not address the colour change, but again, it could be assigned as a custom property if necessary.

Ta! That’s just a little more concise, great example.
5 Ryan
August 25, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Great example Andy; I’ve borrowed it for my site with one change. Once a user entered their information into the text-field I didn’t want the script to remove the users content when clicked again. So here is the change:
```
$(document).ready(function(){
    $('input[type="text"]').focus(function() {
        if (this.value == this.defaultValue) this.value = '';
    });
    $('input[type="text"]').blur(function() {
        if (this.value == '') this.value = (this.defaultValue ? this.defaultValue : '');
    });
});
```
Thanks again for the example. It was a huge helper for a jQuery Newbie who had no idea where to start!
6 Vignesh Sugumar
October 21, 2008 at 10:50 am

Here is another working solution!

Asp Textbox

For simple html
7 Tahir
October 22, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Great example Andy; I’ve borrowed it for my site with one change. Once a user entered their information into the text-field I didn’t want the script to remove the users content when clicked again. So here is the change:
```
$(document).ready(function(){
    $('input[type="text"]').focus(function() {
        if (this.value == this.defaultValue) this.value = '';
    });
    $('input[type="text"]').blur(function() {
        if (this.value == '') this.value = (this.defaultValue ? this.defaultValue : '');
    });
});
```
Thanks again for the example. It was a huge helper for a jQuery Newbie who had no idea where to start!

8 Dominic Claxton

October 24, 2008 at 7:23 am

I changed it slightly to work even better (in my opinion!)
Remove the focus entirely from the links and instead trigger from the javascript.
This should allow you to make the default text disappear on focus but when the user types in and then refocuses on it again it doesn’t disapperar but merely highlights. This gives the user the option of continuing to type by clicking again. For me it works better.
Try it!

Tested in FireFox 2 and IE7
Here it is in full.

hocuspokus