Filters
The sidebar on a category page narrows the products by colour, size, price and so on. The same filters appear on search results. There is one set of filters for all sites, but each page only shows what its own products carry.
How they behave
Section titled “How they behave”- A filter only appears if a product in the list carries it. There is no switch to turn on one filter for one category: a category of umbrellas won’t offer a pen filter.
- Ticking several options in one filter widens the list (red or blue). Options in different filters narrow it (red, and embroidered). A few filters, such as Production Time, take one choice only.
- Counts say how many products carry that option, given the other filters ticked. An option with no products given those is removed, unless it is ticked.
- The first 10 options show, with More filters for the rest.
- Price Range shows first, when the list has more than one price. It uses the From price.
- Selected filters lists what is ticked, with Clear all.
- Ticking reloads the page and goes back to the first page of products.
Only what can be bought counts. Out-of-stock products are never listed. A colour or size counts only through a variant that is on offer and available, so a product sold out in red isn’t found under red.
Search engines are asked not to index a filtered page, and its canonical address is always the plain category. Sorting or changing the number shown doesn’t affect this.
Where each filter comes from
Section titled “Where each filter comes from”| Filter | Options come from | What you control |
|---|---|---|
| Colour, Size and other options | Catalog > Product Options | The option’s Name and Weight, its values’ labels and order. See variants and options. |
| Custom filters, such as Narrow Your Search | Custom fields | The field’s label and options, and which products have them. |
| Brand | Catalog > Brands | Show as a filter on each brand. See brands. |
| Imprint Method | Our decoration methods, in their order | Each product’s decoration methods. |
| Imprint Colours (“2 or more”, “3 or more”, “4 or more”) | The most colours each product prints; full colour counts as any number | On a grid, These are print colours. On a feed product, its branding. |
| Full Colour Print | Methods with Prints full colour on, or a grid row using one | Configuration > Decoration > Decoration Methods. |
| Production Time | Each product’s Production time, its own or its supplier’s | The product’s or feed’s days. Its bands are fixed. |
A value’s name is what a filter lists. If two suppliers each have a “Black”, customers see one “Black” that covers both.
The order of the filters
Section titled “The order of the filters”Filters run from the lowest weight to the highest. All sites share the order.
- A product option uses its Weight.
- A custom filter uses its position in its field group (its lowest, if it is in several). On a tie, a custom filter comes before a product option.
- Imprint Method, Imprint Colours, Full Colour Print, Brand and Production Time have a fixed place, and their names and bands are set in the program. Changing these is a developer’s job.
Some themes draw an icon for a filter option, beside it in the filters and on product cards. These belong to the theme and go by the option’s name, so renaming an option can lose its icon.
Filter addresses
Section titled “Filter addresses”A filtered page’s address carries its filters, such as ?f[colour][]=red, made from the option’s name.
Renaming an option changes this. An old link keeps working, but ignores a filter it no longer recognises.