Change an HTML5 input's placeholder color with CSS

Question

Chrome supports the placeholder attribute on input[type=text] elements (others probably do too).

But the following CSS doesn\'t do anything

Answer 1

I just realize something for Mozilla Firefox 19+ that the browser gives an opacity value for the placeholder, so the color will not be what you really want.

input::-webkit-input-placeholder, textarea::-webkit-input-placeholder {
    color: #eee; opacity:1;
}
input:-moz-placeholder, textarea:-moz-placeholder {
    color: #eee; opacity:1;
}
input::-moz-placeholder, textarea::-moz-placeholder {
    color: #eee; opacity:1;
}
input:-ms-input-placeholder, textarea:-ms-input-placeholder {
    color: #eee; opacity:1;
}

I overwrite the opacity for 1, so it will be good to go.

Answer 2

This short and clean code:

::-webkit-input-placeholder {color: red;}
:-moz-placeholder           {color: red; /* For Firefox 18- */}
::-moz-placeholder          {color: red; /* For Firefox 19+ */}
:-ms-input-placeholder      {color: red;}

Answer 3

For Bootstrap and Less users, there is a mixin .placeholder:

// Placeholder text
// -------------------------
.placeholder(@color: @placeholderText) {
  &:-moz-placeholder {
    color: @color;
  }
  &:-ms-input-placeholder {
    color: @color;
  }
  &::-webkit-input-placeholder {
    color: @color;
  }
}

Answer 4

Cross-browser solution:

/* all elements */
::-webkit-input-placeholder { color:#f00; }
::-moz-placeholder { color:#f00; } /* firefox 19+ */
:-ms-input-placeholder { color:#f00; } /* ie */
input:-moz-placeholder { color:#f00; }

/* individual elements: webkit */
#field2::-webkit-input-placeholder { color:#00f; }
#field3::-webkit-input-placeholder { color:#090; background:lightgreen; text-transform:uppercase; }
#field4::-webkit-input-placeholder { font-style:italic; text-decoration:overline; letter-spacing:3px; color:#999; }

/* individual elements: mozilla */
#field2::-moz-placeholder { color:#00f; }
#field3::-moz-placeholder { color:#090; background:lightgreen; text-transform:uppercase; }
#field4::-moz-placeholder { font-style:italic; text-decoration:overline; letter-spacing:3px; color:#999; }

Credit: David Walsh

Answer 5

I have tried every combination here to change the color, on my mobile platform, and eventually it was:

-webkit-text-fill-color: red;

which did the trick.

Answer 6

You may also want to style textareas:

input::-webkit-input-placeholder, textarea::-webkit-input-placeholder {
  color: #636363;
}
input:-moz-placeholder, textarea:-moz-placeholder {
  color: #636363;
}