Advanced Search

Hello, this may be more of a Wordpress function question. I’m trying to create an advanced search form in my Roots theme.

My main questions:

  1. Can the search form detailed below be created with core functions of wordpress. (no extra plugins)
  2. If a plugin is the best route, any recommendations?

Another option is to use Gravity Forms. I found an interested article here, that details an advanced search with Gravity Forms although I haven’ tried this yet. Looks promising though and flexible enough to scale later on.

Any help is appreciated!

This search would contain multiple parameters such as:

  • a category drop drop down
  • date range
  • author, which is a custom taxonomy attached to posts
  • title of the post
  • journal, which is also a custom taxonomy attached to posts
  • keyword, this could either be tag or body

Here’s an example of the advanced search forms style and layout.

Wordpress doesn’t really give functionality for forms on your site. So either you could make a standard form from scratch, or use a plugin.

Contact Form 7 is handy and free, but I think you may need something like Gravity forms for what you are hoping to do.