Customized select dropdown arrow not clickable

Question

I'm using the following code to customize my select dropdown arrow:

HTML:

<span class="selectWrapper">
    <select id="rowselect" class="pageinfoselect input-mini">
        <option>...</option>
    </select>
</span>

CSS:

span.selectWrapper {
    position: relative;
    display: inline-block;
          width:65px;
}

span.selectWrapper select {
    display: inline-block;
    padding: 4px 3px 3px 5px;
    margin: 0;
    font: inherit;
    outline:none; /* remove focus ring from Webkit */
    line-height: 1.2;
    background: #f5f5f5;
    height:30px;
    color:#666666;
    border:1px solid #dddddd;
}




/* Select arrow styling */
span.selectWrapper:after {
    content: url("../images/arrow_down.png");
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    right: 0;
    bottom: 0;
    line-height: 30px;
    padding: 0 7px;
    background: #f5f5f5;
    color: white;
    border:1px solid #dddddd;
    border-left:0px;
}

This works fine and replaces the default dropdown arrow but the problem is that the arrow image is not clickable. If I click on the select box it opens but I want it to open when I click the arrow image as well

Answer 1

Add the following rule

pointer-events:none;

EDIT:

It should be noted though that IE doesn't yet support this property (Although according to caniuse - It will be supported in IE11)

BUT, If you still want to this method you can use Modernizer or conditional comments (For IE < 10) and this css hack (for IE10) to make IE revert to the standard built in arrow.

/*target Internet Explorer 9 and Internet Explorer 10:*/
@media screen and (min-width:0\0) { 
    span.selectWrapper:after
    {
        display:none;
    }
}

There is however a workaround (and also a different solution) for this, which I mention in my answer here - which also contains this Codepen