I have to bump this topic from the general questions forum, because it still hasn't been dealt with.
http://forum.cs-cart.com/topic/32107-please-select-in-simultaneous-select-options/
Simultaneous option behavior is one of the most infuriating, obnoxious, bad behaviors of cs-cart.
When a customer goes to a product page, option select-boxes need to say "please select" instead of having the first option in the list already selected by default.
If you want default options, that's great. cs-cart should allow you to designate default options. It should be a standard easy to use feature. But it shouldn't cripple the normal functionality of the shopping cart in the process — functionality that is standard in every other shopping cart system in the known universe.
And 'Required' options should actually be required to function as expected. If a customer clicks 'Add to cart', the item should not be added to the cart without selecting a valid value for the option (ie. if they haven't changed it from "please select", it cannot be added to the cart and a warning must be given).
As is now, if you choose 'simultaneous' as your option type, 'required' options is a meaningless concept. It doesn't matter if the customer has chosen any options, because the cart is defaulting to the first options in the list, and congratulating itself for the fine 'required' options it has chosen as the oblivious customer orders a completely wrong product. Customer service nightmare.
Standard bad defenses of cs-carts bad behavior:
1) "Just add 'please select' as a product option." Really? So it's ok for a customer to add a product to the cart with "please select" for every option? This fix is like using plastic and duct tape to fix your broken car window.
2) "Just change your option type to 'Sequential'." Really? Sequential simply doesn't make sense for all products. It's a fine option if you choose to use it for it's intended purpose. But don't force me to use it as a band-aid to fix a problem with cs-cart.
Please cs-cart understand that this is bad behavior that needs to be fixed ASAP.