How do I auto-hide placeholder text upon focus using css or jquery?

Question

This is done automatically for every browser except Chrome.

I\'m guessing I have to specifically target Chrome.

Any solutio

Answer 1

Pure CSS Solution (no JS required)

Building on @Hexodus and @Casey Chu's answers, here is an updated and cross-browser solution that leverages CSS opacity and transitions to fade the placeholder text out. It works for any element that can use placeholders, including textarea and input tags.

::-webkit-input-placeholder { opacity: 1; -webkit-transition: opacity .5s; transition: opacity .5s; }  /* Chrome <=56, Safari < 10 */
:-moz-placeholder { opacity: 1; -moz-transition: opacity .5s; transition: opacity .5s; } /* FF 4-18 */
::-moz-placeholder { opacity: 1; -moz-transition: opacity .5s; transition: opacity .5s; } /* FF 19-51 */
:-ms-input-placeholder { opacity: 1; -ms-transition: opacity .5s; transition: opacity .5s; } /* IE 10+ */
::placeholder { opacity: 1; transition: opacity .5s; } /* Modern Browsers */
    
*:focus::-webkit-input-placeholder { opacity: 0; } /* Chrome <=56, Safari < 10 */
*:focus:-moz-placeholder { opacity: 0; } /* FF 4-18 */
*:focus::-moz-placeholder { opacity: 0; } /* FF 19-50 */
*:focus:-ms-input-placeholder { opacity: 0; } /* IE 10+ */
*:focus::placeholder { opacity: 0; } /* Modern Browsers */

  
Input:
  






  
Textarea:
  

Revisions

• Edit 1 (2017): Updated to support modern browsers.
• Edit 2 (2020): Added the runnable Stack Snippet.