I'm not sure what I did but the attribute editor for materials was changed somehow and every attribute available for materials is being displayed under the material type instead of separating them out into categories such as "common material attributes". I've provided a screenshot. I deleted the preferences folder, I went under the window>settings+prefs>prefs>edit>revert to default... giving me a huge headache!

Still no solution, bump

oh ow, i had this once, I had to re install maya from scratch since i didnt know what I did. I only backed up my marking menus... what Maya version are you using?

Ughhh. I'm using 2010. I suppose I can reinstall if thats what its gonna take. I would like to know a solution though.