The ability to style a <select>
menu has long been high on list of web designer’s want lists. The inside part anyway; the part that opens up when you activate it. The outside we’ve been able to style for a while.
Open UI did a bunch of research and even had a browser implementation of <selectmenu>
to solve this for a while. But thankfully, we’re back at <select>
with an “opt-in” via CSS, at least, that’s where things are pointed.
There is a great episode of OTMT where the get into it and Jake counts ten low-level platform features that enabled where we are now, and how that will accelerate allowing other stylable elements. (So cool.) There is an awfully weird bit in the form of <selectedoption>
that needs feedback. Amelia points out it’s kinda like SVG <use>
elements, but that doesn’t make it any less weird.