Appearance
Appearance is the longest tab in the Classic Panel. It takes the layouts you picked on the previous tab and fills in the detail - which parts of a post show, how many appear at a time, how visitors page and sort through them, and the wording of every button and label.
In short
Seven collapsible sections, top to bottom: Section Background, Post Elements, Post Link, Pagination, Sorting, Post Animation and Translation. Nothing here changes the shape of your layout - it changes what goes in it and what it says.
Set your layouts first. Several settings here only make sense once you can see the design they apply to, and a few are ignored by layouts that have no place for them. Layouts are on the Layouts tab.
Sections collapse, so work down one at a time.
Section Background
One setting, and it sits behind everything else.
Background Color
The background of the whole filter section - filter and results together, not the page around them. Click Select Color to open the picker. Leave it unset and the section sits on whatever your theme provides.
Post Elements
What each post in the results actually shows. This is the section most people spend their time in.
Select Post Image
Where the image on each post comes from - the post's featured image, or the first image found in its content. Featured Image is the default. The second option is useful on older sites where posts have images in the body but no featured image was ever set.
Image Size
Which registered thumbnail size to load. The dropdown lists the sizes WordPress and your theme have registered, with their dimensions, and defaults to Large (1024x1024).
Tip
Pick the smallest size that still looks sharp at the width your layout gives it. Loading Large into a three-column grid downloads far more image than the visitor ever sees.
Empty Results Text
What visitors read when their combination of filters returns nothing. The default is No Result. Worth rewriting into something that tells them what to do next - clearing a filter, or trying a broader term.
Meta Info Show/Hide
Eight dropdowns, each set to Show or Hide, deciding which parts of a post appear. Despite the name it covers more than meta - the title, image and Read More button are here too.
Settings
| Element | Default |
|---|---|
| Author | Hide |
| Date | Hide |
| Comments | Hide |
| Categories | Hide |
| Post Title | Show |
| Post Image | Show |
| Read More Button | Show |
| Post Excerpt | Hide |
The defaults give you a clean card - image, title and a button. Turn on the rest only where they earn their space.
Careful
If an element is missing on the front end, check here first. A layout can only show what this section allows, so a hidden element stays hidden however the layout is designed.
Meta Date Format
How the date is written when Date is set to Show. The dropdown offers the usual formats with today's date as the sample, so you can see each one before choosing. It does nothing while Date is hidden.
Show and Hide per element, set independently of the layout.
Post Link
Controls what happens when a visitor clicks a post in the results. One setting, and the section is collapsed by default - click its heading to open it.
Post Link Target
Where the post opens when someone clicks it - in the tab they are already in, or in a new one. It is set to New Tab by default.
New Tab keeps the filtered results behind, so a visitor who opens something and comes back still has their selections in place. The same tab is the more familiar behaviour and is the better choice if your results are a list people work straight through.
Pagination
How many posts load at once, and how visitors move through the rest.
Posts Per Page
How many posts each page of results holds. Enter -1 to show every matching post at once and skip paging altogether.
Careful
Use -1 only where the total is small. On a site with hundreds of posts it loads all of them into one page, which is slow for the visitor and heavy on the server.
Enable/Disable Pagination
Shows or hides the pagination controls on the front end. It is on by default.
Pagination Type
Which style of control the visitor gets - the dropdown offers several, and the default is Prev/Next With Input, a pair of buttons with a box for jumping straight to a page number.
Previous Button Text and Next Button Text
The wording on the two buttons, defaulting to Prev and Next. Change them to match your site's voice, or to another language.
Sorting
The order results come back in, and whether visitors can change it themselves.
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Posts Order By | What the results are ordered on - date by default |
| Posts Order Type | Ascending or descending, set separately |
| Enable/Disable Sorting Bar On Frontend | Adds a sorting control so visitors can reorder the results themselves |
The first two set the order the page opens in. The third decides whether that order is the visitor's to change - it is on by default.
Post Animation
One dropdown, Select Post Animation, which animates the posts as new results come in. It is set to Off by default.
Because filtering is meant to feel instant, a slow animation works against it. If you turn one on, pick something short.
Translation
Every fixed piece of wording the filter puts on screen, gathered in one place. Nothing here is a translation plugin - these are plain text fields, so you can rewrite them into another language, or just into wording that suits your site better.
Settings
| Field | Default |
|---|---|
| Default All Text | All |
| Dropdown Filter - I Want To Check Out | I want to check out |
| Dropdown Filter - Everything | Everything |
| Post Layout - Read More | Read More |
| Search Placeholder - Input Field | Search Here.... |
| Search Submit Button | Search |
Which of them a visitor actually sees depends on your setup. The two Dropdown Filter fields only appear on dropdown-style filter layouts, the search fields only when the search bar is switched on, and Read More only while the Read More button is set to Show.
Note
Nothing here is live until you save. The button at the top right reads Publish on a filter you have never saved, and Update once it has been published.
Common Questions
A post element is missing on the front end. Where do I turn it on?
Meta Info Show/Hide, in the Post Elements section. Every element there is a Show or Hide dropdown, and most start on Hide.
My posts have images but nothing is showing.
Check Select Post Image. If it is set to Featured Image and the posts have none, switch it to take the first image from the content instead - and make sure Post Image is set to Show.
How do I show all my posts without pagination?
Enter -1 in Posts Per Page. Do it only where the total is small enough to load comfortably.
Do I need a translation plugin to change the wording?
No. The Translation section is a set of plain text fields - type over the defaults and save.
I changed Meta Date Format and nothing happened.
Date is set to Hide. The format only applies once Date is showing.
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