FOD

Apologies for talking to myself here! But I've sort of stumbled across a solution to having "Please Select" at the top of the drop-down list, so I thought I'd share it, in case it benefits someone else.
The fix from earlier in the thread works, if you also choose the correct options in the QT Pro section of the admin.
So, with belated thanks to mbi15, whose "hack" this is:
Open /includes/functions/html_output.php
Find

for ($i=0, $n=sizeof($values); $i<$n; $i++) {

Immediately before that line add:

	$field .= '<option value="select"';
	$field .= '>Please select ...</option>';

My options in Admin/Configuration/Prod Info (QTPro)
are:


On a product with choice of colour (with no price variation) and choice of size (with price variation) two drop down lists, the top one's default is "First Select Colour" and the default of the second drop down is "Please Select". Out of stock items are not displayed. If a customer tries to add a product to the cart without changing the default drop-down list option, a pop-up prevents them from doing so. I have the "add-weight-to-product-attributes" add-on installed and the weight and price differential gets passed into the shopping cart. So I'm happy enough with that, so far.

Now all I need is the whole lot aligned to the right, just above the Add To Cart button, and I'll be a happy camper, until the next time, anyway.