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Re: Placeholder text contrast

for

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Mar 20, 2015 11:46AM

Jesse,

The WCAG group added a note to this effect (http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-contrast.html) in a recent update to the understanding document, which reads:

Note 3: The minimum contrast success criterion (1.4.3) applies to text in the page, and placeholder text is text in the page. If used, placeholder text needs to provide sufficient contrast.

It is of course a little ironic that usability tests indicate that people think that the field is already completed when the contrast is high enough, since misunderstanding a control as being already filled out can happen when a screen reader user encounters a control with placeholder text.

Have your usability studies found a definite benefit to having placeholder text at all?

AWK

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jesse Hausler
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 12:57 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Placeholder text contrast

If placeholder text is being used properly (input masks, giving examples,
etc) and visible form labels are present, does the placeholder text need to meet contrast ratios?

Browser defaults appear to be 2.2:1 or so... Are people expected to override browser defaults?

Our usability studies found that people thought that form fields were already filled out when placeholder text color met 4.5:1.

Thanks,
Jesse