Add placeholder attribute to search field

[cyberskull]

By default the search widget is just a blank field. This is really unfortunate. However, HTML5 has a solution! Since the search field is already {{type="search"}}, we only need to add the attribute placeholder="Search" to the element.

<hmtl>
…
<form action="http://example.com/" method="get" id="searchform-1">
<input type="search" name="s" id="s-1" placeholder="search" />
</form>
…
</html>

[nacin]

I don't think we are type=search in core. We should, though.

Placeholders don't degrade gracefully in browsers, do they?

[solarissmoke]

Placeholders don't degrade gracefully in browsers, do they?

There is nothing to degrade? Browsers that don't support it (eg IE<9, FF<4) just ignore it.

[ocean90]

You can change the form with the get_search_form filter. So if you have a theme with HTML5 doctype you can add the new attribute.

In my opinion it's too soon to add HTML5 attributes into the core.

[cyberskull]

Replying to ocean90:

You can change the form with the get_search_form filter. So if you have a theme with HTML5 doctype you can add the new attribute.

In my opinion it's too soon to add HTML5 attributes into the core.

The attribute type="search" is an ​HTML5 attribute and is already in core.

[nacin]

Replying to cyberskull:

The attribute type="search" is an ​HTML5 attribute and is already in core.

No, it's not. Your theme probably has a custom searchform.php.

[toscho]

By default the search widget is just a blank field.

That depends on the theme. By default the search field has a label.

If we add a placeholder users with a screenreader and a modern browser have to listen to the label and the placeholder. As long as there is not better text for the placeholder than an ​illegal label replacement/duplicate no one benefits from the attribute.

[cyberskull]

Replying to nacin:

Replying to cyberskull:

The attribute type="search" is an ​HTML5 attribute and is already in core.

No, it's not. Your theme probably has a custom searchform.php.

My mistake then.

[chipbennett]

Related: #19579

[helenyhou]

Let's leave it to themes for now.