Placeholder indicates to the user what content is expected or to what format, it is a hint towards the desired answer (filler text, generated to fill space or provide unremarkable and/or standardised text) that sits within a field.
«hold a place in my heart»
Unfortunately, user testing continually shows that placeholders in form fields often hurt usability more than help it. Some forms replace field labels with in-field placeholder text to reduce clutter on the page, or to shorten the length of the form. While this approach is based on good intentions, our research shows that it has many negative consequences: