As explained by @Chapel Harlowe (1.x or 2.x) has never had built-in support for entering text using standard HTML input related elements, it has always relied on the use of the (prompt:) macro.
@csalzman discovered a hack (1) that relied on Javascript, a (live:) macro, and an undocumented behaviour (2) to update a story variable with the value entered into an input element. Harlowe 2.x was changed so that the undocumented (and seemly unintended) behaviour was removed, which results in @caslzman's hack no longer working. (as it is currently implemented)
(1) which some other people improved upon later in that thread.
(2) the ability to assign the current contents of a named hook to a story variable.