Awesome CSS Select Styles You Can Use Right Now

The <select> element is used to create a drop-down list. The select box allows you to offer visitors a dropdown selection of options. This is helpful when creating an application or asking questions with a range of values.

The default HTML select boxes do the job but have become a little archaic. Due to the development of CSS, designers have been able to customize select boxes. You can use them due to the open-source codes available online for free.

Below is a list of 42 hand-picked select box styles. It’s easy to set them up and you can re-style them if you wish.

Custom Select Field Styling with Only CSS

Designed by: Stephanie Eckles

This is a demo showing how to make a cross-browser custom-styled select box.

SELECT right-arrow with CSS

Designed by: Veiko

Select elements do not permit pseudo-classes. Arrow.png doesn’t seem to be a good solution either. This is a CSS solution with a “linear background.”

Custom Select Menu

Designed by: Wallace Erick

This select box uses CSS for restyling as well as JavaScript for menus UX configuration. These kinds of boxes behave a little differently than regular HTML selects and some find them more agreeable to use.

It is a good option for those who are looking for fresh and clean select menus that work well.

Magic with details // CSS Only Dropdown

Designed by: Steffen

Pure css select full customization

Designed by: Евгений

That is full custom select without JS

pure css select with colorable svg arrow

Designed by: Jan Wagner

Dropdown Menu

Designed by: Mostafa

This select uses a plain black and white color scheme and subtle colors. JavaScripts is utilized to move the menu in and out of view.

This is done by targeting a hidden input field that displays the same behavior as a select field. This solution doesn’t in reality use the <select> element which allows you to pull data from the frontend into your forms.

Full CSS stylized select V2

Designed by: Vincent Durand

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

1. What is the CSS selector syntax?

Using a range of selectors, including class, ID, tag, and attribute selectors, the CSS selector syntax allows you to choose an individual HTML element or a set of related components. Specifying the selector and then the declaration block, which contains the style rules that should be applied to the selected element, constitutes the syntax for selecting elements (s).

2. What is the difference between a class selector and an ID selector in CSS?

An ID selector can only be used once on a page, whereas a class selector can be used several times. This is the primary distinction between a class selector and an ID selector in CSS. As a result, class selectors are better suited for choosing groups of components that have similar features than ID selectors are for selecting a single, unique element.

3. How can you select all the elements of a particular type in CSS?

A tag selector can be used in CSS to select all items of a specific type. Using the selector “p” as an illustration, you might choose every paragraph on a page. The provided styles will be applied to all elements with the tag “p” after they have been selected.

4. How do you select the first child or last child element of a parent element in CSS?

The:first-child and:last-child pseudo-classes in CSS can be used to choose the first or last child element of a parent element. For instance, you might use the selector “div:first-child” to choose the first child of a div element. By doing this, the supplied styles will be applied to the div’s first child element, which will be selected.

5. How do you apply a style to a particular state of an element, such as when it is hovered over or focused?

Use pseudo-classes like:hover,:focus, and:active in CSS to apply a style to a certain state of an element. For instance, you might use the selector “button:hover” and the required style rules to alter the background color of a button when it is hovered over.

6. How can you select multiple elements with a single selector in CSS?

CSS selectors can be separated with commas to pick many elements with a single selector. For instance, the selector “p, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6” would be used to select every paragraph and heading on a page. The supplied styles will be applied to all elements that have the relevant tags after being selected.

7. How do you target an element that is the child of another element with a specific class?

The descendant selector in CSS can be used to target an element that is a child of another element with a particular class. For instance, the selector “div.container p” would be used to pick every paragraph that is a child of a div element with the class “container”. This will choose every paragraph element that has a div element with the class “container” as an ancestor.

8. Can you use CSS to select elements based on their attributes?

Sure, you can choose components based on their attributes by using CSS selectors. You can choose components depending on the value of their attributes, such as “href” or “src,” using attribute selectors. For instance, you might use the selector “a[href*=’example.com’]” to pick all links that have the string “example.com” in the href attribute.

9. How do you apply a style to an element only when it is within a specific context or container?

Use the child selection or descendant selector in CSS to only apply a style to an element when it is inside a particular context or container. For instance, the selector “div.container > p” would be used to select all paragraph elements that are the direct descendants of a div element with the class “container”. By doing this, all sentence elements that are the direct offspring of a div element with the class “container” will be chosen.

10. How do you use CSS selectors to create responsive designs for different screen sizes and devices?

By utilizing media queries, CSS selectors may be utilized to build responsive designs for various screen sizes and devices. You can use media queries to apply various styles based on the size, orientation, and other characteristics of the screen, such as resolution and color depth. For instance, you might use the media query “@media screen and (max-width: 768px)” to apply different styles for devices that are smaller than 768 pixels wide.

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