Multiple select horizontal and veritical scroll bar

[master44]

I have a multiple select box that must fit in a tight space, there
will be several hundred entries in the multiple select and some text
is wider than the space and I will need to scroll horizontally.

I found a solution using a div to give me a horizontal scoll, however
I then have to scroll far to the right to use the vertical scroll.

<div style="overflow-x:scroll; width:120px;overflow: -moz-scrollbars-
horizontal;">
<select multiple="true" name="selectbox" id="selectbox" size="2" >
<option value="one">One</option>
<option value="two">Two</option>
<option value="three">Three</option>
<option value="four">Four</option>
<option value="five">Five</option>
<option value="six">Six</option>
<option value="seven">Seven</option>
<option value="eight">ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ</option>
</select>
</div>

So I want the horizontal scoll and vertical scroll available at the
same time without having to scroll right to find the vertical scroll.

How can this be done with the example above?

Thanks!

 

[rf]

I have a multiple select box that must fit in a tight space, there
will be several hundred entries in the multiple select and some text
is wider than the space and I will need to scroll horizontally.

What a damn nasty thing to do to your viewers.

 

[master44]

What a damn nasty thing to do to your viewers.

I generally agree, however I don't have many other options. While 99%
of the entries fit nicely in the area I have allocated, there are some
entries that are way outside the area and the select box becomes very
large and screws up the page display (It is a reporting system,
selections are on the left 1/3 of the screen and display on the right
2/3). I started by just trimming down the selections by cutting off
characters after 32, but users complained that they need to see the
entire string. As I mentioned most are less than 32 characters, but
the few that are over average over 100 characters.

Thanks

 

[dorayme]

<[email protected]
m>,

I generally agree, however I don't have many other options. While 99%
of the entries fit nicely in the area I have allocated, there are some
entries that are way outside the area and the select box becomes very
large and screws up the page display (It is a reporting system,
selections are on the left 1/3 of the screen and display on the right
2/3). I started by just trimming down the selections by cutting off
characters after 32, but users complained that they need to see the
entire string. As I mentioned most are less than 32 characters, but
the few that are over average over 100 characters.

Thanks

Is your page is so choco block full that you cannot split things
up and make room?

 

[Peter]

I generally agree, however I don't have many other options. While 99%
of the entries fit nicely in the area I have allocated, there are some
entries that are way outside the area and the select box becomes very
large and screws up the page display (It is a reporting system,
selections are on the left 1/3 of the screen and display on the right
2/3). I started by just trimming down the selections by cutting off
characters after 32, but users complained that they need to see the
entire string. As I mentioned most are less than 32 characters, but
the few that are over average over 100 characters.

Thanks

And you can't use a textarea box in those situations to reduce the
width?

 

[Adrienne Boswell]

I have a multiple select box that must fit in a tight space, there
will be several hundred entries in the multiple select and some text
is wider than the space and I will need to scroll horizontally.

You need to rethink this. Hundreds of entries in a multiple select is too
much.

 

[Jeremy J Starcher]

You need to rethink this. Hundreds of entries in a multiple select is
too much.

AMEN!

Just wish the USPS web site would learn this. When doing international
shipping, I have to choose the country of origin from a drop down box
that lists every country that exists. Arrrg.

Heck, they make me choose the STATE from a drop down instead of just
typing in the state abbreviation.

I won't say a drop down is never the solution, but I figure in most cases
there /has/ to be a better choice.

 

[dorayme]

...When doing international
shipping, I have to choose the country of origin from a drop down box
that lists every country that exists. Arrrg.

Heck, they make me choose the STATE from a drop down instead of just
typing in the state abbreviation.

I won't say a drop down is never the solution, but I figure in most cases
there /has/ to be a better choice.

It is not that the dropdown cannot be part of a solution, but it
is very bad and annoying if it is one
drop-down-with-dumb-hundreds.

One way is to have the typing option as well as a convenient
dropdown that is organised according to easily understood
categories that greatly reduce the number of choices. For
example, having a few drop downs according to areas of the world.

Or having a small image map of the world that captures a first
broad choice, this then goes to more manageable lists. There can
be alphabetical lists that act as first choice to limit lists to
reasonable length. There can be cascading dropdowns according to
user choice. All these can be imagined and detailed according to
the circumstances.

I suppose author convenience is at the heart of many annoying
things on the internet.