When building sites, you occasionally need to create small blocks of content that can be…
If you use taxonomies, like categories, to organize data and content on your site (and you probably should), you might run into taxonomy overload. You’ve meticulously organized your site, but it can be hard to sort through a long list of names to find the one you want. Taxonomy Filter helps you sort through this.
What’s it Do?
Taxonomy Filter adds an input field to a taxonomy meta box in the post editor’s sidebar, which allows you to filter through your category names and easily find the one you are looking for. It works with both the built-in “Categories” taxonomy, as well as any custom taxonomies you might set up. It’s settings screen lets you chose which taxonomies should include the filter, just by checking a box.
How’s it Work?
After you install and activate the plugin, you have to actually enable the taxonomy filter for each taxonomy that you have set up. Go to Settings -> Taxonomy Filter. You will see a list of any taxonomy you have set up as hierarchical. This means that the taxonomy is typically shown in a long list with possible descendants, instead of non-hierarchical taxonomies, like the default “Tags.” If you haven’t set up any custom taxonomies on your site, you will only see “Categories”. Next to each, there is a checkbox which you can use to switch on the filter for that taxonomy in the post editor. In the rightmost column, there is also a checkbox that will “Hide filter if the taxonomy is blank” if you want to ensure that the filter is only shown when it is needed.
Taxonomy filter in action
After you’ve turned the filter on, you can go to any post with a taxonomy activated (a WordPress post or custom post type), or add a new one. In the right sidebar, you will see that a new text field has been added to the taxonomy meta box. For instance, the “Categories” will now feature an input field labeled “Filter:”. Simply start typing the name of the category that you are looking for, and you will see the tags above start to filter out, only surfacing what you typed in. This allows you to sort through the taxonomy quickly, without having to scroll through the entire list. And as I mentioned earlier, this will work for any hierarchical taxonomy on your site.
Costs, Caveats, Etc.
Taxonomy Filter is free and fairly new. I’m sure that there are a few features that can be added, but it keeps things simple and works very well. If you are having any problems with the plugin, you should go to the support forums to get help from the developer.
