Question

var $contact_title = $('#contact_title').val();
var $contact_summary = $('#bbcode').val();

I retreive a text area and text field then I do this:

$contact_title.val('');
$contact_summary.val('');

Nnone of them get emptied

HTML:

<form action="" method="get">
    <table border="0">
        <tr>
            <td valign="top">Title:</td>
            <td>
                <input name="title" type="text" style="width:710px" id="contact_title" />
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td valign="top">Message:</td>
            <td>
                <textarea name="request" cols="30" rows="20" id="bbcode"></textarea>
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2" align="right" >
                <input name="send" type="button" onClick="clicked()" value="Send" />
            </td>
        </tr>
    </table>
</form>

Answer 1

You should store the element in your variable and not the value.

So, your code should be:

var $contact_summary = $('#bbcode');
$contact_summary.val('');

Btw, it’s a good practice to use unobtrusive javascript and bind your click event outside of your html markup:

$('button').click(function() { //clear inputs });