css: своя стрелка для select

html:

<div class="select_cnt">
	<select id="selectid" name="selectname">
		<option value="1">вариант 1</option>
		<option value="2">вариант 2</option>
	</select>
</div>

css:

.select_cnt {
	width:180px;
	height:20px;
	overflow:hidden;
	float:right;
	margin-right:20px;
	background:url('/img/cat_select.png') no-repeat right;
}
.select_cnt select {
	width:200px;
	height:20px;
	border:none;
	background-color:transparent;
	background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0);
}

php: ucfirst и utf8 (фраза с большой буквы)

if (!function_exists('mb_ucfirst') && function_exists('mb_substr')) { 
	function mb_ucfirst($string) {  
		$string = mb_ereg_replace("^[\ ]+","", $string);  
		$string = mb_strtoupper(mb_substr($string, 0, 1, "UTF-8"), "UTF-8").mb_substr($string, 1, mb_strlen($string), "UTF-8" );  
		return $string;  
	}
}
$text=mb_ucfirst($text);

Обновлено: https://krylov.org.ua/php-strtolower-krome-pervoj-bukvy-slovo-s-bolshoj/