Content management can get tricky as your website expands. Whether you run a WooCommerce store full of products or a blog packed with posts, a user who can’t find the right content they need could head to a competitor’s site. Enter the Simple Taxonomy Filter Block plugin.
This tool lets you create filters based on your site’s taxonomies, which makes it simple for users to find the right content on your site. You can add this as a Block to practically any location on your site.
In this article, we’ll take a look at key features of Simple Taxonomy Filter Block, walk you through setting it up, and give real examples of how it works.
What Is the Simple Taxonomy Filter Block Plugin?
Simple Taxonomy Filter Block is a WordPress plugin that does one thing well. It makes content easier to find and improves the User Experience (UX). The plugin lets you create content filters based on your site’s taxonomies. Alternatively, you can create custom taxonomies for use as custom filters. This helps visitors find exactly what they’re looking for.
The primary goal of Simple Taxonomy Filter block is to make on-site content navigation easier. For instance, it lets you place an input field to set up new taxonomies within the WordPress dashboard, which lets you filter hierarchical taxonomies with ease. This feature comes in handy when you’re dealing with lots of tags or categories.
Simple Taxonomy Filter Block: Key Features and Typical Use Cases
The Simple Taxonomy Filter Block comes with a lot of functionality that focuses on the task of content organization. This integrates in a deep way with the existing WordPress codebase through a number of approaches:
- Supports custom taxonomies: If default categories and tags don’t cut it, you can define your own. It’s perfect for custom post types such as portfolios or WooCommerce products. For example, a photographer could use “Portraits,” “Catalog Shoots,” and “Nature” to showcase their work.
- Integrates with the Query Loop Block: You can enhance your content displays without the need for complicated setups, yet still include powerful filtering, through adding a Simple Taxonomy Filter Block to your Query Loop.
- Flexible display options: There’s the option to choose between different orientations and placements. This lets you integrate the filter into your site’s design while maintaining the same functionality.
- Set up multiple taxonomies: For more complex filtering needs, you can create multiple taxonomy filters to handle diverse content categories. This enables users to filter content based on multiple criteria at once, which will enhance their experience even further.
Simple Taxonomy Filter Block uses AJAX technology throughout its architecture, which lets you refine a search without waiting for the entire page to reload. This results in a faster, more engaging browsing experience that can keep visitors on-site for longer.
When it comes to using the plugin, we have a few areas where we think it will shine:
- Real estate portfolios that categorize properties by location, type, and price range.
- Product catalogs that need to filter product categories, brands, and features.
- Travel websites needing to filter for destinations, trip types, and durations.
- Job boards for filtering job categories, experience levels, and locations.
Of course, any site that needs to use taxonomies to categorize products or services will benefit from the plugin. The setup process is straightforward too.
How to Use the Simple Taxonomy Filter Block Plugin
Setting up the Simple Taxonomy Filter Block is easy—we clocked it at about ten minutes tops! Let’s go through the steps to help you begin.
Once you purchase Simple Taxonomy Filter Block, you’ll need to install and activate it. From there, you have plenty of scope. Let’s explore two practical examples to illustrate its power: filtering a portfolio and organizing an e-commerce catalog.
Adding a Filter to Your Portfolio
Once you find an ideal WordPress portfolio theme and add your work, you’ll want to set up a filterable portfolio. To do this, head to your desired page or post within the WordPress Site Editor, then find the Query Loop block. This will manage how you display the posts.
Next, click the Plus (+) icon, search for the Taxonomy Filter Block, and add it to your page:
From here, position the filter where it fits best—preferably before your post template block. Set the filter to categorize one of your taxonomies, such as the post categories, then choose a display style that suits your site. This could be a drop-down menu or buttons:
If you check out the preview of your site, you can see how the filter will look on your page:
You can also customize the appearance of your portfolio further by selecting from various design options. This will all depend on your design goals, and the current look of your site.
Organizing Your Product Catalog
Next, let’s create a WooCommerce product filter for an online store. As before, you’ll need to add or access the Query Loop Block, and add a taxonomy filter.
Some good filtering taxonomies here could be “Shoes,” “Sunglasses,” and “Toys.” This time, we’re opting to use buttons rather than a drop-down menu:
Regardless of the use case, adding taxonomy filters to any site is a piece of cake.
After adding the filter, it’s time to personalize it. First, pick a display style that matches your portfolio’s feel: a drop-down menu, a list of links, or eye-catching buttons. Next, tailor the look by tweaking colors, fonts, margins, and padding to fit your site’s design.
Plugin Support and Documentation
Using the Simple Taxonomy Filter Block comes with support options that differ from a typical premium plugin. For example, those on the Personal Plan get two weeks of dedicated support to help with initial setup and any early questions. We’d like to see this paltry provision increase, although there’s not a lot that could go wrong with the plugin.
Purchases for the Developer Plan get lifetime support. This is more in line with what we’d expect to see when it comes to ongoing help and troubleshooting.
As for documentation, you won’t find any extensive written guides here. The simplicity of the plugin doesn’t require a lot of documentation, which speaks loudly for its usability. Even so, you’ll find that the support team is responsive and ready to assist with any queries if you need it.
Simple Taxonomy Filter Block Plugin: Pricing
Simple Taxonomy Filter Block offers flexible pricing to fit a range of needs, much like how it streamlines content organization on your site. Here’s a look at the available plans:
- Personal Plan. For $39 per year, you get support for one website, a year of updates, and two weeks of support.
- Developer Plan. For a $189 one-time payment, you get “lifetime” support and updates for a practically unlimited number of websites.
Think of the Personal Plan as a great starter kit, perfect if your smaller sites needs basic content organization. On the other hand, the Developer Plan is like having a high-end toolkit for professionals—offering all the features you need to manage multiple sites with ease.
Final Thoughts
The Simple Taxonomy Filter Block plugin can take your on-site content organization and UX to another level. It offers an easy integration, lightning-fast AJAX filtering, and customizable styles—perfect for setups such as real estate portfolios, product catalogs, and much more. In short, this plugin makes content navigation for the user a breeze and saves valuable time. In addition, the plugin also offers flexible pricing and solid support.
Do you have questions or thoughts about the Simple Taxonomy Filter Block plugin? Feel free to drop a comment below!
