Pure CSS Select Menu/Dropdown: How to make custom right arrow?

Question

I am using a custom select/dropdown menu per the solution here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/10190884/1318135

This functions great, except that the 'arrow' on the right does not look very good. I would like it to be wider, similar in appearance to the up/down vote arrows on this site (look left).

Attempted the following, open to a solution using any of these or other options:
-Integrating an image into HTML (could not get it to show in foreground v. dropdown)
-Location a font with a wider arrow for the character (could not find one)
-Setting background-image property in CSS (displayed default down arrow instead)

http://jsfiddle.net/XxkSC/553/

HTML:

<label class="custom-select">
<select>
<option>Sushi</option>
<option>Blue cheese with crackers</option>
<option>Steak</option>
<option>Other</option>
</select>
</label>

CSS:

label.custom-select {
position: relative;
display: inline-block;

  }

.custom-select select {
display: inline-block;
padding: 4px 3px 3px 5px;
margin: 0;
font: inherit;
outline:none; /* remove focus ring from Webkit */
line-height: 1.2;
background: #000;
color:white;
border:0;
 }




/* Select arrow styling */
.custom-select:after {
content: "▼";  /* Current arrow I would like to change */
position: absolute;
top: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
font-size: 60%;
line-height: 30px;
padding: 0 7px;
background: #000;
color: white;
}

.no-pointer-events .custom-select:after {
content: none;
}

Robot Woods · Answer 1 · 2012-08-03T13:24:29.950

You had the right idea with the image, you just have to adjust the content. This works:

content: url('some_path.png');

or, if you really want it all in the CSS, you can encode the image like so:

content: url(data:image/png;base64,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);

An image in base64 (could just be a path to your image, but since it was a fiddle and on here, I used that string rather that a separate file) — Robot Woods, Aug 03 '12 at 10:51
how did you guess? :) it's the SO downvote arrow, shrunk to 6 pixels in height, 12 pixels wide. — Robot Woods, Aug 03 '12 at 14:03
That is awesome... it may as well have been a unicorn to a newb like me. How do I adjust it's size? — user1318135, Aug 03 '12 at 15:45
you can just make whatever image you want, save the file, and then use the `url('some_path')` option...I just used the base64 approach to allow you to cut/paste...but, if you want to stick with that method, you can encode images (after you've resized, etc) at a variety of sites, such as: http://www.motobit.com/util/base64-decoder-encoder.asp — Robot Woods, Aug 03 '12 at 16:15
Encoding can be a good idea. I have noticed it in the wikipedia site's left side vertical menu — kta, Jul 02 '13 at 13:55

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 17 '13 at 10:57

4

You can also use content:"\25BC"; which is simply the black down arrow escaped in Unicode. As seen here: http://unicode-table.com/en/25BC/

answered Dec 17 '13 at 10:57

Luciano

1,101
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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 01 '15 at 21:55

Had that same question and found a solution with linear-gradient background.

Codepen sample

select {
  background:
    linear-gradient(45deg, transparent 50%, blue 50%),
    linear-gradient(135deg, blue 50%, transparent 50%);
  background-position:
    calc(100% - 21px) 18px,
    calc(100% - 16px) 18px;
  background-size: 5px 5px;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  ...

.. and on focus

select:focus {
  background:
    linear-gradient(45deg, green 50%, transparent 50%),
    linear-gradient(135deg, transparent 50%, green 50%);
  background-position:
    calc(100% - 16px) 16px,
    calc(100% - 21px) 16px;
  background-size: 5px 5px;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  ...

adilbo · Answer 4 · 2020-03-01T06:36:19.470

Maybe a "little shorte and thanks to SVG also nice on Retina" Version!

  select:not([multiple]){
    border-radius: 0;
    -webkit-appearance: none;
    -moz-appearance: none;
    appearance: none;
    background:url("data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='8' height='8' fill='silver'><polygon points='0,0 8,0 4,4'/></svg>") no-repeat scroll 95% 60% transparent;
    padding:.5em 1.5em .5em .5em;
  }

Example Preview https://jsfiddle.net/4mwL03uz/

Idea from: Remove border radius from Select tag in bootstrap 3

Pure CSS Select Menu/Dropdown: How to make custom right arrow?

4 Answers4