Question

I don’t really know exactly how to search for this on the web. I have a form with one input for telephone. Telephone is optional. I would like to have the word “(Optional)” in the form field. This I have done already like this:

<input type="text" name="billing[telephone]"  value="<?php echo $this->__('(optional)') ?>" onFocus="if(this.value == '<?php echo $this->__('(optional)') ?>') {this.value = '';}" onBlur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = '<?php echo $this->__('(optional)') ?>';}" title="<?php echo $this->__('Telephone') ?>" class="input-text" id="billing:telephone" /> 

It works this way but it posts “(Optional)” everywhere, sends “(Optional)” out in customer emails etc. I would like to make it where if no phone number was inputted it doesn’t post “(Optional)” and just leaves the field blank as if nothing was entered.

This code above is from Magento Shopping cart that I added the Optional code in.

Thank you

Answer 1

You could try using the placeholder parameter like so:

 <input type="text" name="phone" placeholder="(###) ###-#### (optional)">

It will put in a temporary value to help the user, but will not be posted if the user does not input their own answer. It will also disappear on focus to allow the user to fill in their own answer without having to delete the “optional” text.