>Sure. Rather than a single table of CODES, you have a table of codes per characteristic:
>
>Color: (Code, descript) eg 1 = blue, 2 = red, 3 = green, etc.
>Trans: (Code, descript) eg 1 = standard, 2 = automatic
>VType: (Code, descript) eg 1 = car, 2 = van, 3 = fully armed & operational deathstar

FYI, I finally decided to keep things simple as possible for both the users and I. I'll just use my original simple design (one table of Code and Description). Initially though, I will let them define and enter separate characteristics which I'll combine to create both the Code and Description. Once this is done, I'll let them add/edit each "group" of Code and Description individually no matter how repetitive it might get. It shouldn't be too bad though.

Finally, thanks for all your "relational theory" stuff. Very interesting and it let's me know how much more I need to learn about it.