How to Add a Placeholder to a WordPress Form Field

When it comes to crafting an intuitive and user-friendly WordPress form, paying attention to the finer details can make a big difference. One such detail that often goes unnoticed is the placeholder text within form fields.

In this blog post, we’ll show you how to add a placeholder to the WordPress form field and give you some practical examples of when you want to use a placeholder on your form.

Table of contents

1. How to add a placeholder text to your WordPress form field
2. How to hide Form Label to display Placeholder only
3. When to use placeholder text in your WordPress form (examples)

How to add placeholder text to your WordPress form field

Adding a placeholder to your WordPress form fields not only saves you space on your forms but it also adds a stylish touch to your design.

But before we show you how to add a placeholders to fields, let’s clarify what the placeholder is. In essence, placeholder in WordPress form field is text that is showing in the input field but as the user begins typing into the field, this text dissapears.

Adding a placeholder to your WordPress form with Ninja Forms is easy. It only requires 3 simple steps:

1. Select any text form field. (Email field in the example below)
2. Click on Display tab of the form field.
3. Add your text to the Placeholder field and save.

That’s it! As you can see, adding a placeholder in the input field is super easy and it does not require any coding skills! Next, we will show you how to hide Label as this goes hand in hand when using the placeholder text.

How to hide the Form Label and display the Placeholder only

Hiding form labels on your forms can bring multiple benefits to your form design. By removing labels, you declutter the form interface and save valuable screen space.

This can be very useful for your business especially if your visitors prefer to browse your site and fill your forms on mobile devices or smaller screens.

With these considerations in mind, let’s take a look at how you can hide Label on your form fields in Ninja Forms.

1. First, enable Developer Mode.
2. Second, click on the form field and locate Advanced settings.
3. Third, find Label Position settings and select Hidden.

Besides, hiding the Label, you can also choose to poisition label either above the element, below, to the right, or to the left.

When to use placeholder text in your WordPress form (Examples)

You’ve got several options for using Placeholder text in your form, but let’s highlight the ones users like the most when building forms for their WordPress websites.

The first one is using placeholder text for Email field when creating a single line newsletter form. The second one is adding a placeholder text to Dropdown (Select) field, and the last one is providing extra context in the Paragraph Text field.

Placeholder text in the Email Field

Using placeholder text in the Email field is one of the most widely adopted techniques. It streamlines the creation of newsletter sign up form. Giving users a visual hint makes the form friendly and helps them quickly enter their email addresses.

Want to learn how to create a single-line WordPress form to collect email addresses for your newsletter? Check our blog post on How to Make a Single-Line WordPress Form in 3 steps!

Placeholder text in the Paragraph Text Field

Utilizing placeholder text within the Paragraph Text field is ideal for providing additional context instructions, giving your form visitors a better understanding of what information is expected.

When you add a placeholder text for your paragraph field, you’re effectively using the available space in a strategic manner.

This approach has a dual benefit: it provides context to users about the expected content, while simultaneously saving valuable space that would otherwise be consumed by a separate description for the form field.

Placeholder text in the Select Box Field

Many users search how to make a placeholder for a Select box on their forms. It is because is incredibly useful. Just imagine, you have multiple options in your Select Field and some users might just forget about making a selection and they leave the first option selected. This can lead to inaccurate data.

Adding a placeholder to Select field provides clarity for your form visitors. It offers guidance and encourage users to make their selection. In our example below, we added a placeholder – Select language – to provide the extra clarity.

Want to learn more about our Dropdown Field? Make sure to check our quick guide on Dropdown Select Field in WordPress Forms.

You’ve just learned how to add placeholder text to your WordPress form field!

Adding placeholder text into your WordPress form fields might seem like a small detail. But, it can have a significant impact on user engagement and the overall appearance of your form. By providing users with clear instructions and a more visually appealing form, you’re creating a positive user experience that can lead to higher conversion rates and decreased form abandonment.

Want to learn more about Ninja Forms form fields? Don’t miss out on our field types documentation page, and become the master of our form plugin from start to finish.

We encourage you to check 7 Must-Read Ninja Forms Tutorials, so you can discover the essentials of Ninja Forms to build successful forms. We also invite you to unlock Advanced Ninja Forms Features that are hiding under the Developer Mode.

If you are new to Ninja Forms, make the most of our free core plugin (download here). Dive into powerful free features such as unlimited submissions, calculations, and spam protection without a need to go premium!