Set width of dropdown element in HTML select dropdown options

Solution 1:

I find the best way to handle long dropdown boxes is to put it inside a fixed width div container and use width:auto on the select tag. Most browsers will contain the dropdown within the div, but when you click on it, it will expand to display the full option value. It does not work with IE explorer, but there is a fix (like is always needed with IE). Your code would look something like this.

HTML

<div class="dropdown_container">
  <select class="my_dropdown" id="my_dropdown">
    <option value="1">LONG OPTION</option>
    <option value="2">short</option>
  </select>
</div>

CSS

div.dropdown_container {
    width:10px;
}

select.my_dropdown {
    width:auto;
}

/*IE FIX */
select#my_dropdown {
    width:100%;
}

select:focus#my_dropdown {
    width:auto\9;
}

Solution 2:

You can style (albeit with some constraints) the actual items themselves with the option selector:

select, option { width: __; }

This way you are not only constraining the drop-down, but also all of its elements.

Solution 3:

On the server-side:

1. Define a max length of the string
2. Clip the string
3. (optional) append horizontal ellipsis

Alternative solution: the select element is in your case (only guessing) a single-choice form control and you could use a group of radio buttons instead. These you could then style with better control. If you have a select[@multiple] you could do the same with a group of checkboxes instead as they can both be seen as a multiple-choice form control.

Solution 4:

HTML:

<select class="shortenedSelect">
    <option value="0" disabled>Please select an item</option>
    <option value="1">Item text goes in here but it is way too long to fit inside a select option that has a fixed width adding more</option>
</select>

CSS:

.shortenedSelect {
    max-width: 350px;
}

Javascript:

// Shorten select option text if it stretches beyond max-width of select element
$.each($('.shortenedSelect option'), function(key, optionElement) {
    var curText = $(optionElement).text();
    $(this).attr('title', curText);

    // Tip: parseInt('350px', 10) removes the 'px' by forcing parseInt to use a base ten numbering system.
    var lengthToShortenTo = Math.round(parseInt($(this).parent('select').css('max-width'), 10) / 7.3);

    if (curText.length > lengthToShortenTo) {
        $(this).text('... ' + curText.substring((curText.length - lengthToShortenTo), curText.length));
    }
});

// Show full name in tooltip after choosing an option
$('.shortenedSelect').change(function() {
    $(this).attr('title', ($(this).find('option:eq('+$(this).get(0).selectedIndex +')').attr('title')));
});

Works perfectly. I had the same issue myself. Check out this JSFiddle http://jsfiddle.net/jNWS6/426/