Empty element for html_options

Hi, I'm on my first project using Smarty and have been wondering: html_select_date has the option of having an empty option selected when first opening a page. I would like to have the same when using html_options. However I do understand how to use this: <select name="type_id"> <option value='null'>-- none --</option> {html_options name=type options=$cust_options selected=$type_id} </select> This will give me two select tags, one inside the other am I right? Does not seem easy to work with. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help. Wojciech Duda