Forum
Perch Shop - Variants & Options
Hey,
I'm using Perch Shop for many types of Shop's, and having discussed on Slack with a few fellow Perchers, I thought it was worth posting a thread about variants and options.
I think the current system isn't ideal, it doesn't feel "easy" for users, which is what Perch is about. I end up with lots of variants sets, out of sync options and it becomes hard to work with. I haven't got a suggestion in terms of what a better system would be, or just an adjustment to the existing system.
I think the biggest issue is the need to generate variants, I know why that's done. Perhaps it'd be easier and more intuitive to have variants created manually rather than needing to auto generate, or having both options, I don't know!
Any suggestions from Perchers would be welcome!
Let me preface this by saying I think perch shop is elegant and carefully executed. I love it. And I'm guessing if I were just selling t-shirts, in colors and sizes, the current system of option sets, product options and variables would be just fine. But in the real world, I do find it really difficult to get my options sets named. And whenever I go back in and have to create a new product, it's definitely a sticking point in the process. I've ended up with almost as many option sets as products -- there's always something slightly different about the items...
For me, the difficulty is moving between the the options screen (/apps/perch_shop_products/options/), the product's option tab (/apps/perch_shop_products/product/options/), and the variables screen.
A single line of text makes it difficult to tell between many similarly named option sets. If those screens showed more about the sets than just a single line, I think that would help... ie, set created/modified dates, number of options they contain, which products currently use the set, maybe a description field...
In short, I think the admin area could be a lot more helpful in guiding the user through these relationships by providing more clues about what the option sets are.
just my 2 cents. or halfpence.