HTML Form “placeholder” not working in IE 8

Question

Hi I have created a form on my website. I am using placeholder="Full Name" but nothing is showing up in the form when viewed in IE8 (and probably other IE versions)

I have tried using value="" onfocus="if (this.value == 'Full Name') {this.value = '';}" onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Full Name';}" but the form is still empty. For some reason 'Full Name' shows up when you click on the form, then off it.

The website I am working on is [usspcatalystcentre.org.uk][1] and you can see what I mean. The first two forms (Title & Full Name) is where I have tried using

value="" onfocus="if (this.value == 'Full Name') {this.value = '';}" onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Full Name';}" 

The rest of the form are where I have just used placeholder

Here is the actual code I am working on

<form action="contact.php" method="post">


                <input id=title name=title type=text value="" onfocus="if(this.value=='Username') this.value='';" onblur="if(this.value=='') this.value='Username';" required class="top-formfields" value='<?php print $_SESSION['title']?>'>  <br /><br />
                <input id=fullname name=fullname type=text value="" onfocus="if(this.value=='Full Name') this.value='';" onblur="if(this.value=='') this.value='Full Name';" required  class="top-formfields" value='<?php print $_SESSION['fullname']?>'> <br /><br />
                <input id=companyname name=companyname type=text placeholder="Company Name" required  class="top-formfields" value='<?php print $_SESSION['companyname']?>'>    <br /><br />
                <input id=companynumber name=companynumber type=text placeholder="Company Registered Number" required  class="top-formfields" value='<?php print $_SESSION['companynumber']?>'> <br /><br />
                <textarea id=address name=address rows=5 placeholder="Address" required class="top-textarea"><?php print $_SESSION['address']?></textarea> <br /><br />
                <input id=postcode name=postcode type=text placeholder="Post Code" required  class="top-formfields" value='<?php print $_SESSION['postcode']?>'>    <br /><br />
                <input id=phonenumber name=phonenumber type=text placeholder="Phone Number" required  class="top-formfields" value='<?php print $_SESSION['phonenumber']?>'>    <br /><br />
                <input id=email name=email type=text placeholder="Email" required  class="top-formfields" value='<?php print $_SESSION['email']?>'> <br /><br />
                <input id=mobile name=mobile type=text placeholder="Mobile" required  class="top-formfields" value='<?php print $_SESSION['mobile']?>'> <br /><br />
                <input id=website name=website type=text placeholder="Website URL" required  class="top-formfields" value='<?php print $_SESSION['website']?>'> <br /><br />

Thanks in advance, Tom

Answer 1

Tom, placeholder isn't an attribute supported by IE8.

I think this will help you with the direction you are going:

Pre-populate the field with "Full Name". Give it value="Full Name" in advance as the default.

onfocus= "if (this.value=='Full Name'){this.select();this.value='';this.style.color='#999999';}else{this.style.color='#000000';}"  

onclick= "if (this.value=='Full Name'){this.select();this.value='';this.style.color='#999999';}else{this.style.color='#000000';}" 

onblur=  "if (this.value==''||this.value=='Full Name'){this.value='Full Name';this.style.color='#999999';}else{this.style.color='#000000';}" 

onkeyup= "if (this.value=='Full Name'){this.select();this.style.color='#999999';}else{this.style.color='#000000';}" 

onchange="if (this.value=='Full Name'){this.style.color='#999999';}else{this.style.color='#000000';}"

Answer 2

if (!('placeholder' in $('<input>')[0])) { // Create a dummy element for feature detection
    $('input[placeholder], textarea[placeholder]').blur(add).focus(remove).each(add); // Select the elements that have a placeholder attribute
    $('form').submit(function(){$(this).find('input[placeholder], textarea[placeholder]').each(remove);}); // Remove the placeholder text before the form is submitted
}

Answer 3

Save the following code as .js and make sure to change the input type

$(document).ready(function () {
    if ($.browser.msie) { //this is for only ie condition ( microsoft internet explore )
        $('input[type="text"][placeholder], textarea[placeholder]').each(function () {
            var obj = $(this);
            if (obj.attr('placeholder') != '') {
                obj.addClass('IePlaceHolder');

                if ($.trim(obj.val()) == '' && obj.attr('type') != 'password') {
                    obj.val(obj.attr('placeholder'));
                }
            }
        });

        $('.IePlaceHolder').focus(function () {
            var obj = $(this);
            if (obj.val() == obj.attr('placeholder')) {
                obj.val('');
            }
        });

        $('.IePlaceHolder').blur(function () {
            var obj = $(this);
            if ($.trim(obj.val()) == '') {
                obj.val(obj.attr('placeholder'));
            }
        });
    }
});

http://jsfiddle.net/wbcTm/79/

Answer 4

IE-9 do not support place holder so the first solution that come up in my mind is this.

good luck!

<script type="text/javascript"> 
    if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("MSIE") > 0 )
    {
        $(function()
        {
            var input = document.createElement("input");
            if(('placeholder' in input) == false)
            {
                $('[placeholder]').focus(function()
                {
                    var i = $(this);
                    if(i.val() == i.attr('placeholder'))
                    {
                        i.val('').removeClass('placeholder');
                        if(i.hasClass('password'))
                        {
                            i.removeClass('password'); this.type='password';
                        }
                    }
                }).blur(function()
                {
                    var i = $(this);
                    if(i.val() == '' || i.val() == i.attr('placeholder'))
                    {
                        if(this.type=='password')
                        {
                            i.addClass('password'); this.type='text';
                        }
                        i.addClass('placeholder').val(i.attr('placeholder'));
                    }
                }).blur().parents('form').submit(function()
                {
                    $(this).find('[placeholder]').each(function()
                    {
                        var i = $(this);
                        if(i.val() == i.attr('placeholder')) i.val('');
                    });
                });
            }
        });
    }


    </script>

Answer 5

The placeholder attribute is a new HTML5 improvement. It's not supported in older IE-s - http://diveintohtml5.info/forms.html

To mimic it cross-browser you might want to use jQuery - example

Answer 6

Make sure to add browser detection if you're using jQuery 1.9+. You can install it from your terminal with this command npm install jquery.browser