Index: general-template.php
===================================================================
--- general-template.php	(revision 24250)
+++ general-template.php	(working copy)
@@ -306,6 +306,9 @@
 		'remember' => true,
 		'value_username' => '',
 		'value_remember' => false, // Set this to true to default the "Remember me" checkbox to checked
+		'placeholder' => false,
+		'placeholder_username' => __('Username'),
+		'placeholder_password' => __('Password'),
 	);
 	$args = wp_parse_args( $args, apply_filters( 'login_form_defaults', $defaults ) );
 
@@ -314,11 +317,11 @@
 			' . apply_filters( 'login_form_top', '', $args ) . '
 			<p class="login-username">
 				<label for="' . esc_attr( $args['id_username'] ) . '">' . esc_html( $args['label_username'] ) . '</label>
-				<input type="text" name="log" id="' . esc_attr( $args['id_username'] ) . '" class="input" value="' . esc_attr( $args['value_username'] ) . '" size="20" />
+				<input type="text" name="log" id="' . esc_attr( $args['id_username'] ) . '" class="input" value="' . esc_attr( $args['value_username'] ) . '" ' . ( $args['placeholder'] ? ' placeholder="'. esc_attr($args['placeholder_username']).'"' : '' ) .' size="20" />
 			</p>
 			<p class="login-password">
 				<label for="' . esc_attr( $args['id_password'] ) . '">' . esc_html( $args['label_password'] ) . '</label>
-				<input type="password" name="pwd" id="' . esc_attr( $args['id_password'] ) . '" class="input" value="" size="20" />
+				<input type="password" name="pwd" id="' . esc_attr( $args['id_password'] ) . '" class="input" value="" ' . ( $args['placeholder'] ? ' placeholder="'.esc_attr($args['placeholder_password']).'"' : '' ) .' size="20" />
 			</p>
 			' . apply_filters( 'login_form_middle', '', $args ) . '
 			' . ( $args['remember'] ? '<p class="login-remember"><label><input name="rememberme" type="checkbox" id="' . esc_attr( $args['id_remember'] ) . '" value="forever"' . ( $args['value_remember'] ? ' checked="checked"' : '' ) . ' /> ' . esc_html( $args['label_remember'] ) . '</label></p>' : '' ) . '