It is text in input rather then the button, that I would like to see. Perhaps I did not explain it well, so for example you can observe it on this site:
http://blog.js-development.com
Where in the input field there is "Search..." text. I took a look at source of this site and it looks like I will need to modify the core, as I cannot see how to implement this with ZP's function printSearchForm.
Ok, I missunderstood. I suggest to try using jQuery to modify that. Then you would not need to hack the core.
If you really need to modify the function itself, copy it, rename it and use it as a theme custom function (see the theming tutorial about that) instead of hacking.
Looks like this jQuery plugin should do the trick:
http://plugins.jquery.com/project/default-text
From what I've gathered so far (I am quite new to JS and haven't dealt with jQuery), this example code should work just by including it in the body:
`
$('input').defaultText({ defText: 'Bob' });
`
And of course there is in the head:
`