The disabled option approach seems to look the best and be the best supported. I've also included an example of using the optgroup.
optgroup (this way kinda sucks):
First
Second
Third
disabled option (a bit better):
First
_________
Second
Third
And if you want to be really fancy, use the horizontal unicode box drawing character. It's sexy!
(BEST OPTION!)
First
──────────
Second
Third
Try:
This is an old thread, but since no one posted a similar response, I'll add this as it's my preferred way of separation.
I find using dashes and such to be somewhat of an eyesore since it could fall short of the width of the selection box. So, I prefer to use CSS to create my separators.. a simple background coloring.
Select An Option
First Option
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
If you don't want to use the optgroup element, put the dashes in an option element instead and give it the disabled attribute. It will be visible, but greyed out.
----------
Instead of the regular hyphon I replaced it using a horizontal bar symbol from the extended character set, it won't look very nice if the user is in another country that replaces that character but works fine for me. There is a range of different chacters you could use for some great effects and there is no css involved.
――――
Define a class in CSS:
option.separator {
margin-top:8px;
border-top:1px solid #666;
padding:0;
}
Write in HTML:
I'm making @Laurence Gonsalves' comment into an answer because it's the only one that works semantically and doesn't look like a hack.
Try adding this to your stylesheet:
optgroup + optgroup { border-top: 1px solid black }
Much less cheesy looking than a bunch of dashes.
another way is to use a css 1x1 background image on option which only seems to work with firefox and have a "----" fallback
----
.SelectSeparator
{
background-image: url(data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==);
color:black;
background-repeat:repeat-x;
background-position:50% 50%;
background-attachment:scroll;
}
or to use javascript (jquery) to:
-hide the select element and
-show a div which can be completely styled and
-reflect the div state onto the select for the form submit
If it's WebKit-only, you can use
to create a real separator.
You could use the em dash "—". It has no visible spaces between each character.
(In some fonts!)
In HTML:
—————————————
Or in XHTML:
—————————————
This one is best always.
First
_________
Second
Third
______________
you can do this one also. it is easy and make divider select drop down list.
I elected to conditionally alternate color and background. Setting a sort order and with vue.js, I did something like this:
.altgroup_1 {background:gray; color:white;}
.altgroup_2{background:white; color:black;}
'altgroup_1': (country.sort_order > 25),
'altgroup_2': (country.sort_order > 50 }"
value="{{ country.iso_short }}">
{{ country.short_name }}