5 replies to this topic

[JeremyH]

Can anybody recommend a good CSS article, site or page that goes over what CSS can do with forms, specifically Select Options?

I'm trying to change Select Option border color and the little down arrow, but I haven't seen any good info about this.

Thanks

[qwerty]

You can format the border any way you want, just as you can format the border of anything, but I don't think there's anything you can do with the arrow.

[Randy]

As Bob said it's pretty much impossible to do anything with the Select arrow that is reliable and consistent across all platforms. Parts of the form elements are browser and OS dependent, which gets really tricky.

If you want to play with possibilities and/or offer something that will only cover part of your audience, DevArticles has something that will give you a pretty good place to start.

[JeremyH]

Well that stinks.

Thanks though, both of you, for your help.

[Ron Carnell]

Form elements fall under the realm of "replaced elements" in the CSS specs, meaning they aren't generated by the browser, but rather by the operating system. As such, they aren't required to be stylable for CSS compliance.

Some would also argue you shouldn't even try, since doing so may seriously reduce usability. Drop-down controls, as just one example, look the same in any OS application, from your browser to your word processor to your graphics program, and changing that look or functionality can be confusing to many users. Personally (and pretty much as always), I think it depends a lot on your audience. Geeks will probably cope, neophytes might flounder, so what you should do to style form elements is even more limited than what you can do.

[linux_lover]

http://www.stylegala.com is a good site for all css magic