function checkText( input, event ) { switch ($(input).attr("id")) { case 'title': default_val= 'Title'; break; case 'content': default_val= 'Content'; break; case 'tags': default_val= 'Tags- comma separated'; break; } switch (event) { case 'focus': if ( $(input).val() == default_val ) { $(input).val(''); } break; case 'blur': if ( $(input).val() == '' ) { $(input).val(default_val); } break; } } function focusText( input ) { checkText( this, 'focus' ); } function blurText( input ) { checkText( this, 'blur' ); } $(document).ready(function () { $('#title, #content, #tags').focus(focusText).blur(blurText); })