Styling multiple selection menu control options (option elements) with CSS

This demo page is related to the article Styling form controls with CSS, revisited. For more info on the purpose of this page, please read the article.

Each multiple selection menu control consists of this HTML:

  1. <select multiple size="3">
  2. <option selected>Option 1</option>
  3. <option>Option 2</option>
  4. <option>Option 3</option>
  5. <option>Option 4</option>
  6. <option>Option 5</option>
  7. </select>

The following CSS rules are used to style the option elements:

  1. #el01 option {width:20em} /* Width */
  2. #el02 option { /* Text and background colour, blue on light gray */
  3. color:#00f;
  4. background-color:#ddd;
  5. }
  6. #el03 option {background:url(/i/icon-info.gif) no-repeat 100% 50%} /* Background image */
  7. #el04 option {border-width:6px} /* Border width */
  8. #el05 option {border:2px dotted #00f} /* Border width, style and colour */
  9. #el06 option {border:none} /* No border */
  10. #el07 option {font-family:"Courier New",Courier} /* Different font */
  11. #el08 option {font-size:2em} /* Bigger text */
  12. #el09 option {font-size:0.5em} /* Smaller text */
  13. #el10 option {font-weight:bold} /* Bold text */
  14. #el11 option {padding:1em} /* Increase padding */
  15. #el12 option {text-align:right} /* Change text alignment */
  16. [selected] { /* Text colour and font weight, red and bold */
  17. color:#f00;
  18. font-weight:bold;
  19. }

In your current browser, with your current settings, the option elements look like this:

Note that the first option element of each select element is selected. Different browsers have different ways of indicating this, and may or may not apply the [selected] rule.

Here are screenshots from several browsers on different operating systems:

  1. Camino 1, Mac OS X 10.4.8
  2. Firefox 2.0.0.1, Mac OS X 10.4.8
  3. Firefox 2.0.0.1, Ubuntu 6.10
  4. Firefox 2.0.0.1, Windows XP
  5. iCab 3.0.3, Mac OS X 10.4.8
  6. Internet Explorer 6, Windows XP
  7. Internet Explorer 7, Windows XP
  8. Konqueror 3.5.5, Kubuntu
  9. OmniWeb 5.5.1, Mac OS X 10.4.8
  10. Opera 9.10, Mac OS X 10.4.8
  11. Opera 9.10, Ubuntu 6.10
  12. Opera 9.10, Windows XP
  13. Safari 2.0.4, Mac OS X 10.4.8
  14. WebKit 420+, Mac OS X 10.4.8
Camino 1, Mac OS X 10.4.8

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Firefox 2, Mac OS X 10.4.8

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Firefox 2, Ubuntu 6.10

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Firefox 2, Windows XP

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iCab 3, Mac OS X 10.4.8

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Internet Explorer 6, Windows XP

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Internet Explorer 7, Windows XP

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Konqueror 3.5.5, Kubuntu

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OmniWeb 5.5.1, Mac OS X 10.4.8

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Opera 9.10, Mac OS X 10.4.8

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Opera 9.10, Ubuntu 6.10

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Opera 9.10, Windows XP

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Safari 2, Mac OS X 10.4.8

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WebKit 420+, Mac OS X 10.4.8

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