- This topic has 11 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hi, I’d like to search by category of event. For example, we have exhibitions, conferences, and calls for entry as our main categories. Can they be searched on?
Howdy fiberartnow,
You absolutely can do that. Simply go to a category that you would like to search in (for instance: example.com/events/category/categorynamehere/) and then type your search term in. Or if you have the filterbar plugin you can search from any page and narrow it by category.
Does that make sense? Will that work for you? Please let me know. Cheers!
– Brook
Thank you, Brook. When visitors come to our calendar/map (we use map view as the default), and they enter one of our categories in the search box, then click “find events” the search tool has no results. I know we have many “calls for entry” in there, and yet none of them appear. How can we use those event categories that we set up for people to be able to search on them?
I see what you are looking for! There would be two ways of accomplishing this..
Easy way: Add the name of your category somewhere in the content of the event. You could even just have a “Tags: Exhibitions” or something like that at the bottom beneath the rest of your verbiage.
Hard but better way: If you are familiar with WP API and search terms, then you could hook into the Tribe Bar search and add the logic to search category names as well.
What you want sounds like an interesting feature to me. I think it would make for a great feature request. If you add your request to that page then other users who are interested in it can voice their support, and thus make it more likely that we include it in a future version of the plugin.
Please let me know if you have any more questions. Cheers!
– Brook
Well they are for categorizing. For instance, if you click here you will see all of your Calls For Entry events. But, they do not tie into the search feature. The search feature just searches text copy.
Now I totally get the argument that search should also search categories. I am not disagreeing. But, the truth is that building a search engine is extremely difficult. That is the reason why no company has been able to dethrone Google, even though some have invest billions in trying. What you want, for categories to be indexed as well as text copy, is certainly an improvement that could be added to search and that is why it would make a great feature suggestion. But, in fairness there are always going to be ways to improve search because it is so difficult to program for. That is why we have to gauge the popularity of requested features, because it would be impossible to implement every upgrade. I hope this makes sense.
– Brook
Brook, I’m giving you a run for your money today, I apologize! Thanks for the explanation. So where do the categories appear? If they aren’t helpful in any way, I should take them out, because I think users will assume that they are making their entries searchable. #M
No need to apologize I am here to explain and help 🙂 .
If you wish to remove the categories feel free. Keep in mind if you want people to be able to search by category, simply mentioning the category somewhere in the event description will do that for you. People can browse by category. When they go to an event they can click on the category and browse other events in the same category. Many user have found that helpful. In addition if your theme supports widgets you can add a sidebar with link to each category.
You also might be interested in checking out the filterbar plugin. It will add a sidebar regardless of whether your theme has a widget area or not. It would allow people to filter events by category and much more.
I just wanted you to be aware of your options. Please let me know if you need anything else. If not, mind marking this resolved? Thanks!
– Brook
Thanks, Brook. If I add the filter bar plugin, does it appear on all pages of my site or just the calendar? Also, how are the categories used that we added in the setup? Where do they ever appear? best, M
Apologies for my delay in responding.
Categories appear on the event page itself. Click through to an event and you will see in the post meta section which caategory it is filed under. You can click on that category and it will take you to all events listed in the category. And of course you can link to those category pages from anywhere WordPress lets you link to stuff.
The filterbar will only appear on events list pages, like the upcoming events page, or the Month view.
– Brook
Oh, I understand now! Too bad that organization doesn’t appear on the main search function. I’ll take your advice and try to get it set up w/that filterbar plugin. Thank you for sticking w/me through this! BEST-
- The topic ‘Can't search by category’ is closed to new replies.