Magento configurable product default options by attribute label

configurable.phtml

        Product.Config.prototype.fillSelect = Product.Config.prototype.fillSelect.wrap(function(superMethod, element){
            var attributeId = element.id.replace(/[a-z]*/, '');
            var attribute = this.config.attributes[attributeId];
            this.config.chooseText = 'Select ' + this.config.attributes[attributeId].label;
            return superMethod(element);
        });

A quick way to change the default option from "Choose an option" to "Select Color" (or size, or whatever your attributes are labeled as).

No modifications to any core classes or JS libraries. Just wrap fillSelect method of Product.Config before defining spConfig and it works with multiple attribute pulldowns.

Modify template/catalog/product/view/type/options/configurable.phtml

Add the above code between script tags directly before:

var spConfig = new Product.Config(<?php echo $this->getJsonConfig(); ?>);