title: jQuery $('select-element').val() not reliable?
body: <p>I am working with a <code>&lt;select /&gt;</code> element and I have to determine the value of the selected option. I have used jQuery for a while and I thought I knew how to do this before, but I am encountering unexpected results when <strong>no option</strong> is selected. Here is the <a href="http://jsfiddle.net/webuser7/ffdotsav/1/" rel="nofollow">JSFiddle</a> that hopefully illustrates my difficulty (whenever the first/guiding option is selected).</p>
  
  <p>I tried the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$(this).val();
  $(this).find('option:selected').val();
  $(this).find(':selected').val();
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This line (below) practically ostracizes jQuery's priceless <code>.val()</code> function, but appears to reliably give me what I am looking for:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$(this).find('option:selected').attr('value')
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there a reliable way to determine if the user has <strong>not</strong> selected a real option?!</p>
  
  <p><strong>Note:</strong> I have a strong liking for jQuery's <code>.val()</code> function, so finally ended up doing this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$(this).find('option:selected[value]').val()
  </code></pre>