The Current State of Styling Selects in 2019

Styling form controls, particularly the <select></select> element, remains a significant challenge for web developers. Surveys consistently rank styling <select></select> elements among the top CSS feature requests. In fact, data indicates the <select></select> element is requested more than twice as often as the next most sought-after element for styling.

Limited Native Styling Capabilities

While some basic external styling is possible, achieving comprehensive cross-browser compatibility for <select></select> styling proves difficult. A robust cross-browser solution exists, but it primarily addresses the outer appearance of the dropdown. Styling the internal elements (options within the dropdown) remains inconsistent and problematic across different browsers.

This limitation is highlighted by developer feedback, which reveals that the most frustrating aspects of <select></select> styling are:

• Search Functionality: Lack of robust search capabilities within the dropdown list.
• Dropdown Styling: Inconsistent styling of the open dropdown, including options and the inability to include rich content beyond plain text.
• Dynamic Updates: Difficulty updating the selected option without closing the dropdown.
• Placeholder/Selected State Styling: Challenges in creating visually distinct styles for unselected and selected states.

The following table summarizes the pain points experienced by developers when styling <select></select> elements:

Frustration	%	Count
Not being able to create a good user experience for searching within the list	27.43%	186
Not being able to style the element to the extent that you needed to	17.85%	121
Not being able to style the default state (dropdown arrow, etc.)	14.01%	95
Not being able to style the pop-up window on desktop (e.g. the border, drop shadows, etc.)	11.36%	77
Insertion of content beyond simple text in the control or its s	11.21%	76
Insertion of arbitrary HTML content in an element	7.82%	53
Not being able to create distinctive unselected/placeholder style and behavior	3.39%	23
Being able to generate new options from a large dataset while the popup is open	3.10%	21
Not being able to style the currently selected (s) to the extent you needed to	1.77%	12
Not being able to style the pop-up window on mobile	1.03%	7
Being able to have the options automatically repeat on scroll (i.e., if you have an list of options 1 – 100, as you reach 100 rather than having the user scroll back to the top, have 1 show up below 100)	1.03%	7

Surprisingly, multi-select styling wasn't a top concern, possibly due to backward compatibility issues.

Browser Improvements and Future Directions

Recent announcements from browser vendors suggest improvements to form control styling are underway. For further updates and details on these developments, resources such as Nicole Sullivan's talks and Greg Whitworth's in-depth article are recommended.

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