Hey guys!
I’m styling select menus, but when in Chrome I use -webkit-appearance: none; it works perfectly, but according to my research there’s no alternative to IE. My question is: is there any HTC solution, so I could be able to set behavior on the select{} class. Or at least if you can tell me how that css3 property works, so I could make my own htc or something.
The styling of the select in IE is hard coded and cannot be changed apart form a couple of simple styles. The only real option is to swap the element around with some javascript and if you use that approach then you may as well do it for all I suppose.
Yeah, I saw that efore, but the problem is that I have not to use jQuery UI at all. I’ve tried with different jQuery plugins and I even created one for that, but I use very complicated ajax interactions and I have to change classes, checking for values and stuff, so in Chrome and firefox, when I use appearance: none (-webkit- or -moz-), everything is like a real select menu. So wouldn’t it be great for us to have an appearance property in IE? If there is no emulation (like PIE.htc or ie-css3.htc), then just tell me if you know how that appearance works, so I could be able to create a plugin to emulate it. I hope you understood me 
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Hi,
Unfortunately you can’t change the appearance of the select much at all in IE - not even with scripting. It’s hard coded into the browser and not available to you.
You could wrap a script into a behaviour/htc and swap the element in and out but its still javascript. There are some normal “non jquery” scripts around to save using a whole library but there is no non javascript solution. Most scripts substitute the select for a normal css dropdown menu and then swap values back into the select but as you say in a complicated ajax environment that may prove awkward to manage.
I don’t think there’s another solution other than letting IE have the default select element. Apart from that you are stuck with what the browsers gives you I’m afraid.
Of course there’s no IE solution. There’s never IE solution for anything. I hate IE. OK, so then I have to use jQuery plugin. There’s no other way. One more question: Do IE updates itself from 8 to 9 or it asks to confirm the update?
Yes IE always spoils the party.
One more question: Do IE updates itself from 8 to 9 or it asks to confirm the update?
IE8 won’t automatically update to IE9 (as far as I know) - you’ll need to choose to download it. XP users can’t upgrade to ie9 anyway as it doesn’t work on that system.
I’m totally screwed up ;( . Thanks for the help! 
I’m pretty sure it will. On my little Win7/32 netbook, the regular Windows update wanted to install IE9, categorizing it as an “important” update, not an optional one. I had to put it into the “don’t show me this update again” category (it’s handy to have native IE8 on one machine for testing - I’ve got an old desktop on which I keep native IE7, for the same reason).
Off Topic:
On the handful of windows 7 workstations I’ve maintained, IE9 is an optional update that has to be ticked manually in the list of windows updates. I’m guessing this will change like with the rollout of IE8 when it went from manual to automatic.
Yes I meant that you would have to say yes at some stage and that it wouldn’t be fully automatic (although IE8/vista on my laptop has never asked to upgrade). I have IE8 on xp which of course can’t be updated. I also have IE9 on windows 7 but I’ve had that since beta so I don’t know what would have happened there.
On my netbook, I have the updates set to ask me about everything, not to do anything automatically. From the way the update was categorized, I’d conclude that if I had the machine set to accept updates automatically, it would have installed IE9 without any further input from me.
But ultimately, of course, IE9 will get pumped out in “full auto” mode, whether it’s happening now or not. My site visit stats are showing IE9 gaining ground on IE8 very rapidly. For the past month, IE9 is hitting 30% of all IE visitors, with IE8 at 62%. Last month, 15% IE9 to 72% IE8. Happily, IE7 is just about dead.
That sounds promising. Lets hope the momentum continues.
Off Topic:
The stats gain are going to level out eventually with all the folks who use XP unable to upgrade the browser. It’s a poor decision, IMHO, if Microsoft was attempting to further web development through their advancements with IE. Leaving a significant portion of the active windows user base stuck on a browser version seems to be a step backwards to me. Granted, development for XP has to stop at some point, but it’s not like XP is a dead operating system yet
So wouldn’t it be great for us to have an appearance property in IE?
Not necessarily. Most people use but one browser. Browsers have control over how forms look partially because it’s considered important for interactive elements to look similar.
More than once I’ve come across forms created in Javascript where some designer had a field day making everything look goofy (to match the site). It was not obvious what was a button to click once and what was a dropdown. I should be able to recognise what something is and how it works the moment I set eyes on it.
That’s not to say that we wouldn’t love to make browser form rendering Less Ugly, but I’m not even a fan of the jQuery pretty forms plugin (which I would still offer for you to look at, but I’m not sure it could deal with a completely dynamic and ajaxy-to-the-hilt form).
Oh, well, here they are anyway, but you may have already tried most of these:
[noparse]http://www.dreamcss.com/2009/05/15-jquery-plugins-to-enhance-your-html.html[/noparse]
Off Topic:
Yes, that was a strange move. I still use XP as my main machine because I have all my stuff on it and can’t face moving it all or installing all the programs again (even though I have a newer computer on the same desk).
[ot]
All my machines are still XP, other than a notebook I purchased a few months back. I really just don’t want to spend the money (or time) upgrading everything to Windows 7. Windows 7 just doesn’t really offer much of anything that’s worth the upgrade for me.[/ot]
IMHO the fact that IE9 is not compatible with XP is a marketing decision by Microsoft. I think the devs of IE9 would love every Windows user to be able to upgrade to IE9 but then there would be no reason for me to upgrade from XP to Windows 7
Off Topic:
The semi-official line from Microsoft was that the APIs that IE9 depends upon in newer Windows operating systems aren’t a part of Windows XP.
[ot]Superman, you mean… there’s actually a “reason”??
All my machines are still XP, other than a notebook I purchased a few months back. I really just don’t want to spend the money (or time) upgrading everything to Windows 7. Windows 7 just doesn’t really offer much of anything that’s worth the upgrade for me.
I imagine this holds true for 99% of Corporate World. IE9 isn’t taking over IE6 any time soon over there.
[/ot]