The one I have seen that I think was the best is a combo of both. Not a web developer so not sure the actual name but it was a text field that filters. So when

The one I have seen that I think was the best is a combo of both. Not a web developer so not sure the actual name but it was a text field that filters. So when you click in the text field it does the year drop down but also accepts standard text input. If you then type in 197 it then only shows 1970-1979 in the drop down.