Product attributes and Receiving Special Instructions

[DigiMem]

I am a newbie and have done pretty well for myself with finding help here. However I cannot fix this issue.

I sell invitations and announcements. In one style, I have different size cards. I set up the most common size with the price, and used attributes to offer alternate sizes. However, the original size is NOT selected when I attempt to add one to my cart. I cannot figure out the order the options are added to the attribute list. (EX: I want to have announcement be the default (top of the list), but sometimes it is custom thank you and other times it is a different size). I have tried re-arranging the order in which I add the option to the attribute for that card and it doesn't matter - it has a mind of its own!

Another Q: Do I have to add attributes for EACH item individually? I have over 200 cards that will have the same attributes. Is there a way to have ALL products start with the same attributes?

Also, with invitations and announcements, customers need to give me their wording. How can I add a text box for them to add their text with their order. I want to have it go with the particular item, not the check out screen as Special Instructions often go.

[naclu]

I can answer the first question for you.... It's been my experience that the attributes show up on the site in alphabetical order. The attributes that I use are usually colors. I always enter one extra attribute that begins with a symbol to make it show up first. For example, I usually put in something like:

- Choose Color -
Black
Spice
Tan

Perhaps you could start the default attribute with an asterisk or something.

There is probably a more "official" way to do this, but this is how I got it to work for me...