How can I implement faceted search with WordPress 3.x?

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I would like to allow visitors to a site to search for posts based on various attributes (categories, tags, custom fields).

I have tried using Solr, but this doesn’t appear to work.

I tried using the MySolrServer plugins for a local instance of Solr and a hosted instance, but the plugin doesn’t appear to work.

I also tried using Solr for WordPress, but the plugin wouldn’t enable.

I don’t want to use something like Taxonomy Drill-down.

Bearing those points in mind, how can I now try to implement true faceted search that will enable site visitors to search for posts based on attributes?

2 Answers
2

One of my favorite ways to do this is to use the Factious plugin. It is still fairly basic and only has a Sidebar widget by default. However, it has an extenable API(ish thing) that lets you write code to place it elsewhere.

The reasons why I like it are this:

  • Written by people who know what they are doing (Code for the People WordPress VIP Partners)
  • Simple
  • Keeps search within WordPress. For me this is huge I’m always skeptical about using third party services.
  • Extendable

Not sure if that is what you are looking for but none the less it should be a tiny bit easier than writing custom WP_Query and will be a good “get your feet wet” into WordPress’ Objects.

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