Bucaro TecHelp
HTTPS Encryption not required because no account numbers or
personal information is ever requested or accepted by this site

About BTH User Agreement Privacy Site Map Contact News Feeds

HTML Select List Basics

By Stephen Bucaro

An HTML Select list is a form control used to create a drop-down list of items from which the user can select. Each item in a select list is defined by an option element. The most basic code for an HTML select list is shown below.

<select>
<option>Item 1</option>
<option>Item 2</option>
<option>Item 3</option>
</select>

Some Useful Select List Attributes

The selected attributes causes an option to be selected by default.

<select>
<option value="Bread">Bread</option>
<option value="Coffee">Coffee</option>
<option value="Fruit"  selected="selected">Fruit</option>
<option value="Pie">Pie</option>
<option value="Salad">Salad</option>
<option value="Soup">Soup</option>
<option value="Wine">Wine</option>
</select>

The multiple attribute allows the user to select multiple items in the list. Note: the user must press and hold the [Ctrl] key while selecting multiple items.

<select multiple="multiple">
<option value="Bread">Bread</option>
<option value="Coffee">Coffee</option>
<option value="Fruit">Fruit</option>
<option value="Pie">Pie</option>
<option value="Salad">Salad</option>
<option value="Soup">Soup</option>
<option value="Wine">Wine</option>
</select>

The size attribute sets the number of items that will be visible in the list.

<select size="3">
<option value="Bread">Bread</option>
<option value="Coffee">Coffee</option>
<option value="Fruit">Fruit</option>
<option value="Pie">Pie</option>
<option value="Salad">Salad</option>
<option value="Soup">Soup</option>
<option value="Wine">Wine</option>
</select>

Using a Select List

When the user selects one of the items in a select list, an onchange event is triggered. The selectedIndex property will then contain the index of the item that the user selected. Select list option indexes start with 0 for the first item.

More HTML Code:
• HTML Bulleted or Unordered List
• The HTML BODY tag
• HTML Numbered or Ordered List
• Line Break Basics
• HTML5 role Attribute
• HTML Definition List
• Use HTML Target Attribute to Specify Where to Open Document
• HTML5 Input Type - Email
• HTML SPAN Basics
• Set Form Controls Tab Order With tabindex Attribute