Me too! I would love to see improvements made to not only the OPTIONS but the File Manager for pictures too (as outlined in a couple other posts). As not only do you have options that may be category specific or sub-category specific - but then within the sub-categories, you may have certain products that require additional options. So although having the global options are nice...they are not always effective and user friendly because of the additional single options (and I'm still not sure that they are linked to the template as in a few instances I've tested making changes and those that are set in the category global options don't seem to update - so I'm having to delete the global and re-do).
Even if we had better control over choosing the single options for our categories and global options per category (namely a screen where you checked off what you wanted from the single options and indicated the sort) would be helpful. By this I mean having one screen of ALL the options and then choosing from there to set up a next level for Masters - to Global Categories (similar to the way we do products and apply them to a sub-cat which is applied to a main cat)
After numerous attempts and failures to get my options in sort order...I wound up making a written chart by category column and also line by line numbers going down to help me get the sort correct between the global options, category specific options, and single extra options and gave them all corresponding sort numbers - so no matter where the options were being pulled from and what category I was working in - they would all be in the correct designated sort order in the actual product view.
Example...my gift wrapping option shows up in my Master Earrings, Master Bracelets, Master Necklaces - (which by the way I had to re-type this option three separate times as there is no way to duplicate an exisiting option to use in another category or choose the same option multiple times from an option list - and these Master sorts are set up to use under the global sub-cat page as they contain just the options that are common for ALL the products in a specific sub category). Then I have the Product specific options (say some jewelry pieces are only available in sterling silver...require an individual option that is inserted through the individual product option page or by designating it in an import) are done separately. Since I wanted the gift wrapping and Comment/Question Text Box at the bottom of the options (no matter what Global Option category) - I set the sort number in each Master the same (e.g. #9 and #10). So although there may only be 4 total options in one Master Category option...instead of having them in sort order of 1,2,3,4 - it may be that the sort order reads 0, 5, 9, 10. Doing it this way, always keeps the Masters (used for global category options) and the single options (such as a Metal or color choice depending on the product) in sort order. Hope that makes sense - it's really a lot easier to see in a spreadsheet. But I think for those that have multiple and product specific options that change - you know what I'm saying...
This is why having one screen that shows ALL your individual options, with a column for checking off that option, a column to designate the sort order, (with the possibility of adding a "update all" option versus having to update each individual one) would be SO helpful and save a lot of admin time. Equally having the option to group single options and create Masters for sub categories and main categories.
With regard to the drop images and rollovers - that would be awesome. I played around with my thumbnail images and reduced the size so I at least had images for my earring closures & clasp styles in the drop down menu but if it were a rollover/pop-up on the checkbox, it would certainly create a more professional image. It would also be nice to have a more advanced option for the help image (I also was asking about this in another post) - where the customer would mouse over and mouse out over "extra" information whether it's a graphic, chart, pdf file of different font/styles/color, etc. - I hate it when you have a popup and then have to manually shut it down - or worse yet a line of popups on your bottom bar
I guess I wouldn't call it limitations - as the get-around for designating product specific options is do-able by utilizing the global options and single options and designating/connecting all the sort orders - but it's the admin time issue (whether you choose to do each specific option by the product detail pages OR do an import which is easy to mess up if you're not paying attention to the spacing, caps, etc.) that I totally agree with.
Bristweb...you've made some terrific points and the Make/Model thing you mention is the same as Jewelry Collections for me. Currently I'm utilizing the Sort by Manufacturer as my Sort by Jewelry Collection...but the downside to this is that I don't have any further depth in the Collection (like you would in the product categories and sub-categories sort). So it would be nice to have the option of adding at least one additional "Sort by" that functioned like the general product category ones.
Which also snowballs to the Listing Page...with SO many users asking about the layout of this page, it would make sense to have various templates to choose your set up from (versus just one listing page that everyone seems to be trying to change anyways - moving the price under the image, utilizing more blank space so it's more of a one page view and flip-flopping some blocks).