HUSKY – WooCommerce Products Filter Professional [WOOF Filter] 3.3.7.1

Introduction to HUSKY – WooCommerce Products Filter Professional (WOOF Filter)

HUSKY, also known as WOOF, stands as a powerful and flexible WooCommerce products filter plugin. It allows online store owners to provide their customers with an advanced and intuitive product filtering experience, enhancing usability and potentially boosting sales. This article delves into the various aspects of WOOF, exploring its features, configuration, and best practices for optimal implementation.

Key Features of WOOF Filter

WOOF boasts a comprehensive suite of features designed to cater to a wide range of WooCommerce store needs. These features provide granular control over how users can refine product searches.

• Advanced Product Filtering: WOOF enables filtering by categories, attributes, tags, custom taxonomies, and price ranges.
• Dynamic Product Count: Display the number of matching products next to each filter option. This helps users understand the availability of items based on their selected filters.
• Hierarchical Categories: Support for displaying categories in a tree-like structure, allowing users to easily navigate through complex category hierarchies.
• Attribute Swatches: Replace standard attribute dropdowns with color swatches or image thumbnails, providing a visually appealing and interactive filtering experience.
• Text Search: Implement a keyword search within filtered results, allowing users to further refine their search based on specific terms.
• Meta Field Filtering: Filter products based on custom meta fields, enabling filtering based on attributes not covered by standard WooCommerce options.
• Range Slider: Implement price and meta field range sliders for intuitive and precise filtering.
• Ajax Product Loading: Seamlessly update the product grid without page reloads, providing a smooth and responsive user experience.
• SEO Friendly: Generate SEO-friendly URLs for filtered product pages, improving search engine visibility.
• Shortcode Support: Embed WOOF filter blocks anywhere on your website using shortcodes.
• Widget Support: Easily add the WOOF filter to your sidebar or other widget areas.
• Mobile-Friendly Design: WOOF is designed to be responsive and work seamlessly on all devices.
• Multilingual Compatibility: Fully compatible with popular multilingual plugins like WPML and Polylang, allowing you to create a localized filtering experience.
• Product Finder: Create a step-by-step product finder that guides users to the right product based on their specific needs.

Installation and Activation

Installing and activating WOOF is straightforward.

1. Download: Download the WOOF plugin from the official website or the WordPress plugin repository.
2. Upload: In your WordPress admin panel, navigate to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin. Upload the downloaded ZIP file and click “Install Now”.
3. Activate: After installation, click “Activate Plugin” to activate WOOF.

Configuring WOOF Filter Settings

Once activated, WOOF settings can be accessed through the WordPress admin panel under WooCommerce > WOOF Settings. This section allows you to customize the filter’s behavior and appearance.

General Settings

• Show Count: Enable or disable the display of product counts next to filter options.
• Hide Products Button: Configure the “Hide Products” button functionality, which allows users to hide products that don’t match the selected filters.
• SEO URL Request Index: Define the URL parameter used for filtered results, allowing you to create SEO-friendly URLs.
• Ajax on Shop Page: Enable or disable AJAX loading for the shop page.
• Show Products: Decide whether to show products only after a filter is applied, or show all products initially.
• Filter Button Text: Customize the text displayed on the filter button.
• Reset Button Text: Customize the text displayed on the reset button.

Taxonomy Display

This section controls how categories, attributes, and other taxonomies are displayed in the filter.

• Taxonomy Term View: Choose from various display options for each taxonomy, including checkboxes, dropdowns, radio buttons, color swatches, and image swatches.
• Hierarchical: Enable hierarchical display for categories, showing them in a tree-like structure.
• Show Parent Terms: Decide whether to show parent terms even if they don’t contain any products matching the current filters.
• Count Before Image: Determine whether the product count should be displayed before or after the taxonomy term name.

Price Filter

Configure the price filter’s appearance and behavior.

• Price Filter Type: Choose between a range slider and a text input field for price filtering.
• Step: Define the step value for the price slider.
• Show Buttons: Show or hide the “Filter” and “Reset” buttons within the price filter.
• Currency Symbol: Customize the currency symbol displayed in the price filter.

Meta Filter

This section allows you to add and configure filters based on custom meta fields.

• Add Meta Field: Add new meta fields and define their display type, including text inputs, range sliders, and dropdowns.
• Meta Field Type: Select the data type of the meta field (e.g., number, string, date).
• Data Source: Specify the source of the meta field values (e.g., product meta data).

Other Settings

This section contains various other settings, including:

• Cache: Configure caching options to improve performance.
• Shortcodes: View available shortcodes for embedding WOOF filter blocks.
• Design: Customize the overall appearance of the filter.

Implementing WOOF Filter on Your Website

There are several ways to implement the WOOF filter on your WooCommerce website.

Widget

The WOOF filter widget can be added to any widget area, such as the sidebar or footer.

1. Navigate to Appearance > Widgets.
2. Drag the “WOOF – WooCommerce Products Filter” widget to your desired widget area.
3. Configure the widget settings, such as the title and the taxonomies to display.
4. Save the widget settings.

Shortcode

WOOF provides shortcodes for embedding the filter in any page or post.

1. Copy the desired shortcode from the WOOF Settings page.
2. Paste the shortcode into the content area of the page or post where you want to display the filter.
3. Update the page or post.

Directly in Theme Files

For more advanced customization, you can directly embed the WOOF filter code into your theme files. This requires some coding knowledge.

1. Locate the template file where you want to display the filter (e.g., `archive-product.php`).
2. Use the `do_shortcode()` function to execute the WOOF shortcode within the template file.
   Example: ``
3. Save the template file.

Customizing the Appearance of WOOF Filter

WOOF offers several ways to customize its appearance to match your website’s design.

Design Options in Settings

The “Design” tab in the WOOF Settings allows you to customize the overall appearance of the filter.

• Skin: Choose from different pre-defined skins.
• Custom CSS: Add custom CSS to override the default styles.

Custom CSS

For more granular control, you can add custom CSS to your theme’s stylesheet or using a custom CSS plugin. This allows you to target specific elements of the WOOF filter and modify their appearance.

Template Overrides

Advanced users can override the default WOOF templates to completely customize the filter’s HTML structure. This requires copying the template files from the WOOF plugin folder to your theme’s folder and modifying them.

Best Practices for Using WOOF Filter

To ensure optimal performance and usability, follow these best practices when using WOOF.

• Optimize Images: If using image swatches, ensure that the images are properly optimized for web use. Large images can slow down page loading times.
• Use Caching: Enable caching to improve performance, especially on websites with a large number of products.
• Limit the Number of Filters: Avoid displaying too many filters at once, as this can overwhelm users. Prioritize the most important filters based on your product catalog.
• Test on Different Devices: Ensure that the filter works correctly on different devices and screen sizes.
• Monitor Performance: Regularly monitor your website’s performance to identify any issues related to the WOOF filter.
• Keep the Plugin Updated: Keep the WOOF plugin updated to the latest version to benefit from bug fixes, security patches, and new features.
• Use SEO Friendly URLs: Configure the SEO URL settings to generate search engine friendly URLs for filtered product pages.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Here are some common issues that users may encounter with WOOF, along with potential solutions.

• Filter Not Working:
  • Clear your browser cache and cookies.
  • Check for plugin conflicts by temporarily deactivating other plugins.
  • Ensure that AJAX loading is enabled if you want the filter to update without page reloads.
  • Verify that the taxonomy terms are correctly assigned to your products.
• Incorrect Product Count:
  • Re-count product terms using the WooCommerce > Status > Tools > Recount terms option.
  • Check for caching issues that may be displaying outdated counts.
• Appearance Issues:
  • Clear your browser cache and cookies.
  • Check for CSS conflicts with your theme or other plugins.
  • Use your browser’s developer tools to inspect the elements and identify any CSS issues.
• Slow Performance:
  • Enable caching.
  • Optimize images.
  • Limit the number of filters displayed.
  • Consider using a dedicated hosting provider for WooCommerce.

Conclusion

HUSKY (WOOF) is a robust and versatile WooCommerce products filter plugin that empowers online store owners to create a superior shopping experience for their customers. By offering advanced filtering capabilities, intuitive user interface elements, and comprehensive customization options, WOOF can significantly enhance usability, boost sales, and improve search engine visibility. By understanding its features, configuration options, and best practices, you can effectively leverage WOOF to create a powerful and engaging product filtering experience on your WooCommerce website.