CSS - change dropdown arrow to unicode triangle

Question

I've customized my <select> using like this:

background-color:#ececec;
border:0;
border:1px solid #e3e3e3;
border-radius:3px;
width:100%;
font-family:'FuturaStdLightOblique', sans-serif;
font-size:16px;
color:#616263;
outline:none;
height: 40px;

But I also want to change my dropdown arrow into a look that fits this design. I would like to use the unicode triangle ▼ (▼) as an alternative to the arrow down and if possible, set it to the same color as the texts in my select tag.

Any ideas on how I can achieve this without using anything aside from CSS/HTML? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

maybe so?

*,
*:before,
*:after {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

* {
  padding: 0;
  margin: 0;
}

form {
  padding: 1rem;
  max-width: 400px;
  margin: 1em auto;
}

.select {
  height: 40px;
  width: 100%;
  overflow: hidden;
  position: relative;
  border-radius: 3px;
  margin-bottom: 1em;
}

.select:after {
  content: "▼";
  padding: 12px 8px;
  position: absolute;
  right: 10px;
  top: 0;
  z-index: 1;
  text-align: center;
  width: 10%;
  height: 100%;
  pointer-events: none;
}

.select__field {
  height: 40px;
  width: 100%;
  padding: 5px 15px;
  color: #616263;
  background-color: #ececec;
  border: 1px solid #e3e3e3;
  outline: none;
  font-size: 16px;
  -webkit-appearance: none;
  /* for webkit browsers */
  -moz-appearance: none;
  /* for firefox */
  appearance: none;
  /* for modern browsers */
}


/* remove default caret for ie */

.select__field::-ms-expand {
  display: none;
}

.select__field:focus:invalid {
  border-color: #FD6347;
}

.select__field:required:valid {
  border-color: #006400;
}

.btn-submit {
  color: #fff;
  display: block;
  padding: 15px;
  text-transform: uppercase;
  background: #535C69;
  width: 100%;
  border: none;
  border-radius: 3px;
}

<form action="#" method="post">
  <div class="select">
    <select name="nameValueSelect" class="select__field" required>
      <option value="" selected>Choose option ...</option>
      <option>Option 1</option>
      <option>Option 2</option>
      <option>Option 3</option>
      <option>Option 4</option>
      <option>Option 5</option>
      <option>Option 6</option>
    </select>
  </div>

  <button type="submit" class="btn-submit">Submit</button>
</form>

Answer 2

For those who like to understand and to complement Dmitriy's solution (simplified code below), this is done by:

1. adding an element which contains the select element (a wrapper)
2. setting a relative position to the wrapper
3. removing appearance on the select for taking out the default triangle
4. defining an ::after rule on the wrapper with:
   1. a content property with the unicode ▼
   2. no pointer-events so that the select remains clickable and triggers the dropdown event
   3. an absolute position in order to be placed on the right place

So the bare-bones (literally the skeleton, only what is required) are:

.wrapper {
  overflow: hidden;
  position: relative;
  width: 10rem; /* real length of dropdown */
}

.wrapper:after {
  content: "▼";
  font-size: 0.8rem;
  pointer-events: none; /* ▼ click triggers dropdown */
  position: absolute;
  right: 0.2rem;
  top: 0.3rem;
  z-index: 1;
}

select {
  /* remove default caret */
  -webkit-appearance: none; /* webkit browsers */
  -moz-appearance: none; /* firefox */
  appearance: none; /* modern browsers */
  width: 100%;
}

select::-ms-expand {
  display: none; /* remove default caret for ie */
}

<section class="wrapper">
  <select>
    <option value="" selected>Choose option</option>
    <option>Option 1</option>
    <option>Option 2</option>
    <option>Option 3</option>
  </select>
</section>

The code above is in this "Select caret" Codepen if you need to try out further adjustments.