Q: How do Product Options work in v1.5.x?

Summary
One of the biggest changes that 1.5.x brought was the redesign of options to make them more global as well as include all different types. The new system is extremely powerful. But with power comes great confusion. This guide will explain how to add and use product options for 1.5.x

First it is important to understand the design structure.
Up until now, options have been added individually to products on the "Options" tab in the product edit page
Now, instead of adding them one-by-one, You can add them to the "Options Pool".
Once they are in the pool, you simply reference the options for each product, picking and choosing which options you want to add, and the finer details like price, weight, etc for each individual option value.

It is also important to understand the terminology:

Men's Shoes <-- Product
-- Size <-- Option
---- 8 <-- Option Value
---- 9 <-- Option Value

How to Create Options

1. Goto Admin->Catalog->Options
2. Click Insert
3. Enter
   • Name: Color
   • Type: Select
   • Sort Order: 1
4. Click "Add Option Value"
5. Enter
   • Option Value Name: Red
   • Sort Order: 1
6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 for each option value you want to add (Blue, Green, etc)
7. Save

How to Add Options to Products

1. Goto Admin->Catalog->Products
2. Edit a Product
3. Goto the "Options" tab
4. In the box with the green + icon, type the name of the option you just created above: "Color"
5. As you type, the autosuggest will give you the option to choose the Color option. You can also just type "%" to see all.
6. Now click the green + icon
7. Depending on the option type, you will see different fields. They should be self-explanatory
8. Choose the Option Value, stock, price, weight, etc that you want for that product.

Since "Color" is generic enough, you can reuse that option for other products. Shirts, Hats, etc without re-adding it to the options page. Just edit the next product and start typing "Color" again into the box with the green + icon and add it there with different pricing, qty, etc.

That's it!