HTML select box default value

Can it be set to a specific option?

[mcfly]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have any idea whether it's possible to set a default option for an html drop-down select box?

I have an ordered set of options, but would like to highlight an option as a default without necessarily having it first in the list. I had a faint recollection of it being as simple as

<option value="x" default>x</option>

but it doesn't seem to work (at least not for Mozilla anyway), so I must be wrong on that.

For a bonus point, is there a way to do it for 'select multiple' form elements?

Thanks in advance!

[korkus2000]

I believe selected instead of default should work. XHTML uses the nonshort-hand version, which I cannot remember off-hand.

[pete_m]

You're right - it is easy.
Try
<option value="x" selected="selected">x</option>
which is XHTML compliant.

For multiple selectboxes just use the selected="selected" attribute for each option you need selected by default.

[robjones]

This should work for xhtml:
selected="selected"

[mcfly]

'selected="selected" ' works a treat.

Thanks for your help guys.