A form with the labels stripped out and only placeholders left looks tidy. The fields line up, the word count drops, and in a mockup it genuinely reads better. That tidiness only holds while the user has typed nothing.
Three reasons a placeholder cannot be a label
That third row runs straight back into the contrast problem from part one. Darken the placeholder and it starts looking like a value already entered, so people skip the field. Used as a label, there is no way out in either direction.
Placeholders themselves are fine. With a real label above and the placeholder showing an example of the expected input, they are genuinely useful. The problem is only ever using one instead of the other.
Labels stay visible, and stay tied to the field
Above the field is the safest position. Long labels wrap naturally, and when someone zooms in on a phone the label and the field stay together.
One more thing is needed: the label and the field must know about each other. Properly paired, clicking the label focuses the field, and a screen reader announces what the field is asking. As a bonus, the tap target grows to include the label, which makes mobile entry easier. It is the common case of an accessibility requirement paying itself back as usability.
If you use a floating label that shrinks into the field, check the size and contrast of the shrunken state separately — that small text is now the real label.
Describe errors in words, not in colour
Turning the field red is not enough. To someone with a colour vision deficiency it can be no change at all, and even when the colour is seen it still does not say what is wrong or why.
Error text should say what to do next. “Incorrect format” is a status report; “please use digits only” is a solution. On long forms a summary at the top with links to each field helps — but never replace the per-field messages with the summary.
Required markers follow the same logic. A lone asterisk relies on convention, so either explain it in a line above the form or, when nearly everything is required, mark the optional fields instead.
Our own service request form follows these rules — visible labels, and required fields stated in words. More on forms and screen structure lives in the Themes & plugins archive.
Next part
Next: motion. When someone has asked their system to reduce animation, the question is whether your screen becomes calmer or simply empty.