Joe:

I tried adding a couple attributes to an item but keep getting an error message and I'm not sure I'm doing it right. I tried searching around for a "how to add attributes" article in the knowledge base but was unable to find anything helpful. if there is such a thing can somebody post a link to it or otherwise give me a quick rundown on all the steps necessary to get a functional pool of attributes?

For a functional breakdown – I would break it into two parts:

Part I

3 Steps:

1.       Define an Attribute Group

2.       Define Attribute Ids within an Attribute Group

3.       Associate products with attribute ids

Part II

Style it and add it thru the Theme Menu - http://www.americommerce.com/kb/afmmain.aspx?faqid=94

Example: We have hundreds of diaper bags under diaper bags and we had provided a drill down by brands. I had done this a while ago – but currently have it turned off because we are in the process of redefining them. But I can give you the steps we took. (see snapshot below for clarity)

1.       Under Catalog > Product Attributes  - we setup the Attribute Groups and Ids

a.       Add new Attribute Group (Example, Sort By Brands)

b.      Select View Attributes for Group - Sort by Brands

c.       Add New Attributes (Dadgear, Fleurville, Petunia Picklebottom)

Once this was done -  we assigned these attributes (example ‘Dadgear’ or ‘Fleurville’ or ‘Petunia….’ to products. (This can be done either thru the product editor or imported thru the spreadsheet.)

Then used this knowledgebase to add it in to a page/area of our site: http://www.americommerce.com/kb/afmmain.aspx?faqid=94

Hope this helps. I don’t have a ‘visual’ to point you to at this time – but if you have questions or give me more specifics related to your site – I would be happy to help as best as I can.

Cheers,

Manjula