Description
A filter pane is an area located on the left side of a page, allowing users to filter the currently presented data by a set of parameters.
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Basic Flow
The filter pane contains two areas: the filter bar and the content panel.
On relevant pages, the filter bar is always shown.
The content panel has two states:
Unpinned (default) - the panel overlays the content of the page, hiding everything behind it.
Pinned - the panel is shown next to the content of the page 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).
The filter pane can operate in one of two modes:
Discrete - the user applies the set of filters on each content content panel separately, by clicking the Apply button (common).
An exception is a case where there is only one possible selection in the tab. In this case, the Apply button will be hidden, and performing that single selection will apply the filter and close the filter pane.Combined - the user can set filters on multiple tabs, and then click the Apply All Filters button, which appears on each tab.
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 all related workspaces.
For more information see The Filter Bar, The Content 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).
A filter that was applied 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 |  | |
Applied |  | |
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 content panel is unpinned - opens the content panel in overlay mode, hiding everything behind it,
if it is pinned - shows the relevant content in the content panel.
The Content Panel
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Structure
The content panel contains the following elements:
At the top:
a title, similar to the corresponding 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 (see above).
The Apply button is disabled until the content of the panel was changed.
The Apply All Filters 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 content 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.
In some cases users can navigate from the content panel to subsections, allowing them to access additional settings.
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 content 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 / Apply All, Cancel and Clear buttons, if exists.
Clicking the Apply / Apply All Filters button:
applies the filter (or filters),
disables the button,
enables the Clear button, if exists,
shows a blue indicator next to the relevant tab (or tabs) on the filter bar,
adds a chicklet (or chicklets) to the chicklet area (see below), unless otherwise specified,
if unpinned - closes the content panel.
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 content panel to their initial states, to 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 content panel to its previous state, before clicking the Clear button.
Clicking outside the content 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 popup may appears, allowing the user to either close the panel without applying the filter or continue editing.
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Validations and errors
For validations within a form see Field Validation.
Transitions
The content panel will open and close with a brief slide effect.
When pinning / unpinning the content 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
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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:
Regular - deleting these chicklets will clear the corresponding filters.
Mandatory - deleting these chicklets will show an empty state, instructing the user to apply the mandatory filters (see below).
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In Discrete mode (see above), in most cases clicking Apply in the content 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 filters that were changed.
States
State | Image | Comments |
|---|---|---|
Regular |  | |
Hover |  | |
Active / Selected |  | Only one chicklet can be selected at any given time |
Ghost |  | |
Ghost, Hover |  | |
Ghost, Active |  | |
Focused |  | |
Focused, Hover |  | |
Focused, Active |  |
Structure
The width of a chicklet will depend on its content, with a minimum and maximum limits.
Each chicklet contains:
an icon, which is a smaller version of the corresponding icon on the filter bar,
the chicklet text will be:
In case of a single selection - the selected value (e.g. “Last 24 hours”).
In case of a multiple selection - either the selected values, separated by commas (e.g. “APAC, EMEA”), or, if the text exceeds the maximum width of the chicklet, the name of the filter followed by the number of values 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.
If the content of the chicklet exceeds the maximum width, the text will be truncated, ending with an ellipsis (…). In this case, hovering the chicklet will show a tooltip with the full text.
A Clear All icon button will appear after the last 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.
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 content panel is pinned - shows the relevant content in the content panel
When unpinned - opens the relevant content panel.
Clicking the x icon:
clears the corresponding filter,
clears the blue indicator from the corresponding tab on the filter bar (unless there are more items related to that filter).
In case of a regular chicklet - removes the chicklet, moving remaining chicklets to take the place of the chicklet that was removed.
In case of a mandatory chicklet:
switches the chicklet to a “ghost” state,
shows an empty state, instructing the user to add the mandatory filter (see above).
If all chicklets were removed, an empty state will appear.
Clicking the Clear All button:
shows a confirmation dialog (optional),
removes all chicklets, except for “ghost” chicklets if, exists,
clears all filters,
clears the blue indicator from all tabs on the filter bar,
Shows an empty state.
Note: in complex scenarios, behaviour may vary (see below).
Best Practices
Use:
when a major data set (a table, a grid, a dashboard etc.) is shown in the page and there is a need to filter it by one or more parameters.
for complex filtering or when a large number of filters is needed.
Don’t use:
for data in a dialog or a 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
