List Filter

What it does

A lot of sites have one list that matters — case studies, publications, resources, team members — and visitors need to narrow it down. This renders that list with a row of filter controls above it, built from a taxonomy you already use, and narrows the list as they click.

It does that without going back to the server. The list is already on the page, so filtering it is immediate and costs no database query, which also means it keeps working behind a page cache. Filter choices are reflected in the address bar, so a narrowed list can be linked to or shared, and the browser's back button behaves as expected.

Which list it applies to is chosen on a settings screen — post type, one taxonomy or several, buttons, a dropdown or checkboxes, an optional keyword box, optional counts, order and layout — and the controls are placed on a page with a shortcode, so they work whatever builds the rest of the page. Attributes on the shortcode override the settings, so one site can carry more than one list.

Filter by more than one taxonomy at once and the filters narrow together: Sector and Year, say. Within a single filter, picking two terms widens the list rather than narrowing it. Counts beside each option follow whatever else is chosen, and an option that would leave the page empty is dimmed.

It can also filter a list you already have. Point it at the grid your theme or page builder renders, with a CSS selector, and it leaves that markup alone and filters it in place — so a grid the client is happy with does not have to be rebuilt to gain a filter. It finds each item by post ID, from the classes WordPress puts on a post, a builder's own data attribute, or the item's link, rather than needing an integration written for each builder.

What the licence covers

• Updates to the plugin for as long as the licence is current, installed for you as part of your regular update run.
• Compatibility work as WordPress, PHP and your theme change.
• Support by email from the people who wrote it.

What it does not do

• It filters by categories, tags or any other taxonomy — not by custom fields. If the thing you want to filter on is stored as a custom field rather than a taxonomy, this is not the plugin, and turning the field into a taxonomy is usually the better fix anyway.
• It suits a list a page can reasonably hold — a few dozen to a few hundred items. It is not built for filtering thousands of posts or a large product catalogue, because it works on the list already on the page rather than running a new query.
• The keyword box matches the titles of the items on the page. It is not a site search: it does not look inside the body text, because the body text is not on the page. It does not filter WooCommerce products.
• When it filters a list your theme or page builder renders, that list has to show every item. Filtering happens in the browser, so anything on page two is not there to be filtered — set the grid to show all of them and turn its own pagination off.
• It does not paginate the list it renders, and it has no load-more button.

Requirements

WordPress

6.5 or later

PHP

8.1 or later

Your theme

Anything that can hold a shortcode. The plugin renders the list itself, or filters one your theme or page builder renders

Version and changelog