diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES.md b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
index 2f648674d..f1a23259a 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
 - **Table** - `striped selectable` table would not correctly show hover color on striped rows
 
 **Enhancements**
+- **Button** - Added variables for configuring `disabled` background image and box shadow.
 - **Site** - Added colored box shadow defaults. `ui message` now includes individual colored border shadows based on new site defaults.
 - **Dropdown** - Adds new setting `minCharacters` which sets the minimum number of characters required to start filtering results #3886
 - **Dropdown** - Added `1px` offset for current text so that the text position cursor does not overlap first pixel of text.
@@ -76,6 +77,7 @@
 - **Tabs** - Added new option `deactivate`, defaults to `siblings` which will only deactivate tab activators that are DOM siblings elements to the activating element. Setting it to <code>'all'</code> will deactivate any other tab element initialized at the same time.
 - **Progress** - Added progress `is complete` for returning whether success, warning, or error conditions are met
 - **Progress** - Added `onLabelUpdate` callback, this can be used to specify the exact text that should appear on the actual progress update, perhaps based on some external conditions
+- **Site** - Added new `@inputColor` and `@inputPlaceholderColor` global variables that now control placeholder text styles across all components.
 - **Table** - `definition table` now supports `ignored` variation to force a `first-child` to ignore its default definition stylings
 - **Table-- `definition table` now supports `definition` variation to specify definition styles on an element that is not `:first-child`
 -**Table** - More granular variables for controlling style on first column in a `definition table`
diff --git a/src/definitions/modules/dropdown.less b/src/definitions/modules/dropdown.less
index a70ffa421..23117285c 100755
--- a/src/definitions/modules/dropdown.less
+++ b/src/definitions/modules/dropdown.less
@@ -840,9 +840,9 @@ select.ui.dropdown {
 .ui.default.dropdown:not(.button) > .text {
   color: @defaultTextColor;
 }
-.ui.dropdown:not(.button):hover > .default.text,
-.ui.default.dropdown:not(.button):hover > .text {
-  color: @defaultTextHoverColor;
+.ui.dropdown:not(.button) > input:focus + .default.text,
+.ui.default.dropdown:not(.button) > input:focus + .text {
+  color: @defaultTextFocusColor;
 }
 /*--------------------
         Loading
diff --git a/src/themes/default/collections/form.variables b/src/themes/default/collections/form.variables
index f3839786b..1a41c6bca 100644
--- a/src/themes/default/collections/form.variables
+++ b/src/themes/default/collections/form.variables
@@ -127,10 +127,6 @@
 @inputErrorFocusBorder: @negativeBorderColor;
 @inputErrorFocusBoxShadow: none;
 
-/* Placeholder */
-@inputPlaceholderColor: lighten(@inputColor, 55);
-@inputPlaceholderFocusColor: lighten(@inputColor, 35);
-
 /* Placeholder Error */
 @inputErrorPlaceholderColor: lighten(@formErrorColor, 40);
 @inputErrorPlaceholderFocusColor: lighten(@formErrorColor, 30);
@@ -193,4 +189,4 @@
        Groups
 --------------------*/
 
-@inlineFieldsMargin: 0em 1em 0em 0em;
\ No newline at end of file
+@inlineFieldsMargin: 0em 1em 0em 0em;
diff --git a/src/themes/default/elements/input.variables b/src/themes/default/elements/input.variables
index 1f97e1ea0..0380d9446 100644
--- a/src/themes/default/elements/input.variables
+++ b/src/themes/default/elements/input.variables
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@
   border-color @defaultDuration @defaultEasing
 ;
 
-@inputColor: @textColor;
-
 /*-------------------
         Types
 --------------------*/
diff --git a/src/themes/default/globals/site.variables b/src/themes/default/globals/site.variables
index cf2bf83d0..a37dc64e0 100644
--- a/src/themes/default/globals/site.variables
+++ b/src/themes/default/globals/site.variables
@@ -76,6 +76,11 @@
 @inputHorizontalPadding : @relative14px;
 @inputPadding           : @inputVerticalPadding @inputHorizontalPadding;
 
+/* Input Text Color */
+@inputColor: @textColor;
+@inputPlaceholderColor: lighten(@inputColor, 75);
+@inputPlaceholderFocusColor: lighten(@inputColor, 55);
+
 /* Line Height Default For Inputs in Browser */
 @inputLineHeight: 1.2142em;