I was delighted to see this article from the Nielsen Norman Group on why Placeholders in Form Fields Are Harmful. Placeholders are those words that lurk in your online forms, frequently an almost unreadable pale gray.
The example the author provides in the article is a password field where the label "Password:" appears above the form field, and the hint "Must have at least 6 characters" appears as light gray placeholder text inside the form field.
The intent is to help users, by giving an example of the type of information they are supposed to provide, or more details about what is required. The actual effect, however, is frequently one of the following:
- Sighted users may skip the field entirely, because it already seems to be filled in, and their eye is drawn to the empty fields
- Users with low vision are denied critical information, because the contrast is so poor
- Blind users aren't sure what to put in this field, because sometimes web designers rely on the placeholder text instead of providing a properly coded label for the field
- Users may wind up with a jumble of their own text and the placeholder text, because it didn't disappear—sometimes the text remains there until the user manually deletes it
Placeholder text is a great example of how accessibility and usability go hand in hand. What helps (or hinders) users who are blind or have low vision is also helpful (or annoying!) to sighted users trying to fill out a form on a smart phone or in low light. And even a page that is technically compliant with accessibility guidelines can be so difficult to use that it cannot truly be called "accessible."
The good news is that user-centered design processes can create websites that are easier for everyone to use. Learn more about the connection between accessibility and usability, and make a commitment to include users with disabilities in your next round of usability testing! If you have an announcement you'd like to share about an upcoming focus group or usability test, please send it to afbweb@afb.net.
AFB regularly reaches out to users of all kinds for feedback on our websites. If you are interested in participating, please let us know. Again, you can send a message to afbweb@afb.net. And, thank you for helping to make the web a better place for everyone!
