Dana Ross

<p>Dave’s WordPress Live Search adds “live search” functionality to your WordPress site. As visitors type words into your WordPress site’s search box, the plugin continually queries WordPress, looking for search results that match what the user has typed so far.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://ajaxpatterns.org/Live_Search" rel="nofollow ugc">live search</a> technique means that most people will find the results they are looking for before they finish typing their query, and it saves them the step of having to click a submit button to get their search results.</p>
<p>This functionality requires Javascript, but the search box still works normally if Javascript is not available.</p>
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CGR2bJ1mLM<br />
<a href="https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/daves-wordpress-live-search/assets/intro_video_transcript.txt" rel="nofollow ugc">transcript</a></p>
<p>This plugin is compatible with the <a href="https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/xlanguage/" rel="ugc">xLanguage</a> and <a href="http://wpml.org/" rel="nofollow ugc">WPML</a> plugins for internationalization (i18n) of search results.</p>
<h3>Filters</h3>
<p>See <a href="https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/daves-wordpress-live-search/trunk/filter_examples.php" rel="nofollow ugc">filter_examples.php</a> in<br />
the plugin files for examples of how to use these filters. Remember, these filters only affect the<br />
Dave’s WordPress Live Search display, not the normal WordPress search results or the posts themselves.</p>
<ol>
<li>dwls_alter_results</li>
<li>dwls_attachment_thumbnail</li>
<li>dwls_post_title</li>
<li>dwls_the_excerpt</li>
<li>dwls_post_date</li>
<li>dwls_author_name</li>
<li>dwls_alter_result_template</li>
<li>dwls_post_custom</li>
<li>dwls_query_fields</li>
</ol>
<h3>Wish List</h3>
<p>Features I want to implement in future releases:</p>
<ol>
<li>“No results found” message (optional)</li>
</ol>


Dave's WordPress Live Search

At first, this seems like a good plugin and it is. I tried to report a bug a couple of months ago and, despite the fact the plugin says it's compatible with the latest version of WordPress, there seems to be bugs that are not addressed. At this point, I had to hack the plugin and edit source code to make it work.

Unmaintained plugin

You do a great job

Adds "live search" functionality to your WordPress site. Uses the built-in search and jQuery.

Steve Truman

Nguyen Tuan

<p>WP Predictive Search engine delivers users instant and changing results as they type in the dropdown Users can click through from the dropdown to the ‘All Results Search page’ that features endless scroll.</p>
<h4>KEY FEATURES</h4>
<ul>
<li>Search objects include Post name, Page name, Post Categories and Post Tags</li>
<li>Works with any WordPress Theme, Classic or Blockor Page Builder.</li>
<li>Add Search Box via, Widget, Shortcode, PHP tag or Block.</li>
<li>Fully compatible with Full Site Editor.</li>
<li>Predictive Search engine delivers 100% accurate results, 100% of the time.</li>
<li>Super-fast results even on sites with 1,000’s of posts and pages</li>
<li>Results show in search box dropdown as soon as you start to type.</li>
<li>Full in plugin search box and search results dropdown style and layout options</li>
<li>Click through to see all search results on a designated page (features endless scroll)</li>
<li>Pretty URL for the All Search Results pages.</li>
</ul>
<h4>DOCUMENTATION</h4>
<p>We have published complete and comprehensive Predictive Search documentation. <a href="https://docs.a3rev.com/wordpress/predictive-search/" rel="nofollow ugc">Visit the docs site.</a></p>
<h4>PREDICTIVE SEARCH BOX</h4>
<ul>
<li>Set Placeholder text that shows in the search box on front end – example ‘Type your search here’</li>
<li>Choose which objects- Posts, Pages, Post Categories or Post tags should be included in the search</li>
<li>Set the number of results to show for each object type e.g. Post 6</li>
<li>When there are more results than can show in the dropdown a link is added to the dropdown footer to see all results</li>
<li>Set order that the search object shows in the dropdown and on the All Results Search page.</li>
<li>Option to show just post, page title in results</li>
<li>Option to show or not show Post or page feature image thumbnail with results</li>
<li>Option to show or not show description extract with results including the length in characters</li>
<li>Option show or not show Product prices </li>
</ul>
<h4>SEARCH BOX STYLE & MOBILE</h4>
<p>There are 2 customizable templates built in – Widget Template and Header Template. Style the Search Box and results dropdown then apply the template required from the Predictive Search Widget.</p>
<h4>ALL SEARCH RESULTS PAGE</h4>
<ul>
<li>On install the plugin auto creates a Predictive Search page (with shortcode inserted)</li>
<li>Predictive Search Results Block. Chose to create Search Results content with Predictive Search Block</li>
<li>If using Shortcode have the option to use the Theme template or Plugins built-in template </li>
<li>Built-in template has option to show results in List format or Grid view </li>
<li>All results search page results show with endless scroll feature</li>
</ul>
<h4>EXCLUDE FROM SEARCH RESULTS</h4>
<ul>
<li>Exclude any post from showing in Predictive Search results</li>
<li>Exclude any page from showing in Predictive Search Results</li>
<li>Exclude any or all Post category or Tags from showing in Predictive Search Results</li>
</ul>
<h4>SPECIAL CHARACTERS</h4>
<ul>
<li>Special Characters near match. Query strings that CONTAINS a special character eg d’E return all matches found for d’e and de.</li>
<li>Special Characters Prepend and Append near match e.g. Query (Purple) will return all matches found for (Purple) and Purple.</li>
<li>Option to turn Special Characters Function ON or OFF</li>
<li>Option to select any Special Characters used on your site. Results returned with or without special character input</li>
</ul>
<h4>SINGULAR / PLURAL RESULT(s)</h4>
<ul>
<li>Returns results when user adds plural (s) to search term – the s is ignored e.g. bike and bikes will both return the same results</li>
</ul>
<h4>TECHNICAL FEATURES</h4>
<ul>
<li>Predictive Search Database is auto updated each time a Post or Page is created, updated or deleted</li>
<li>Manual Database Sync option to manually sync Predictive Search database with WordPress databases if required</li>
<li>No Conflict. Can be used in conjunction with any other Search plugin without conflicts occurring</li>
<li>Results are cached not on your server but on the user’s machine via Backbone.localStorage.js (saving you on bandwidth)</li>
<li>NO-CACHE option – should be turned on when testing, OFF when not.</li>
</ul>
<h4>FOREVER FREE</h4>
<p>WP Predictive Search is fully functioned and provided completely free.</p>
<h4>CONTRIBUTE</h4>
<p>When you download WP Predictive Search, you join our the a3rev Software community. Regardless of if you are a WordPress beginner or experienced developer if you are interested in contributing to the future development of Predictive Search or any of our other plugins on Github head over to the WP Predictive Search  <a href="https://github.com/a3rev/predictive-search" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub Repository</a> to find out how you can contribute.<br />
Want to add a new language? You can contribute via <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/predictive-search" rel="nofollow ugc">translate.wordpress.org</a></p>


Predictive Search

Predictive Search for WordPress gives your site visitors an awesome search experience delivering stunning 'live' search results.

Dave's WordPress Live Search vs Predictive Search