Simple JavaScript Clear Default Value

June 22nd, 2005

When you want a default value to be removed when a user selects a form field to enter some text, you don’t need to go out searching for a ten line script someone has generously distributed online. While there may be merit in other ways of doing this, there is one way that only requires a single line of code.

For each field that you want to clear the initial value add the following event handler to the input element:

onfocus="this.value=''"

For more on web forms visit W3Schools.com and scroll part way down the page for the “forms and input” section.

There are, of course, better ways of doing this with unobtrusive Javascript and the DOM. This is intended as a stop gap solution, not a best practice.

Entry Filed under: Tutorials