Awesome CSS Select Styles You Can Use Right Now

Ever used CSS select styles on a website? It’s the secret weapon for elevating ordinary dropdowns into stunning UI components.

When designing forms, the standard HTML select element often falls short of modern web design patterns. That’s where custom dropdown styling transforms user experience.

By applying CSS dropdown customization, you can:

• Match selects to your brand identity
• Improve form accessibility
• Ensure cross-browser compatibility

The right select box appearance doesn’t just look good, it creates intuitive interfaces that align with WCAG accessibility guidelines. Your forms become more than functional; they become extensions of your site’s personality.

Forget the default browser styles! With proper select element modification, even complex forms maintain visual harmony. Designers at CSS-Tricks and Smashing Magazine have championed these techniques for years.

Select field customization isn’t merely aesthetic, it’s about functional coherence. When dropdown menus blend seamlessly with form control design, users navigate your site with confidence.

Ready to master CSS form element styling? Let’s explore examples that turn lifeless tags into responsive, accessible frontend development masterpieces.

From class selectors to ID selectors and those clever pseudo-classes, we’ll cover the techniques that bring your wildest design fantasies to life—one selector at a time.

Custom Select Field Styling with Only CSS

Designed by: Stephanie Eckles

Stephanie Eckles’ approach solves one of the biggest form UI enhancement challenges: creating custom dropdown styling that works across all browsers.

Her technique focuses on:

Preserving native functionality for screen readers

Maintaining form accessibility standards

Supporting keyboard navigation (per WCAG accessibility guidelines)

SELECT right-arrow with CSS

Designed by: Veiko

Veiko tackles the limitations of select element modification head-on. The standard challenge: select elements resist common pseudo-classes that make other form control design easier.

Custom Select Menu

Designed by: Wallace Erick

Wallace Erick combines CSS dropdown customization with JavaScript for enhanced UX. While not a pure CSS solution, this approach addresses limitations in standard select field customization.

Pure CSS select full customization

Designed by: Евгений

Евгений demonstrates how HTML select styling can be achieved without JavaScript dependencies. This is particularly valuable for projects where JavaScript select enhancements aren’t feasible due to performance concerns.

Pure CSS select with colorable svg arrow

Designed by: Jan Wagner

Jan Wagner solves a specific dropdown arrow customization challenge: creating arrows that match any color scheme.

Dropdown Menu

Designed by: Mostafa

Mostafa takes a different approach to form element appearance by creating a custom component that visually mimics a select but uses different underlying HTML.

Full CSS stylized select V2

Designed by: Vincent Durand

Vincent Durand demonstrates advanced CSS dropdown customization techniques focused on preserving native functionality while completely transforming appearance.

Custom Select Wrapper

Designed by: Matheus Sales

This select can be used for contact structures. You can use it as a model and if you have an online store, you can set the alternative as “Credit card” or “Cash on delivery,” etc.

uSwitch pure CSS select control v1.0

Designed by: Craig Morey

This select doesn’t use JS or external images. It only uses one style sheet. It attempts to be an elegant, pure CSS-styled scalable select box with minimal extra HTML. It can be used for cross-browser/platform use.

css select style

Designed by: uixcrazy.com

Custom Select Box Dropdown Styling

Designed by: FrankieDoodie

This is a custom select box dropdown styling. It was made with HTML and CSS.

Pure CSS select dropdown styling

Designed by: Justin Danks

Pure CSS select dropdown

Designed by: Robin Garbe

Custom dropdown

Designed by: Silver Drop

As its description suggests, this set of select menus tries to make HTML dropdowns not suck. Each box is a different size and there are buttons enabling you to change colors at any time.

It is possible to remove that feature if you only want to use one scheme that works best for your site. 

The bottom line is that these select menus work perfectly fine and are pleasant to use. 

Pure CSS Select Box With Direction Aware Hover Effect

Designed by: Himalaya Sing

This CSS select box comes with a drift impact and is visually very pleasing. The options in the drop-down menu have different colors. There is a catch here and there in the container. 

Select Box with Placeholder [CSS Only]

Designed by: James Nowland

The creator of this select menu wanted to remove the default from the selection options. This makes it behave similar to a placeholder in text fields. It is visible when the field is blank and disappears when you input a value. 

This select menu is fully compliant and works with the actual HTML element. The user never sees the “select an option” text in the drop-down menu since an option field is hidden by default whenever the user makes a selection.

Pure CSS Select Box

Designed by: Veniamin

This CSS select box doesn’t use JavaScript and a native element. The CSS structure is fantastic and boasts a descending bolt to give a user a selection of choices.

Flat selectbox

Designed by: Peter Geller

This flat select menu is a good example showing that looks and aesthetics matter in web design. 

It behaves just like a regular select menu and the drop-down part has not been changed. However, the way the select itself was restyled makes the page more exciting. It is much classier than the unattractive browser default select box.

Custom Select an Option

Designed by: Dany Santos

This custom select was designed to change the traditional style of the select in browsers. JS is used to display the list when a user clicks on it, and SCSS to style it. The Attribute selected works well.

Material Design Select Dropdown

Designed by: Sam Murphey

This select drop-down menu was created with CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.

CSS Review: Select Box

Designed by: Steven Estrella (sgestrella)

This common select box can be styled with CSS while retaining accessibility.

Select Option Interaction

Designed by: Bhakti Al Akbar

This is a nice example of clean animation. It was built with TweenMax GSAP.

Pure CSS Select Box With Direction Aware Hover Effect

Designed by: Mina Nabil (mnainnovix)

This is a pure CSS select box that doesn’t use any JavaScript. It utilizes a direction-aware hover effect. When a user hovers over an option, the motion of the icon inside the option is determined by the direction of the hover (up or down).

CSS styled and filterable select dropdown

Designed by: Mari Johannessen

This select drop-down menu was styled utilizing CSS, HTML, and vanilla JS. It uses an input field to grab the value from the dropdown list.

Pure CSS Select Box

Designed by: Danny Dorstijn (Lightningstorms)

This is a CSS select box created without JavaScript and a native element.

Pretty Select dropdown

Designed by: j0be

This select box relies primarily on CSS while still using inputs to maintain the form submission variables.

CodePen Home

Designed by: Alex

This is an example of a creative way to style CSS select drop-down menus using only CSS.

Pure CSS Select Box Styling

Designed by: Anselm Urban (a-urban)

This is CSS select box styling in pure CSS. Works fine in every modern browser. 

Customize the <select> element with CSS

Designed by: Mike Mai

This demo shows a way to take full control of the element and customize it to your preference.

Custom <select>

Designed by: Christophe CORBALAN

This CSS select box stands out due to a design comprising an orange background with a white box in the center.

CSS / select with SVG arrow as background image

Designed by: henning fischer

Material design select

Designed by: LukyVJ

CSS only Select

Designed by: Nicolas Udy

Many common CSS select menus conceal when you click anywhere else on the page. This one does not do that. It drops down with full movement impacts and stays open until you click on the menu again.

It is a good example of a select menu with a clean structure and basic liveliness.

Pure CSS select option

Designed by: Anna Blok

CSS3 Card Deck Drop Down

Designed by: Tibor katelbach

This is an example of a UI concept using a gradient grey background. The title is big-size and is placed in the center of the page. CSS3 is in bold. It is easy to set global variables using the Toggler Click handler. 

Pure CSS Select

Designed by: Raúl Barrera

Custom Select

Designed by: Yusuf

This is a very basic custom CSS select.

CSS only Select ( radio + checkbox ) No JS

Designed by: Aron

This is a CSS select box with an eye-catching blue and pink background. There is a big arrow and text at the top and three boxes with the word “Choose” inside. When you click on it, the drop-down selection appears. Each option is highlighted when you hover over it. 

CSS styled and filterable select dropdown

Designed by: Mari Johannessen

This is a CSS select design that makes the content of the drop-down menu stand out using a black background.

Simple custom select

Designed by: Alessandro Falchi

Selectionator

Designed by: Benjamin

This is a very interesting concept of a multi-select widget.

FAQs about CSS select styles

What exactly are CSS Select Styles?

CSS Select Styles are techniques for customizing the appearance of HTML <select> elements using CSS properties. They go beyond basic styling to create custom dropdown styling that aligns with your site’s design while maintaining functionality. Unlike standard form control design, custom select styling often requires workarounds for browser limitations documented by MDN Web Docs and W3C standards.

/* Basic select styling example */
select {
  border: 2px solid #4A90E2;
  border-radius: 4px;
  padding: 0.5em 2em 0.5em 0.5em;
  appearance: none;
}

How do I use Class and ID Selectors?

Class and ID selectors target select elements for styling:

• Class selectors (.classname) apply to multiple elements
• ID selectors (#idname) target specific elements

/* Class selector example */
.custom-select {
  width: 100%;
  max-width: 300px;
}

/* ID selector example */
#country-selector {
  border-color: #3366FF;
}

These selectors form the foundation of CSS form element styling and work across all frontend frameworks including Bootstrap and Material Design.

Can you style multiple elements at once?

Yes! Group selectors to apply the same form field styling to multiple elements:

select, 
input[type="text"],
textarea {
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  padding: 8px;
  border-radius: 4px;
}

This approach creates visual consistency across form UI enhancements and improves maintainability for large projects.

What are Pseudo-classes in CSS?

Pseudo-classes target special states of elements:

• :hover – When mouse pointer is over the element
• :focus – When element has keyboard focus
• :active – During click/activation

select:hover {
  border-color: #0066CC;
}

select:focus {
  outline: 2px solid #4A90E2;
  outline-offset: 1px;
}

These states are critical for creating select box hover effects and dropdown focus states that provide visual feedback and meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

How does CSS specificity impact style application?

CSS specificity determines which styles take precedence when multiple rules target the same element. The hierarchy (from highest to lowest):

1. Inline styles
2. ID selectors
3. Class selectors, attribute selectors, pseudo-classes
4. Element selectors, pseudo-elements

/* Less specific */
select { color: blue; }

/* More specific, will override */
.form-group select { color: red; }

/* Even more specific */
#contact-form .form-group select { color: green; }

Understanding specificity prevents frustration when select element modifications don’t apply as expected.

Are there universal selectors in CSS?

The universal selector (*) targets all elements:

* {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

/* Target all selects in a container */
.form-container * select {
  max-width: 400px;
}

While powerful, use universal selectors carefully as they can impact performance in large frontend development projects.

How do CSS selectors improve web accessibility?

Strategic use of CSS selectors enhances form accessibility by:

• Increasing touch targets for mobile-friendly dropdowns
• Creating clear focus states for keyboard users
• Maintaining sufficient color contrast
• Supporting assistive technologies

/* Larger click area for touch */
select {
  min-height: 44px;
}

/* Clear focus indicator */
select:focus {
  outline: 3px solid #4A90E2;
  outline-offset: 2px;
}

These practices align with WCAG accessibility guidelines and create better experiences for all users.

How do Attribute Selectors work?

Attribute selectors target elements based on their attributes:

/* Matches any select with a 'multiple' attribute */
select[multiple] {
  height: auto;
  padding: 0;
}

/* Matches selects with specific data attributes */
select[data-theme="dark"] {
  background-color: #333;
  color: white;
}

They’re particularly useful for applying custom form controls based on functional differences.

What’s the role of Pseudo-elements in CSS?

Pseudo-elements create sub-parts of elements, useful for select arrow indicators:

/* Create custom arrow */
.custom-select::after {
  content: "▼";
  position: absolute;
  right: 10px;
  top: 50%;
  transform: translateY(-50%);
  pointer-events: none;
}

Unlike pseudo-classes, pseudo-elements use double colons (::) in modern syntax, though single colons (:) are still supported for backward compatibility.

How important are CSS Select Styles for responsive design?

Responsive select elements are crucial for modern websites. Key considerations:

• Sizing select fields appropriately for different screens
• Ensuring touch targets meet minimum size (44×44px per Web Standards Project)
• Testing on multiple devices

/* Base styles */
select {
  width: 100%;
  max-width: 300px;
}

/* Media query for mobile */
@media (max-width: 480px) {
  select {
    max-width: none;
    padding: 12px;
  }
}

Properly styled selects contribute significantly to mobile-friendly dropdowns and overall form element appearance.

Conclusion

CSS select styles transform basic HTML dropdowns into polished form control designs that enhance user experience. Through practical examples, we’ve seen how to overcome the limitations of native selects while preserving functionality and accessibility.

The key takeaway? Balance visual customization with usability. Creating beautiful dropdown styling means nothing if users can’t navigate your forms easily.

Today’s web design patterns demand attention to interactions beyond static appearance. Well-crafted select field customization considers hover states, focus indicators, and touch targets that work across devices.

Browser inconsistencies remain a challenge. Tools like CanIUse help identify which CSS form element styling techniques have the best cross-browser compatibility. When pure CSS solutions fall short, lightweight JavaScript select enhancements provide fallbacks.

Accessibility can’t be an afterthought. WCAG accessibility guidelines should inform every styling decision, from color contrast to keyboard navigation. Screen reader compatibility, in particular, often requires a thoughtful approach that balances visual customization with semantic markup.

The frontend development community continues to push boundaries with new approaches. Custom components from libraries like React Select and Angular Material build on these CSS foundations while adding more advanced interactions.

Remember that select styling exists to serve users, not just aesthetic preferences. The most successful implementations consider brand identity alongside form field best practices to create interfaces that feel both unique and familiar.

If you liked this article about CSS select styles, you should check out this article about CSS progress bars.

There are also similar articles discussing CSS loaders, CSS login forms, CSS background patterns, and CSS image effects.

And let’s not forget about articles on CSS dropdown menus, CSS border animations, CSS arrows, and CSS cards.