Product Options and Color Swatches

[Patrick74]

I'd love some help with finding out if we can do a particular thing with product options/color swatches. I have searched the forum for previous topics, and while - as a newbie - this has been fantastic in helping me work out loads of areas, I haven't found this specific topic before. Any help is gratefully received.

 

This online store which I'm working on is for sofas/suites, which come in 10 shapes, and with 15 fabric options.

 

I first checked out Volusion, which has a color swapping facility (e.g., if you had 5 polo shirts, you could mouseover a color swatch, and the main picture would swap to a photo of a blue or a red polo shirt). Since the sofas for this store are hand made to order, it'd take a long time and a big cost to make all 150 variants to use that kind of facility.

 

I've seen a site that has the functionality I need - if you've got time, have a quick look at: http://www.eirecane.ie/index.php?page=51&caneCatId=2

 

Here's what it appears to do:

When you click on a suite name from a category page, you are returned with a list of the items in that suite (with default, 1 of each option: 1 x 3-seater, 1 x chair, 1 x coffee table, 1 x end table). So if you need 2 coffee tables, you can make that change before 'Buy Now'.

 

Also, you can see that there are a series of fabric options, each with a radio button beside it. There is a thumbnail picture of each fabric swatch, and you can click on a thumbnail to see a larger picture of the fabric, all without leaving that main page.

 

This is exactly what we need for this solution.

 

If you have any ideas about add-ons that could help, or this is a straightforward thing to do, I'd appreciate any tips that you might have.

 

Best regards,

Patrick

[Guest]

Hi There Patrick, I have been looking for the same thing for some time now, except for t-shirts and other clothing. I have started to develop my own color swatches and i know how to do the mouse over so an image will show up that you would like. The problem I have after that is my PHP is very limited so I am still working on getting the customers choices to the shopping cart. I have someone in another forum who is going to help me with the php but this does you no good now and you would have to develop your own color swatches even if done through small images of your materials.

Pat