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

Question

Edit: All browsers support now

input:focus::placeholder {
  color: transparent;
}

<input type="text" placeholder="Type something here!">

Firefox 15 and IE 10+ also supports this now. To expand on Casey Chu's CSS solution:

input:focus::-webkit-input-placeholder { color:transparent; }
input:focus:-moz-placeholder { color:transparent; } /* FF 4-18 */
input:focus::-moz-placeholder { color:transparent; } /* FF 19+ */
input:focus:-ms-input-placeholder { color:transparent; } /* IE 10+ */

<input 
type="text" 
placeholder="enter your text" 
onfocus="this.placeholder = ''"
onblur="this.placeholder = 'enter your text'" />

Here is a CSS-only solution (for now, only works in WebKit):

input:focus::-webkit-input-placeholder {
    opacity: 0;
}

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 */

<div>
  <div><label for="a">Input:</label></div>
  <input id="a" type="text" placeholder="CSS native fade out this placeholder text on click/focus" size="60">
</div>

<br>

<div>
  <div><label for="b">Textarea:</label></div>
  <textarea id="b" placeholder="CSS native fade out this placeholder text on click/focus" rows="3"></textarea>
</div>

Revisions

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

have you tried placeholder attr?

<input id ="myID" type="text" placeholder="enter your text " />

-EDIT-

I see, try this then:

$(function () {

    $('#myId').data('holder', $('#myId').attr('placeholder'));

    $('#myId').focusin(function () {
        $(this).attr('placeholder', '');
    });
    $('#myId').focusout(function () {
        $(this).attr('placeholder', $(this).data('holder'));
    });


});

Test: http://jsfiddle.net/mPLFf/4/

-EDIT-

Actually, since placeholder should be used to describe the value, not the name of the input. I suggest the following alternative

html:

<label class="overlabel"> 
    <span>First Name</span>
    <input name="first_name" type="text" />
</label>

javascript:

$('.overlabel').each(function () {
    var $this = $(this);
    var field = $this.find('[type=text], [type=file], [type=email], [type=password], textarea');
    var span = $(this).find('> span');
    var onBlur = function () {
        if ($.trim(field.val()) == '') {
            field.val('');
            span.fadeIn(100);
        } else {
            span.fadeTo(100, 0);
        }
    };
    field.focus(function () {
        span.fadeOut(100);
    }).blur(onBlur);
    onBlur();
});

css:

.overlabel {
  border: 0.1em solid;
  color: #aaa;
  position: relative;
  display: inline-block;
  vertical-align: middle;
  min-height: 2.2em;
}
.overlabel span {
  position: absolute;
  left: 0;
  top: 0;
  white-space: nowrap;
  overflow: hidden;
  text-overflow: ellipsis;
}
.overlabel span, .overlabel input {
  text-align: left;
  font-size: 1em;
  line-height: 2em;
  padding: 0 0.5em;
  margin: 0;
  background: transparent;
  -webkit-appearance: none; /* prevent ios styling */
  border-width: 0;
  width: 100%;
  outline: 0;
}

Test:

http://jsfiddle.net/kwynwrcf/

To augment @casey-chu's and pirate rob's answer, here's a more cross browser compatible way:

    /* WebKit browsers */
input:focus::-webkit-input-placeholder { color:transparent; }

    /* Mozilla Firefox 4 to 18 */
input:focus:-moz-placeholder { color:transparent; }

    /* Mozilla Firefox 19+ */
input:focus::-moz-placeholder { color:transparent; }

    /* Internet Explorer 10+ */
input:focus:-ms-input-placeholder { color:transparent; }