Thanks for your response Logan.

I have used the hidden-label technique several times before — which as you say means it’s accessible to screen readers — but this only caters for people using screen readers. What about the other people and their interaction preferences?

I am also aware of the ARIA attribute, but again this only serves people using screen readers and has far less support. So going for this, over the hidden-label approach seems to be a silly thing to do.

Regardless, in both of these cases points A and C still stand don’t they?

You could argue that C is solvable by making a larger hit area for the control itself but then this puts the designer back to square one i.e. “not saving space/reducing clutter” etc.

And then of course point A still stands. And as I said in the article, placeholders are not replacements for labels and come with a whole bunch of problems for all kinds of people.