Advanced search page
A real page on your site that hosts the full search experience, with your header and footer around it.
On this page
Overview
The Advanced Search page is a normal WordPress page that hosts the full Allspice search experience inline, with your header above it and your footer below it, instead of opening search in a popup.
Use it when you want search to be a destination: readers can link to it, bookmark it, share it, and reach it from your menu.
Creating the page
- In WordPress, go to Settings → Allspice.
- In the Pages section, click Create Search Page. WordPress opens the new page in the editor.
- Edit the page if you want to add your own copy around the search.
- Publish it.
The page is titled Recipe Index and lives at /advanced-search/. It's created as a draft and is never published automatically. If a page already exists at that address, Allspice uses it instead of creating a duplicate.
The default page has a breadcrumb, a heading, and a one-sentence intro, followed by the [allspice_search] shortcode. All of it is ordinary block content you can edit or delete. The shortcode renders the spot the search experience loads into, so you can also place it in any other page or template.
Shortcode options
| Shortcode | What readers get |
|---|---|
[allspice_search tabs="all"] | Search, plus the widget's other tabs (chat, groceries, meal plans). This is the default. |
[allspice_search tabs="search"] | Search only. |
Editing or regenerating the page
Once the page exists, the Pages section in Settings → Allspice shows two buttons instead of Create Search Page:
- Edit Search Page opens it in the WordPress editor.
- Regenerate Default Search Page moves the current page, including your edits, to the Trash and creates a fresh draft from the latest default layout. Use it to pick up a new default layout, since existing pages are never updated automatically. The old page stays in the Trash, so you can restore it.
While the page is still a draft, the section reminds you to publish it.
Pointing search at it
Creating the page doesn't change what your site's search box does. Two settings control that, and both need to be set:
| Setting | Where | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Search replacement | Publisher Portal: Integrate → click the domain → General tab → Allspice search card | The master switch. When it's off, Allspice doesn't touch your site search at all. See Search replacement. |
| Search buttons open | WordPress Settings → Allspice, per device | Chooses where searches land. Pick Standalone search page on this site (/advanced-search/). |
The portal switch always wins: if Search replacement is off, the WordPress dropdown has no effect.
Search buttons open only applies when that device's widget style is Floating or Inline. Devices set to Overlay always open the full-page widget. The default for each device is Full-page widget (recommended).
Because the setting is per device, you can send desktop readers to the page and keep the widget on mobile, or the reverse.
Linking and pre-filled searches
The page accepts a query in the URL, so you can link readers straight to a set of results:
This works well for category pages, seasonal roundups, and newsletters. When Search replacement sends a search to the page, the reader's query is passed along the same way.
WordPress's own search results URLs (/?s=chicken) also redirect to the page, with the query, once Search replacement is on, either device's Search buttons open points at the page, and the page is published.
To open search on the current page instead of navigating, use a #allspice-search link, which also accepts a query (#allspice-search?q=chicken). Hash links always open search in place; they don't go to the search page.
If the page is missing
If Search buttons open points at the search page but the page has been deleted, trashed, or left as a draft, Allspice opens the full-page search widget instead. Readers never land on a 404.
The most common cause is forgetting to publish the draft.
Troubleshooting
My search box still opens the widget
- Check that Search replacement is on in the Publisher Portal. It's the master switch.
- Check that Search buttons open is set for the device you're testing on, and that the device's style is Floating or Inline.
- Check that the page is published, not a draft.
The page loads but search doesn't appear
- Check that the
[allspice_search]shortcode is still in the page content. - Check for aggressive JavaScript deferral, which can stop the widget from loading. See Plugin compatibility.
The layout looks wrong inside my theme
The page uses your theme's page template, so narrow content widths or sidebars can crowd it. Try a full-width page template first, then contact support with the URL.