diff --git a/src/components/titles/index.js b/src/components/titles/index.js
index c4b18c7505e..6fa0e64c6af 100644
--- a/src/components/titles/index.js
+++ b/src/components/titles/index.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ var Lib = require('../../lib');
 var Drawing = require('../drawing');
 var Color = require('../color');
 var svgTextUtils = require('../../lib/svg_text_utils');
+var interactConstants = require('../../constants/interactions');
 
 
 var Titles = module.exports = {};
@@ -192,21 +193,21 @@ Titles.draw = function(gd, titleClass, options) {
         opacity = 0;
         isplaceholder = true;
         txt = placeholderText;
-        fullLayout._infolayer.select('.' + titleClass)
-            .attr({'data-unformatted': txt})
+        el.attr({'data-unformatted': txt})
             .text(txt)
             .on('mouseover.opacity', function() {
                 d3.select(this).transition()
-                    .duration(100).style('opacity', 1);
+                    .duration(interactConstants.SHOW_PLACEHOLDER).style('opacity', 1);
             })
             .on('mouseout.opacity', function() {
                 d3.select(this).transition()
-                    .duration(1000).style('opacity', 0);
+                    .duration(interactConstants.HIDE_PLACEHOLDER).style('opacity', 0);
             });
     }
 
     if(gd._context.editable) {
         if(!txt) setPlaceholder();
+        else el.on('.opacity', null);
 
         el.call(svgTextUtils.makeEditable)
             .on('edit', function(text) {
diff --git a/src/constants/interactions.js b/src/constants/interactions.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..132e9ca4c37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/constants/interactions.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/**
+* Copyright 2012-2017, Plotly, Inc.
+* All rights reserved.
+*
+* This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+* LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+*/
+
+'use strict';
+
+
+module.exports = {
+    /**
+     * Timing information for interactive elements
+     */
+    SHOW_PLACEHOLDER: 100,
+    HIDE_PLACEHOLDER: 1000
+};
diff --git a/test/jasmine/tests/titles_test.js b/test/jasmine/tests/titles_test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7e6b58e64d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/jasmine/tests/titles_test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+var d3 = require('d3');
+
+var Plotly = require('@lib/index');
+var interactConstants = require('@src/constants/interactions');
+
+var createGraphDiv = require('../assets/create_graph_div');
+var destroyGraphDiv = require('../assets/destroy_graph_div');
+var mouseEvent = require('../assets/mouse_event');
+
+describe('editable titles', function() {
+    'use strict';
+
+    var data = [{x: [1, 2, 3], y: [1, 2, 3]}];
+
+    var gd;
+
+    afterEach(destroyGraphDiv);
+
+    beforeEach(function() {
+        gd = createGraphDiv();
+    });
+
+    function checkTitle(letter, text, opacityOut, opacityIn) {
+        var titleEl = d3.select('.' + letter + 'title');
+        expect(titleEl.text()).toBe(text);
+        expect(+titleEl.style('opacity')).toBe(opacityOut);
+
+        var bb = titleEl.node().getBoundingClientRect(),
+            xCenter = (bb.left + bb.right) / 2,
+            yCenter = (bb.top + bb.bottom) / 2,
+            done,
+            promise = new Promise(function(resolve) { done = resolve; });
+
+        mouseEvent('mouseover', xCenter, yCenter);
+        setTimeout(function() {
+            expect(+titleEl.style('opacity')).toBe(opacityIn);
+
+            mouseEvent('mouseout', xCenter, yCenter);
+            setTimeout(function() {
+                expect(+titleEl.style('opacity')).toBe(opacityOut);
+                done();
+            }, interactConstants.HIDE_PLACEHOLDER + 50);
+        }, interactConstants.SHOW_PLACEHOLDER + 50);
+
+        return promise;
+    }
+
+    function editTitle(letter, attr, text) {
+        return new Promise(function(resolve) {
+            gd.once('plotly_relayout', function(eventData) {
+                expect(eventData[attr]).toEqual(text, [letter, attr, eventData]);
+                setTimeout(resolve, 10);
+            });
+
+            var textNode = document.querySelector('.' + letter + 'title');
+            textNode.dispatchEvent(new window.MouseEvent('click'));
+
+            var editNode = document.querySelector('.plugin-editable.editable');
+            editNode.dispatchEvent(new window.FocusEvent('focus'));
+            editNode.textContent = text;
+            editNode.dispatchEvent(new window.FocusEvent('focus'));
+            editNode.dispatchEvent(new window.FocusEvent('blur'));
+        });
+    }
+
+    it('shows default titles semi-opaque with no hover effects', function(done) {
+        Plotly.plot(gd, data, {}, {editable: true})
+        .then(function() {
+            return Promise.all([
+                // Check all three titles in parallel. This only works because
+                // we're using synthetic events, not a real mouse. It's a big
+                // win though because the test takes 1.2 seconds with the
+                // animations...
+                checkTitle('x', 'Click to enter X axis title', 0.2, 0.2),
+                checkTitle('y', 'Click to enter Y axis title', 0.2, 0.2),
+                checkTitle('g', 'Click to enter Plot title', 0.2, 0.2)
+            ]);
+        })
+        .then(done);
+    });
+
+    it('has hover effects for blank titles', function(done) {
+        Plotly.plot(gd, data, {
+            xaxis: {title: ''},
+            yaxis: {title: ''},
+            title: ''
+        }, {editable: true})
+        .then(function() {
+            return Promise.all([
+                checkTitle('x', 'Click to enter X axis title', 0, 1),
+                checkTitle('y', 'Click to enter Y axis title', 0, 1),
+                checkTitle('g', 'Click to enter Plot title', 0, 1)
+            ]);
+        })
+        .then(done);
+    });
+
+    it('has no hover effects for titles that used to be blank', function(done) {
+        Plotly.plot(gd, data, {
+            xaxis: {title: ''},
+            yaxis: {title: ''},
+            title: ''
+        }, {editable: true})
+        .then(function() {
+            return editTitle('x', 'xaxis.title', 'XXX');
+        })
+        .then(function() {
+            return editTitle('y', 'yaxis.title', 'YYY');
+        })
+        .then(function() {
+            return editTitle('g', 'title', 'TTT');
+        })
+        .then(function() {
+            return Promise.all([
+                checkTitle('x', 'XXX', 1, 1),
+                checkTitle('y', 'YYY', 1, 1),
+                checkTitle('g', 'TTT', 1, 1)
+            ]);
+        })
+        .then(done);
+    });
+
+});