Problems with saved passwords

[dominykas]

I haven't tested this extensively, cause I don't have all the browsers on me now, but here's the deal - if you use placeholder text for password/username fields, the results sometimes become unpredictable when the users choose to save their passwords.

All tests performed with a simplified demo.html - removed all fields but the text and password, and gave the text field name="username" (to trigger saving passwords). To trigger the "save password?" on Chrome, demo must submit to a different location (not to self).

Steps to reproduce in most cases:

1. Load the page
2. Enter u/p
3. Submit
4. Save the password
5. Close the tab
6. Open the page again

Results:
O10.63@Ubuntu, O11a@W2K8: the "password" field doesn't have the indicator (yellow inside border) - not a biggie. Hitting ctrl+enter to fill in the form fills in the details, but "placeholder" class is not removed - not a biggie.
IE8@W7, IE9@W2K8: focus into username field, select username from autocomplete dropdown - the password placeholder text still displays, as if the password wasn't filled in. Focus into the password field - the saved password is retrieved OK. Not a biggie - pretty much like Opera.
FF3.6.12@Ubuntu, FF3.6.12@W2K8: for some reason, the "saved username" contains the placeholder of the password (is it because of the unnamed fake password field?) - problematic - could be a bug in FF itself, but the users don't know that, right?...
FF4b7@W2K8, Cr7@W2K8, Cr8@Ubuntu: support placeholder natively.

I didn't test it right now, but the problem becomes even worse if you have multiple usernames/passwords saved for the same form - also, not sure how common that is in real life.

I'm afraid I can't really offer a solution for this - especially considering that some browsers don't report the value for autocompleted password fields (if I remember correctly, having had these issues in a similar implementation a while back).

In practice, I've so far avoided using placeholders for password fields.

Side issue: there may be issues with IE6/7 (I think) maintaining the focus of the fields after hitting "Back" (or was it F5?) - the field is focused, but the focus event is never fired, so the placeholder is inserted. Probably also worth testing this with "autofocus" (where supported).

[mathiasbynens]

Thanks for the detailed bug report. Unfortunately, you might be right:

I'm afraid I can't really offer a solution for this - especially considering that some browsers don't report the value for autocompleted password fields (if I remember correctly, having had these issues in a similar implementation a while back).

As far as I know, there’s no way to prevent the issues you mentioned.

Leaving this bug open in case someone comes up with a brilliant idea :)

[amerikan]

Maybe something like:

Iterate through each input/textarea element setting focus to it. On focus check if input has a text value already, if it does don't apply placeholder text.

[dominykas]

stalebot-ing myself.