Search box drop-down

This topic contains 14 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by TravelHoney TravelHoney 6 years, 5 months ago.

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  • #14996
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant

    Hello – We are using the search tool on our website (see here: http://www.travelhoney.com/iceland/), but the drop-down search box is hiding the search results. I have attached a screen shot with a red and blue arrow. We want the search results (the red arrow) to appear where the content is (the blue arrow). Is that possible? Or is it possible to have the search results open to a new page like the search function works on https://ajaxsearchpro.com/.

    Thanks!

    #14997
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant
    You cannot access this content.
    #15009
    Ernest Marcinko
    Ernest Marcinko
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    You can actually move the results box to a different location using the results shortcode: Custom results box position

    It is also possible to change the z-index values of both settings and results boxes: https://i.imgur.com/ypr3Jje.png
    If you swap the two values, the results will hover over the settings box.

    To open each result in a new window, just change this option: https://i.imgur.com/tjRJqE0.png
    If you mean results redirection when the user hits the return button, then check this documentation: Return key and Magnifier icon actions

    I hope this helps!

    Best,
    Ernest Marcinko

    If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)


    #15017
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant

    Ernest, thank you so much for your quick reply! Your answers were super helpful. We had one other question. We have a default image that shows up on the posts below the search box when we do not include a feature image (see attached). But when we the search results appear, the default image does not appear. Is there any way to make the default image appear in the search results?

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    #15020
    Ernest Marcinko
    Ernest Marcinko
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    You are very welcome!

    That image might not be paseed through as a featured image, and might not be visible for the search. However you can set a default image on the plugin back-end as well.
    Basically, you can choose that same image as alternative if no images are found on the General Options -> Image options panel: https://i.imgur.com/MRpjWb1.png

    That should do the trick 🙂

    Best,
    Ernest Marcinko

    If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)


    #15053
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant

    Ernest, thank you again for all of your help as we wok through finalizing the search function on our website! We had two more questions.

    1) We have a parent category of Iceland and sub-categories for Reykjavik, Rest of Iceland and the Golden Circle. We want people to be able to search “Iceland” and search all the posts or be able to limit their search to posts to only one or two of the children (e.g., only posts categorized as Reykjavik). I’ve tried toggling on/off Frontend Search Settings > Advanced >Category/Taxonomy terms logic and Frontend Search Settings > Advanced >Logic Between Taxonomy Groups (see attached No.1). But whichever combination I choose, it either brings up all the Iceland posts, even if none of the categories are checked (see attached No.2) or show no results if I only check a child even if there are posts categorized as that child (see attached No. 3). I’ve tried tagging all of the posts with the parent Iceland category, in case that helped, but it didn’t (see attached No. 4). Any advice?

    2) We’re still having problems on where to include the search results. We did user testing and people didn’t see the search results when we moved them to the left. And when we put the results over the search box, users couldn’t get back to the search box. Is there any way to put the search results below the search box (See attached NO. 5)?

    Thank you again!!

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    #15058
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant

    This is No. 5. Thanks again!

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    #15075
    Ernest Marcinko
    Ernest Marcinko
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    1. I have a few insights that might help you in this case. From the screenshots I see that each category is a child of ‘Iceland’ main category. I feel like that is redundant, as if I understand correctly all posts are at least within one of the sub-categories.
    My suggestion is to only use only the three child categories (golden circle, rest of iceland, rejkjavik) as filters. The reason is that if all the posts are within both ‘Iceland’ and within one of the sub-categories, then using your current setup (‘At least one of the terms should match’ logic, screen 1.) and having ‘Iceland’ checked will result in essentially no filtering. Because most posts are within the ‘Iceland’ filter, and the logic dictates that at least one term should match (which is true due to iceland being checked), then the potential result pool is not reduced.

    Long story short:
    – I suggest not using the ‘Iceland’ filter, if all the expected results are at least within one of the sub-categories.
    – Instead of the current logic, try the default: https://i.imgur.com/UG4Spdr.png
    Note that the Logic between taxonomy groups option is also set to ‘AND’ on my screenshot. The reason is that if you set it to OR, that means that the logical relation between the category and the tag filters will be an ‘either or’, so even if the category filtering does not match, but the tags do, then the results will be still displayed.

    This configuration ensures that:
    – If any of the options is ‘unchecked’ by the user, it means for the plugin to not display anything that belongs to that term. So if user uncheckes ‘Rejkjavik’ then anything within that category is excluded. As well as if he uncheckes ‘Fall’ tag, then anything matching that tag is excluded. The more unchecked, the less results.
    – ..and that the tag and category filters are exclusive and not independent. So if a post is within the ‘Rejkjavik’ and the ‘Fall’ tag, then unchecking either means exclusion.

    2. As I previously mentioned, you could perhaps change the z-indexes so the settings are behind the results box. Basically the ‘floating’ results over the content as by default, only the settings behind the results.

    Another possibility maybe to use the shortcode generator to display the search elements individually as search box, results and settings in order:

    [wd_asp elements='search,settings,results' ratio='100%,100%,100%' id=1]

    This shortcode results in a layout like so: https://i.imgur.com/w6rkhC0.png
    Each element will be a ‘block’ so not hover over the content but push it down, but because of the ordering, the results box follows the search box, and the settings box follows the results box.

    I hope this helps!

    Best,
    Ernest Marcinko

    If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)


    #15082
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant

    Ernest, thank you again for your quick reply!

    I’ve tried as you suggested (see SS attached). I’ve attached a screenshot (SS1) of the posts and what I’ve tagged them and then attached the screenshot of the results (or you can go to https://www.travelhoney.com/iceland/). You’ll see that one of the posts is categorized as just Iceland, but we could just check all the subcategories for that if it’s helpful to not have a parent category. With this set-up, it appears that if you only check Reykjavik, it only pulls up the post that only is categorized as only Reykjavik (SS2), it doesn’t pull up the posts that are categorized as Reykjavik and Golden Circle (you need to check both those boxes for those posts to appear). I then thought I could check At Least One of the Terms instead, because if at least one of the categories is checked, we want the post to show up – but no matter what box I check, all the posts appear (SS3). Any other thoughts or workarounds?

    Adding the shortcode seems like it could work, but I don’t know where to add that code, because we’re using a sidebar (SS4). I’m guessing that issue doesn’t have to do with your plugin, but if you have any suggestions, let me know!

    Thank you again!

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    #15087
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant

    This is the last attachment. Thank you again!

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    #15091
    Ernest Marcinko
    Ernest Marcinko
    Keymaster

    Hi,

    1. The ‘at least one match..’ should work in this case. I suspect that you might not have the latest version of the plugin installed, as I recall there was a change in this logic in the recent 5 or 6 releases. Please make sure that the latest release is installed, version 4.11.5.
    I’ve tried to replicate this behavior on my test environment, but I was not able to. I’ve made a category and post tag filter, and then choosen a category and all the tags – but only the posts that matched both at least one tag and the chosen category was displayed, correctly. I guess the update will solve this then.

    Sidebar widget issue fix
    A possible solution is to maybe use this plugin, which enables shortcodes as sidebar widgets. Then you could place the plugin shortcode there.

    Best,
    Ernest Marcinko

    If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)


    #15093
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant

    Aha, you’re right, we have 4.10, we’ll get that updated and hopefully it will do the trick. And thanks for the plugin suggestion!

    Katy

    #15122
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant

    Ernest, thanks so much for your help. We have two last questions:

    First, we updated the plug in to version 4.11.5 but this hasn’t resolved the issue. When we select just “Reykjavik” as the category, the results show items tagged just as Reykavik (anything tagged as both “Reykjavik” and “South Cost”, or both “Reyjkavik” and “Rest of Iceland” is excluded.) Any thoughts on this?

    Second, we installed the shortcode plug-in and code you suggested. However, this code creates a new search box under the existing box; nothing is stacked. We amended the code to just [wd_asp elements='results' ratio='100%' id=1] , but now the search results are obstructed by the drop down menu (and adjusting the z-indexes doesnt help)(see attached screenshots). Any ideas on how we can fix this?

    Please let us know if it would be easier/faster to connect by phone, do a screenshare or give you access to our WP account to resolve these issues? Thanks again for your time!

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    #15153
    Ernest Marcinko
    Ernest Marcinko
    Keymaster

    Hi,

    Can you please make sure you have the following configuration: https://i.imgur.com/C9IUshe.png
    It forces to have at least one term match per taxonomy, for both taxonomies. So at least one tag AND one category has to match.

    The shortcode I’ve pasted there is to replace the one you have, I’m sorry I forgot to mention that. So instead of the widget you have, use this shortcode in the ‘shortcode’ widget.

    The z-index fix will not work with that shortcode however – as it displays the elements as blocks, and block (static positioned) element z-indexes are not used.

    In short:
    Solution 1: If you prefer to use the search widget, then adjust the z-indexes like so: https://i.imgur.com/jvyx3qc.png
    ..then make sure to clear all the site cache, including the assets, pages and reload the page a few times by hitting CTRL + SHIFT + R, as browsers tend to very heavily cache the stylesheets. If it is still displayed incorrectly, then try this custom CSS:

    .searchsettings {
       z-index: 2 !important;
    }

    If this still does not have any effect, then the page is still heavily cached, as this code has to work 100%.

    Solution 2: ..or instead of the search widget, use this shortcode in the shortcode widget:

    [wd_asp elements='search,settings,results' ratio='100%,100%,100%' id=1]

    This one is a bit harder to predict, but it should create a search, results and settings box in this order. Whenever the settings box is clicked, it opens below the search bar, and whenever the results are displayed, they display below the search bar, but above the settings box. This is not a hovering layout though.

    Unfortunately I can’t do phone or screenshare support, as there are many tickets I need to answer, and I cannot predict when I get to each one. Sometimes it’s minutes, other times it could take over 12 hours. Sorry about that.

    I hope this helps though!

    Best,
    Ernest Marcinko

    If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)


    #15164
    TravelHoney
    TravelHoney
    Participant

    Ernest, thanks so much for taking the time to help us with this! Your advice has been awesome and we’ve been able to resolve 90% of our issues. Thank you again for the fabulous tech support!

    The only bit that still wasn’t really working is the taxonomy issue. We made sure to have the configuration you suggested ( https://i.imgur.com/C9IUshe.png ) but the search still wasn’t working quite right. Just flagging in case someone else encounters this issue in the future.

    Best wishes, thanks again, and we’ll make sure to recommend Ajax to others!
    Lidia and Katy

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