Description
A filter pane is a panel located on the left side of a page, allowing users to filter the presented data by relevant parameters.
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Basic Flow
The filter pane contains two areas: the filter bar and the filter panel.
On relevant pages, the filter bar is always shown.
The filter panel has two states:
Unpinned (default) - the panel overlays the content.
Pinned - the panel is shown next to the content so nothing is hidden.
Active filters are represented by chicklets, appearing at the top of the presented data (see below)
A set of filters can behave in one of three ways:
Faceted - the filters are sorted by importance or popularity. Applying a filter affects the number of results shown on other filters (common).
Funnel - the filters are ordered by hierarchy. Applying a parent filter affects child filters, but applying a child filter does not affect parent filters (less common).
Independent - applying a filter does not affect other filters (not recommended).
Filters can work in one of two modes:
Discrete (common) - the user applies the set of filters on each tab separately, by clicking an Apply button.
Combined - the user can set filters on multiple tabs, and then click an Apply All Filters button.
An application may have a similar set of filters across related workspaces. In this case, applying a filter on one workspace will affect the same filter on the related workspaces.
For more information see The Filter Bar, The Filter Panel and The Chicklet Area below.
The Filter Bar
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Structure
The filter bar contains one or more tabs.
Each tab consists of an icon and a title (e.g. Employees).
An active filter is represented by a blue dot shown on the left side of the tab.
Placement and Positioning
The filter bar sticks to the left side of the page.
The background of the bar stretches from the page header to the bottom of the page.
The width of the bar is fixed.
The group of tabs is aligned to the top of the bar.
States
Each tab can have one of these states:
State | Image | Comments |
|---|---|---|
Regular |  | |
With a filtered indicator |  | |
Hover |  | |
Active |  | |
Selected |  | Only one tab can be selected at any given time |
Selected, Hover |  | |
Focused |  | |
Focused, Hover |  | |
Focused, Selected |  |
Default State
In most cases, no tabs are selected by default.
Interaction
Clicking a tab:
selects it,
unselects any other tab,
if the filter panel is unpinned - opens the filter panel in overlay mode, hiding the content behind it,
if it’s pinned - shows the relevant content in the filter panel.
The Filter Panel
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Structure
The filter panel contains the following elements:
At the top:
a title, similar to the title on the filter bar,
a pin icon button, allowing the user to switch between pinned and unpinned states,
a help icon button (optional).
The area under the title is the main content area of the panel. See content below.
The bottom of the panel may contain the following elements:
Either an Apply or an Apply to All button, depending on the filtering mode - Discrete or Combined respectively (see above).
Apply button:
This button is mandatory, unless the panel contains only one possible selection.
The button is disabled until the content of the panel was changed.
Apply All Filters button:
This panel is mandatory on all panels.
The button is disabled until the content on any of the panels was changed.
An indicator showing the number of selected items (e.g. 4 queues selected).
A Cancel button:
The button is disabled until the content of the panel was changed.
A Clear button (in case the design has no chicklets):
The button is disabled until the filter was applied.
Placement and Positioning
The filter panel is attached to the right side of the filter bar.
The width of the panel is fixed.
Content
The main content area of the panel can show either a form, a list or a combination of the two.
The content can have a variety of layouts. see common examples below.
Interaction
Clicking the pin icon switches the icon between pinned and unpinned states.
When pinned:
the content of the page stretches to its full width,
the panel closes, unless changes were made to the content before applying the filter. If changes were made the panel will stay open until the changes are applied or cancelled.
When unpinned:
the content of the page narrows to be shown next to the panel (so nothing is hidden).
Clicking the help icon opens a relevant help page in a new browser window.
Changing the content of the panel enables the Apply, Cancel and Clear buttons, if exists.
Clicking the Apply / Apply All Filters button:
applies the filter (or filters) to the presented data,
disables the button,
enables the Clear button, if exists,
shows a blue indicator next to the relevant tab (or tabs) on the filter bar,
if unpinned - closes the filter panel,
adds a chicklet (or chicklets) to the chicklet area (see below), unless otherwise specified.
Clicking the Cancel button:
cancels any changes made to the content before hitting the Apply / Apply All Filters button,
disables the Apply / Apply All Filters and Cancel buttons,
if unpinned - closes the panel.
Clicking the Clear button:
Resets all fields in the filter panel to their initial states, either blanks or default values.
At this point, the user can either:
click Apply - this will remove the blue dot next to the relevant tab on the filter bar, as well as the corresponding chicklet, if exists,
click Cancel - this will revert the filter panel to its previous state, before clicking the Clear button.
Clicking outside the filter panel:
If no changes were made to the content and the panel is unpinned - closes the panel.
If changes were made to the content but the filter was not applied, a dialog appears, allowing the user to either close the panel without applying the filter or continue editing.
On Combined mode, clicking on another tab opens the filter panel of that tab.
Validations and errors
For validations within a form see Field Validation.
Transitions
The filter pane will open and close with a brief slide effect.
When pinning / unpinning the filter panel, the content on the main area of the page will collapse / expand with a transition effect.
Best Practices
Opening a panel containing a form will set the focus to the first field of the form.
The Chicklet Area
General Guidelines
Chicklets give the user an indication that the data is currently filtered by one or more filters.
There are two types of chicklets:
Mandatory - deleting these chicklets will show an empty state, instructing the user to apply all mandatory filters (see image below).
Optional - deleting these chicklets will clear the corresponding filters.
In Discrete mode, clicking Apply in the filter panel creates a single chicklet. However, when the panel contains several distinct parameters, applying the filter may create several chicklets.
In Combined mode, clicking Apply All Filters may create a single or multiple chicklets, depending on the number of changes parameters.
States
State | Image | Comments |
|---|---|---|
Regular |  | |
Hover |  | |
Active |  | |
Selected |  | Only one chicklet can be selected at any given time |
Selected, Hover |  | |
Focused |  | |
Focused, Hover |  | |
Focused, Active |  |
Structure
Each chicklet contains:
an icon, similar to the corresponding icon on the filter bar,
a label, showing the filter value (e.g. Last 24 hours). In case of multiple selection, the chicklet will show the name of the filter, followed by the number of items in brackets (e.g. Interactions (3)). In this case, hovering the chicklet will show a tooltip with the full list of items,
a closing icon (x, showing on hover), allowing the user to clear the filter.
In case the chicklet area contains at least one chicklet, a Clear All icon button is shown after the right chicklet.
Placement and Positioning
The chicklet area appears on the content section of the page, above the data.
In case the chicklet area has no items it will be hidden. Adding the first chicklet will push all the content below the chicklet area.
Mandatory chicklets will be the first items. Other items will appear in the order they were added.
Chicklets have a fixed width. The closing icon (x) will be aligned to the right of the chicklet.
In case the set of chicklets (including the Clear All button) exceeds the width of the chicklet area, it will wrap to the next row, up to three rows. Beyond that point, a scrollbar will appear.
Interaction
Hovering a chicklet will show the x icon, allowing the user to remove it.
Clicking a chicklet:
When the filter panel is pinned: switches the filter panel to the selected filter.
When unpinned: opens the relevant filter panel.
Clicking the x icon:
removes the chicklet,
moves the remaining chicklets to take the place of the chicklet that was removed,
clears the corresponding filter,
clears the blue indicator from the corresponding tab on the filter bar (unless there are more items relating to that filter).
Clicking the Clear All button:
remove all chicklet, except for mandatory ones
clears the corresponding filters,
clears the blue indicator from the corresponding tabs on the filter bar.
Note: in complex scenarios, behaviour may vary (see below).
Best Practices
Use:
When a major data set (a table or a grid) is shown in the page and there is a need to filter it by one or more parameters.
When dealing with complex filtering or with a large number of filters.
Don’t use:
When the data is presented in a dialog or details pane.
Common Examples
Designs | Comment |
|---|---|
 | A single list filter with no dialog buttons |
 | A date picker filter |
 | A multi accordion filter |
Accessibility compliance
Unless otherwise specified, see our general compliance information in Fundamentals - Accessibility
Design
Zeplin link | Screen thumbnail |
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Code
