Hi!
Thank you very much for the proper details, it helps me a lot!
The ordering on the auto populate is overridden as defined: https://i.imgur.com/EbNtdIS.png
The latest results means, that the lastly added items are displayed first. However you can achieve the ordering defined by the primary/secodary fields, by changing the configuration like this: https://i.imgur.com/C3MSdtO.png
In that case, it will be an empty search, but the primary/secondary ordering applies.
Exclude/Include – So, I see you have a front-end filter as well as exclusions defined. I guess you only want results from the ‘Food’ category by default. In that case you don’t need any of those exclusions and inclusions at all, since the filter will take care of that. Instead, I suggest this configuration:
– Disabling results that does not have any relation to the chosen terms: https://i.imgur.com/E7WAm34.png
– And disabling all exlusions/inclusions under the Advanced options panel, since those have no effect now because of the filter: https://i.imgur.com/9yR5piC.png
– Also, don’t forget to change the auto-populate option as suggested above.
With this configuration, items matching the filter will be displayed, and nothing else.
Well, customizing drop-downs/radios and such can be difficult, some aspects even impossible. Let me know what exactly you want to change. Backgrounds, fonts some colors might be possible to change via custom CSS.