Smart Content Filter (v1.5.4) is a Joomla site module that displays standard com_content articles as responsive, AJAX-powered content cards with category filtering, search, tags, sorting, load more, infinite scroll, custom fields, share buttons, image lightbox, and extensive styling controls.

The module works with native Joomla articles and categories. It does not require a custom content table, page reloads, or jQuery.

Key Highlights

• AJAX filtering without full page reloads
• Filters Display: always show, hide completely, or a Filters toggle beside the grid/list controls
• Filters tab grouped into Filter Panel, Category, Search, Tags, Author/Date/Custom Fields, and Sort/View/Reset
• Category filters as Tabs, Pills, or Dropdown, with a switch to hide the category filter while keeping the rest
• Tag filters as Dropdown or clickable Pills, with single or multi-select and OR/AND match
• Polished filter toolbar (search with icon, sort, Reset) with CSS protected against template overrides while module CSS is enabled
• Optional subcategory tabs, author filter, date range filter, and dual custom field filters
• Grid / List view toggle with URL and cookie persistence
• Layout presets: Standard Grid, News Portal, Magazine, List, Masonry, and Carousel
• Lead story support with automatic or manual title-on-image overlays
• Intro Text Format: Plain text or Safe HTML for styled catalogue intros
• Card images from intro/full article images or a custom media/URL field, with Image Fit Cover or Contain for photos vs logos
• Shareable Filter URLs: only active filters are written to the query string (for example ?scf_143_tag=16), so filtered views stay short and easy to bookmark or share
• Load More or Infinite Scroll with that same URL state restored on reload
• Sticky filter toolbar and sticky Load more bar while scrolling
• Card presets, borders, padding, shadows, hover effects, UI corners, and theme options
• Share on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn; optional image lightbox
• JSON-LD schema, skeleton loading, and accessible live regions
• Filter by Current Language limits articles and the tag filter to the active page language (and All), so one module can serve Spanish and English
• Allowed Sort Options lets you show only selected Sort choices (for example Newest and Oldest)
• RSS Feed Link on Content Source adds RSS and Atom discovery links to the page head without a Category Blog menu item
• Frontend labels use Joomla language strings; translate them with core Language Overrides
• Multiple module instances on the same page
• Joomla 5 and Joomla 6 ready

Admin Tabs

Module settings are grouped as: Content Source, Filters, Ordering, Article Arrangement, Card Appearance, Card Content, and Advanced.

System Requirements

• Joomla: Joomla 5.x or Joomla 6.x
• PHP: PHP 8.1 or newer recommended
• Content Component: Standard Joomla com_content articles and categories

Install the Module

1. Log in to the Joomla administrator area.
2. Go to System > Install > Extensions.
3. Upload and install the Smart Content Filter package.
4. Open Content > Site Modules.
5. Find Smart Content Filter and open the module.
6. Set the module status to Published.
7. Select a template position that exists in your template.
8. Assign the module to the required menu items.
9. Save the module and refresh the frontend.

After Installation

Select one or more Joomla article categories under Content Source. If no category is selected, the module can display articles from all accessible content categories.

For development and testing, disable module caching while adjusting styles so changes appear immediately.

Basic Setup

1. Create or choose Joomla article categories.
2. Add published articles with intro images (or a custom image field) where possible.
3. Open the Smart Content Filter module.
4. Under Content Source, select categories and set Items Per Load.
5. Under Article Arrangement, choose a Layout Preset (start with Standard Grid or Magazine).
6. Pick Load More Button or Infinite Scroll.
7. Under Card Content, set image source and intro format if needed.
8. Publish the module in a visible template position.

Recommended First Configuration

• Categories: Select 3 to 5 article categories.
• Include Child Categories: Enable for nested content trees.
• Filters Display (Filter Panel): Leave as Always show, or use Toggle button for a cleaner chrome.
• Enable Category Filter: Leave on for category browsing, or set to No for tag-led catalogues.
• Show All Filter: Enable so visitors can return to the full list.
• Category Filter Style: Use Tabs for a classic underline bar or Pills for chip buttons.
• Items Per Load: Start with 6 or 9 cards.
• Apply Preset Defaults: Leave enabled when switching layout presets.
• Shareable Filter URLs: Leave enabled so filtered views can be bookmarked.

The Content Source tab controls which articles enter the module pool.

Category Selection

• Categories: Choose the Joomla article categories available as frontend filters and as the content pool.
• Include Child Categories: Includes articles from child categories under the selected categories.
• Exclude Categories: Remove specific categories from the article pool.
• Exclude Article IDs: Hide individual articles by ID (comma-separated).
• Filter by Current Language: Limit articles to the active page language (and All). From 1.5.3 this also limits the tag filter: only tags used by those articles are listed, and each tag must itself be All or match the page language. Keep this on for multilingual sites so one module can serve Spanish and English without separate Include Tags lists.
• Featured Articles: Show all, hide featured, or show only featured articles.
• Items Per Load: Number of articles loaded per AJAX request (1–100).

Multilingual Sites

Smart Content Filter follows Joomla multilingual content. Use separate Spanish and English articles, attach language-specific tags to matching articles, and set each tag Language in Components > Tags. With Filter by Current Language enabled, the same module instance can show the correct tags on each language page.

Joomla Tags do not have Multilingual Associations like Categories. Language on the tag item, plus article language, is the supported model.

UI labels such as Search, Tag, and Sort are Joomla language strings. Translate them with core System > Manage > Language Overrides for each frontend language. Turn on System > Global Configuration > System > Debug Language temporarily to see the exact constant names on the page.

Links to Your Articles

After you save, this tab reports whether Joomla can build short links to the listed articles. Joomla shortens an article URL only where a published Articles menu item covers the article category or one of its parents. Where none exists, Joomla falls back to /component/content/article/my-article?catid=8&Itemid=101, which works but is untidy, and no module can shorten it because the com_content router owns that decision.

The notice names the menu item Joomla will route through, or lists the categories that have none. To fix missing coverage, add one Articles menu item of type Category Blog or Category List for the parent category, and set Display in Menu to No if you do not want it in your navigation.

RSS Feed Link

From 1.5.4, set RSS Feed Link to Yes on Content Source to add RSS and Atom discovery links to the page head, the same as Integration → RSS Feed Link on a Category Blog menu item. No Category Blog menu entry is required.

• RSS Feed Category: Optional. Pick which category feed to expose when several are selected under Categories. Leave empty to use the first selected category.
• The feed lists articles from that category using core Joomla syndication. It does not mirror live tag, search, or sort filters on the module.
• Include in Feed (intro vs full text) follows global or component feed settings, not a Category Blog menu item Integration tab.

Article Requirements

• Articles must be published.
• Articles must be within the selected categories, or within child categories when enabled.
• Article access level must be available to the current visitor.
• Article language must match the current site language or be set to All.
• Publish up and publish down dates are respected.

Frontend filter chrome (Show All, category style, Filters Display) lives on the Filters tab. Card image and intro options live on Card Content.

Smart Content Filter works with Joomla multilingual sites. It does not ship a separate translation system for UI labels; it uses core Joomla language features.

Filter by Current Language

On Content Source, keep Filter by Current Language enabled (default Yes) when the site has more than one language.

• Articles must match the active page language or be set to All.
• From 1.5.3, the tag filter also follows that rule: only tags used by those articles appear, and each tag Language must be All or the active language.

Tags (Spanish and English on one module)

1. Use separate Spanish and English articles (normal Joomla multilingual content).
2. Create Spanish and English tags under Components > Tags and set each tag Language.
3. Attach Spanish tags only to Spanish articles, and English tags only to English articles.
4. Assign the same Smart Content Filter module to both language menus.
5. Clear Include Tags if you only used it to hide the other language.

Joomla Tags do not have Multilingual Associations like Categories. Tag Language plus article language is the supported approach.

Translate filter labels (Language Overrides)

Labels such as Filters, Search, Tag, From, To, Sort, and Showing X of Y come from module language constants. Translating them is a core Joomla workflow:

1. Go to System > Manage > Language Overrides.
2. Select the frontend language (for example Spanish).
3. Create an override for each constant (for example MOD_SMARTCONTENTFILTER_SEARCH_LABEL).
4. Save, clear cache, and hard-refresh.

Find the exact constant name

1. System > Global Configuration > System.
2. Set Debug Language to Yes and save.
3. Open the frontend module page and read the constant next to each label.
4. Copy that constant into Language Overrides.
5. Set Debug Language back to No when finished.

Leave Debug System off unless you need it, so the page stays readable.

Common Sort constants

• MOD_SMARTCONTENTFILTER_SORT_NEWEST : Newest
• MOD_SMARTCONTENTFILTER_SORT_OLDEST : Oldest
• MOD_SMARTCONTENTFILTER_SORT_HITS : Most viewed
• MOD_SMARTCONTENTFILTER_SORT_ORDERING : Manual ordering
• MOD_SMARTCONTENTFILTER_SORT_MODIFIED : Recently updated
• MOD_SMARTCONTENTFILTER_RESULTS_COUNT : Showing {showing} of {total} (keep the placeholders)

Constant names do not always match the English words. Prefer Debug Language when unsure.

Everything visitors use to narrow results lives on the Filters tab. Settings there are grouped to match the admin form. Default sort lives on Ordering.

Filter Panel

• Filters Display: Always show, Hide filters (no filter UI), or Toggle button beside the grid/list controls.
• Filters Toggle Default: Start Open or Closed when Toggle button is used.
• Sticky Filter Toolbar: Keeps filters, results count, and the Load more bar visible while scrolling.
• Show Results Count: Live count such as Showing 6 of 24.
• Empty State Message: Custom text when no articles match.
• Shareable Filter URLs: Persist category, search, tag(s), sort, view mode, and page in the query string. Only active filters are written, so a single tag filter reads ?scf_143_tag=16 instead of a full parameter list. Reset clears the module's filter parameters from the URL.

Category Filter

• Enable Category Filter: Set to No to hide the category tabs, pills, or dropdown and keep the other filters. The listing still shows the categories selected on Content Source.
• Show All Filter: Adds an All option before category filters.
• Category Filter Style: Tabs (underline bar), Pills (filled chips), or Dropdown.
• Enable Subcategory Drill-down: Shows child category tabs when a parent category is selected.

Search

• Enable Search: Filters articles by title, intro, or both depending on Search Scope. Title and intro includes the text above the Read more break, not only the title.

Tag Filter

• Enable Tag Filter: Shows tags used in the module article pool.
• Tag Filter Style: Dropdown (default) or clickable Pills for catalogue-style browsing.
• Tag Selection: Single (default) or Multiple.
• Tag Match Mode (multiple only): Match any selected tag (OR) or Match all selected tags (AND).
• Show All Tags: Clears the active tag filter.
• Include Tags / Exclude Tags: Limit the list by tag ID, name, or title.
• For tag-led catalogues, use Tag Pills + Multiple and set Enable Category Filter to No.

Language-aware Tags

When Filter by Current Language is enabled on Content Source, the tag filter only lists tags used by articles in the active language (or All), and only tags whose Language is All or matches that language. You do not need language-specific Include Tags lists for a normal Spanish and English setup.

Include Tags and Exclude Tags still work for limiting the list by ID, name, or title when you want a fixed subset in every language.

Author, Date & Custom Fields

• Enable Author Filter: Filter by article author.
• Enable Date Filter: Filter by publish date range.
• Frontend Custom Field Filters: Up to two custom fields as text or select filters.

Sort, View & Reset

• Enable Sorting: Frontend sorting dropdown (Default, Newest, Oldest, Title A-Z, Title Z-A, Featured First, Manual Ordering).
• Grid/List Toggle: Optional icon toggle in the top-right chrome, with a default view mode.
• Show Reset Button: Clears filters and category state. Choose Text or Icon display.

Ordering Tab

• Ordering and Direction: Server-side fallback sort field and direction when the visitor has not chosen a frontend sort.

Allowed Sort Options

On Filters, under Sort, View and Reset, use Allowed Sort Options to choose which choices appear in the Sort dropdown (for example only Newest and Oldest). Leave the field empty to show every option. Enable Sorting must be Yes.

Layout presets, columns, and load behaviour are on Article Arrangement. Grid/List toggle controls are on Filters.

Layout Presets

• Standard Grid: Classic responsive card grid.
• News Portal: Full-width lead story with horizontal image and content split on desktop.
• Magazine: Large lead story with smaller supporting cards in a publishing-style grid.
• List: Single-column rows with thumbnail and text side by side.
• Masonry: Multi-column masonry-style card flow.
• Carousel: Horizontally scrollable card strip.

Lead Story Options

• Lead Mode: Use the first article or the first featured article as the lead card.
• Overlay Lead Automatically: Places title and meta over the lead image in News Portal and Magazine presets.
• Title Overlay on Image (Card Appearance): Force title-on-image overlay for overlay cards.

Responsive Columns & Loading

• Columns: Desktop column count (1–4).
• Tablet Columns: Tablet column count (1–3).
• Mobile Columns: Mobile column count (1–2).
• Grid Gap: Spacing between cards.
• Loading Style: Load More Button or Infinite Scroll.
• Prefetch Next Page: Optionally preloads the next page in the background.
• Show Section Headings: Optional headings when grouping by category.

Grid / List Toggle

• Enable under Filters, then set Default View Mode to Grid or List.
• View preference is stored in a cookie and can be restored from the URL when Shareable Filter URLs is enabled.

What appears on each card is configured on the Card Content tab. Visual polish (ratio, hover, lightbox) is on Card Appearance.

Images

• Show Image: Turn card images on or off.
• Image Source:
  • Intro, then full image
  • Intro image only
  • Full image only
  • Custom field only (media or URL custom field)
  • Custom field, then intro/full fallback
• Image Custom Field: Field ID, name, or title when using a custom image source.
• Fallback Image: Module-level image when an article has none.
• Article image URLs are normalised to site-root paths (Joomla #joomlaImage:// suffixes are stripped, and relative paths such as images/logo.png become /images/logo.png so they keep working after Ajax on multilingual URLs like /en/...).
• Image Ratio, Image Fit (Cover or Contain), and Enable Image Lightbox are under Card Appearance.

If your template only exposes a Featured Image control, check whether that value is stored as the article intro/full image or in a custom field, then set Image Source accordingly.

Intro Text

• Show Intro Text: Show or hide the intro on cards.
• Intro Text Format: Plain text (default, tags stripped) or Safe HTML (sanitised markup such as paragraphs, links, lists, spans, classes, and inline styles).
• Strip Content Plugin Syntax: On by default. Removes codes such as {loadmoduleid 186} and similar content plugin tags from card intros without running those plugins.
• Intro Text Limit: Character limit. Use 0 to keep the full intro.
• Use Fulltext When Intro Is Empty: Fall back to full article text when intro is blank.

Meta & Actions

• Category, date, modified date, date format, author, tags, hits, reading time, featured badge, and display custom fields.
• Read more link (label and target), share buttons, and title heading level (H2–H5).

Visual styling lives on Card Appearance. CSS overrides live on Advanced.

Card Appearance

• Theme Preset: Default or Dark surface colors.
• Card Style: Default, Outlined, Flat, or Compact presets with distinct borders and shadows.
• UI Corners: Rounded or Squared corners for Read more, Load more, category tabs, view toggle, search fields, and filter controls.
• Accent Color, Card Background Color, Card Border Color, Card Border Width
• Card Radius: Corner rounding for cards (0–48 px).
• Card Body Padding: Inner padding around card text (0–48 px). Leave at 0 to use the preset default.
• Card Shadow: None, Soft, Medium, or Strong.
• Hover Shadow: None, Soft, Medium, Strong, Boost, or Same as resting shadow.
• Hover Lift: Vertical lift on card hover (0–16 px). Set to 0 with Hover Shadow None and Image Hover None for a static card.
• Equal Card Height: Stretches cards in each row to the same height.
• Button Style: Filled, Outline, or Text for Read more and Load more.
• Image Ratio: 16:10, 4:3, 1:1, or 3:4.
• Image Fit: Cover fills the frame and may crop. Contain keeps the full image visible, which suits logos and wide banners.
• Title Overlay on Image, Image Hover Effect (Zoom, Brighten, Grayscale, or None), Enable Image Lightbox

Typography

• Title Font Size, Title Font Weight, and Title Line Clamp
• Meta Font Size for dates, categories, and card meta

Filter Toolbar

• Search uses an in-field icon, sort uses a custom chevron, and Reset is a compact control aligned with the fields.
• While module CSS is enabled, toolbar input styles are scoped to the module wrapper and resist common template overrides (for example Helix Ultimate search padding).

Advanced CSS

• Disable Module CSS: Turns off the bundled stylesheet. Only then can template styles fully restyle the filter toolbar.
• Module Class Suffix: Adds a custom class to the module wrapper.
• Custom CSS: Module-specific CSS with a {module} placeholder for the wrapper ID.

Example: {module} .scf-card { border-width: 2px; }

How AJAX Works

Smart Content Filter uses Joomla's com_ajax endpoint. The frontend script sends the module ID, category, filters, sort option, view mode, page offset, and load-more page. The server returns updated article card HTML using that module instance's saved settings.

Loading Modes

• Load More Button: Appends the next batch of articles. The current page is stored in the URL when shareable state is enabled.
• Infinite Scroll: Loads more articles automatically near the bottom of the list.
• Prefetch Next Page: Optionally preloads the next page in the background (Article Arrangement).

URL State & Persistence

• Shareable Filter URLs (Filters tab, Filter Panel): Stores category, search, tag(s), sort, view mode, and load-more page in the query string as scf_{moduleId}_* parameters.
• Only filters that differ from their defaults are written. A single tag filter becomes ?scf_143_tag=16. Adding a search on top becomes ?scf_143_tag=16&scf_143_search=H21001.
• Reset clears that module's filter parameters from the URL and leaves unrelated query parameters untouched.
• Filtered views can be bookmarked, shared, and restored on reload.
• Grid/List preference is also stored in a per-module cookie.
• To stop writing filter parameters altogether, set Shareable Filter URLs to No. Filtered views can then no longer be bookmarked or preselected by link.

UX Options

• Skeleton Loading and Filter Transitions (Advanced)
• Sticky Filter Toolbar, Empty State Message, and Filters Display (Filters)
• Output JSON-LD Schema (Advanced)

Multiple Instances

Each module instance uses its own wrapper, module ID, AJAX state, CSS variables, and URL parameters (scf_{id}_*). Multiple instances can run on the same page independently.

Displaying Custom Fields

Use Display Custom Fields on Card Content to show selected Joomla custom fields on article cards. Enter field IDs, names, or titles separated by commas.

Example: audience, level, location

Filtering by Custom Fields

Configure up to two Frontend Custom Field Filters on the Filters tab. Each supports Auto, Text, or Dropdown input depending on the filter type setting.

Card Images from a Custom Field

If images are stored in a media or URL custom field (for example a template Featured Image field), set Image Source to Custom field only or Custom field, then intro/full, and enter the field ID, name, or title in Image Custom Field.

Field Matching

• Field ID is the most precise option.
• Field name is useful for portable configuration between sites.
• Field title works when editors recognize the label more easily than the field name.

Recommended Use Cases

• Audience or user type
• Difficulty level
• Location or region
• Department or product type
• Resource format or any structured article metadata
• Template Featured Image stored as a custom field

Common Uses

• Blog Sections: Browse posts by category, tag, search, and date with Tabs or Pills filters.
• News Rooms: Magazine or News Portal preset with a featured lead story.
• Tag Catalogues: Tag Pills + Multiple, Enable Category Filter set to No, Safe HTML intros with full intro limit (0).
• Catalogues: Safe HTML intros with full intro limit (0) for styled product or course blurbs.
• Portfolios: Masonry or Grid layouts with image hover effects and lightbox.
• Product Showcases: Card grids with custom field metadata and share buttons.
• Directories: List view with author and custom field filters; Filters Toggle for a compact chrome.
• Documentation Hubs: Sticky toolbar, search, and shareable filtered URLs.
• Case Studies: Category pills, featured badges, and lead overlays.

Content Planning Tips

• Use clear category names: they become frontend filter labels.
• Use Joomla tags for cross-category themes.
• Use custom fields for structured values on cards, filters, and optional card images.
• Add consistent intro images (or a custom image field) for polished grids and list views.
• For plain cards, keep intro text short with Intro Text Limit. For styled catalogues, use Safe HTML and limit 0.

• What is the difference between Tabs and Pills?

  Tabs use an underline bar with a highlighted active tab. Pills use separate filled chip buttons. Dropdown replaces both with a select menu.

• Where do I find each setting?

  Content Source (what articles load), Filters (visitor controls), Ordering (default sort), Article Arrangement (layout and columns), Card Appearance (look and hover), Card Content (what shows on cards), Advanced (CSS, schema, cache).

• How do I hide the filter panel?

  Set Filters Display to Hide filters, or use Toggle button so visitors open filters only when needed.

• How do I hide only the category filter?

  On Filters, under Category Filter, set Enable Category Filter to No. Search, tags, sort, and the other controls stay in place. No custom CSS is needed.

• Does the module create its own content type?

  No. It uses standard Joomla articles, categories, tags, featured state, custom fields, images, language, and access levels.

• Can I keep HTML in intro text?

  Yes. Set Intro Text Format to Safe HTML. Markup is sanitised. Use Intro Text Limit 0 for the full intro.

• Why do I see {loadmoduleid ...} on cards?

  Card intros do not run content plugins. Turn on Strip Content Plugin Syntax (Card Content, default Yes) to hide those codes from the teaser.

• Where do images come from?

  Intro image, full image, a custom media/URL field, or combinations with fallback. Configure Image Source and optional Image Custom Field on Card Content.

• Can I switch between Grid and List view?

  Yes. Enable Grid/List Toggle on the Filters tab and choose a default view. The visitor preference is remembered per module.

• Can filtered views be shared?

  Yes. Enable Shareable Filter URLs on Filters (Filter Panel). Only active filters are written, so a tag filter looks like ?scf_143_tag=16. Paste that URL into a fresh browser and the page opens with the same filter selected.

• How do I turn off all card hover effects?

  Set Image Hover Effect to None, Hover Shadow to None, and Hover Lift to 0.

• Does it require jQuery?

  No. The frontend uses vanilla JavaScript.

• Can tags show as clickable pills?

  Yes. Set Tag Filter Style to Pills. Use Tag Selection Multiple for catalogues where items have several tags, and choose Match any or Match all.

• Search icon overlaps the placeholder text

  Update to 1.4.0 or later. Filter toolbar CSS is protected against template input padding overrides while Disable Module CSS is off.

• Can one module serve Spanish and English tags?

  Yes from 1.5.3. Keep Filter by Current Language on, use language-specific articles and tags (set Language on each tag under Components > Tags), and assign the same module to both language menus. Include Tags is not required as a language workaround.

• How do I translate Search, Tag, Sort, and other filter labels?

  Those strings are standard Joomla language constants. Use System > Manage > Language Overrides for each frontend language. To see the exact key on the page, set System > Global Configuration > System > Debug Language to Yes, then turn it off when finished.

• Can I show only Newest and Oldest in Sort?

  Yes from 1.5.3. On Filters, open Allowed Sort Options and select only those values. Leave the field empty to keep every Sort option.

• Can I add an RSS feed without a Category Blog menu item?

  Yes from 1.5.4. On Content Source, set RSS Feed Link to Yes. The module adds RSS and Atom discovery links to the page head for the RSS Feed Category, or the first selected Content Source category when none is chosen. The feed lists category articles from core Joomla; it does not follow live tag, search, or sort filters.

• Module does not appear: Confirm the module is published, assigned to the current menu item, placed in an existing template position, and visible to the current access level.
• No articles appear: Check publish state, categories, language, access level, and publish up/down dates. Review excluded categories and article IDs on Content Source.
• Category filters are missing: Confirm categories are selected and Enable Category Filter is set to Yes. Check Filters Display is not Hide filters. If Show All Filter is disabled, only selected category filters appear.
• Filters button does nothing: Filters Display must be Toggle button. Confirm Filters Toggle Default and hard-refresh after saving.
• Intro HTML is stripped: Set Intro Text Format to Safe HTML on Card Content. Plain text strips tags by design.
• Plugin codes show on cards: Enable Strip Content Plugin Syntax on Card Content (default Yes). Cards never prepare content plugins; this only removes the raw syntax.
• Images do not appear: Confirm Image Source matches where the template stores the image (intro/full vs custom field). Set Image Custom Field when using a custom source. Configure Fallback Image if needed. Clear cache after image changes.
• Images disappear after clicking a tag or filter: On multilingual sites with /en/ (or similar) in the path, older versions could rewrite relative image paths under the language segment after Ajax. Update to 1.5.0+, clear cache, and hard-refresh.
• Search finds titles but not intro text: Put the short description above the Read more break and set Search Scope to Title and intro. Update to 1.5.1+: earlier versions still searched the title only.
• Logo looks stretched or cropped in the card image area: On Card Appearance, set Image Fit to Contain so the full logo stays visible. Cover (default) fills the frame and may crop wide or shallow images.
• Tabs and Pills look the same: Hard-refresh the browser (Ctrl+F5). Tabs use an underline bar; Pills use filled chip buttons. Clear Joomla cache if needed.
• AJAX loading fails: Confirm com_ajax is available, the module is enabled, and no security extension blocks AJAX. Check the browser console and network tab.
• Load More page not remembered on reload: Enable Shareable Filter URLs on Filters. The URL should include scf_{moduleId}_page.
• List view layout broken: Hard-refresh after switching view mode. Ensure the View Toggle AJAX refresh completes.
• Sticky toolbar not working: Enable Sticky Filter Toolbar and ensure at least one filter or category control is visible. Hard-refresh after saving.
• Card padding not applying: Set Card Body Padding above 0 and save. Hard-refresh. Overlay cards respect custom padding when the value is greater than 0.
• Card hover still flickers with effects off: Set Image Hover Effect to None, Hover Shadow to None, and Hover Lift to 0.
• Featured badge text missing: Update to 1.3.0 or later so module language files load for cards and Ajax responses.
• Custom CSS does not apply: Use the {module} placeholder. Check template CSS specificity. Clear cache.
• Multiple instances conflict: Each instance must have a unique module ID. URL parameters are namespaced per instance.
• Search icon overlaps placeholder text: Update to 1.4.0+. Keep Disable Module CSS off so SCF toolbar styles win over template input rules. Hard-refresh after updating.
• Reset button sits lower than the search and sort fields: Some templates add a bottom margin to every label, which lifts the labelled fields above the Reset control. Update to 1.4.1+, which neutralises that margin inside the toolbar. Hard-refresh after updating.
• Article links look like /component/content/article/...: No published Articles menu item covers those categories, so Joomla cannot build a short link. Add one Articles menu item of type Category Blog or Category List for the parent category, with Display in Menu set to No if it should stay out of your navigation. In 1.4.2+ the Content Source tab reports this for you. SEF URLs and URL rewriting in Global Configuration do not change it, and SEF plugins that shorten menu item paths do not touch article links.
• Filter URLs look long: Update to 1.4.1+, which writes only the filters that are active. To remove filter parameters altogether, set Shareable Filter URLs to No on Filters, keeping in mind that filtered views can then no longer be bookmarked or preselected by link.
• Dark keyline around the first listing when opening a filter URL: Opening ?scf_143_tag=19 (or a menu link with filter parameters) used to move focus onto the first card, which made browsers draw a thick outline. That does not happen when you click a tag in the toolbar. Update to 1.4.3+, clear cache, and hard-refresh. Overlay Lead Automatically is unrelated.
• Wrong language tags appear: Enable Filter by Current Language on Content Source. Set each tag Language in Components > Tags, and attach Spanish tags only to Spanish articles (and the same for English). Clear Include Tags if it was used only as a language workaround, then clear cache.
• Language override key unknown: System > Global Configuration > System > Debug Language = Yes, reload the frontend, copy the constant next to the label, then create the override and turn Debug Language off.

Complete list of every module parameter as shown in the Joomla administrator, grouped by tab.

Content Source

• Categories (catid): Joomla article categories used as filters and as the content pool.
• Include Child Categories (include_children): Include articles from nested child categories.
• Exclude Categories (exclude_catid)
• Exclude Article IDs (exclude_article_ids): Comma-separated article IDs.
• Filter by Current Language (filter_language): Also limits the tag filter to tags used by articles in the active language (and All), and to tags whose Language is All or matches that language.
• Featured Articles (show_featured): Show all, hide featured, or show only featured.
• Items Per Load (count): Number of articles loaded per AJAX request (1–100).
• RSS Feed Link (show_rss_feed_link): Adds RSS and Atom discovery links to the page head.
• RSS Feed Category (rss_feed_category): Category used for the feed. Empty uses the first selected Content Source category.

Filters

Grouped in the admin form as Filter Panel, Category Filter, Search, Tag Filter, Author/Date/Custom Fields, and Sort/View/Reset.

Filter Panel

• Filters Display (filters_display): Always show, Hide filters, or Toggle button.
• Filters Toggle Default (filters_toggle_default): Open or Closed when Toggle button is used.
• Sticky Filter Toolbar (sticky_toolbar)
• Show Results Count (show_results_count)
• Empty State Message (empty_state_message)
• Shareable Filter URLs (enable_url_state): Writes only active filters to the query string (for example ?scf_143_tag=16). Reset clears them.

Category Filter

• Enable Category Filter (enable_category_filter): Set to No to hide the category filter and keep the rest.
• Show All Filter (show_all)
• Category Filter Style (category_filter_style): Tabs, Pills, or Dropdown.
• Enable Subcategory Drill-down (enable_subcategory_filter)

Search

• Enable Search (enable_search)
• Search Scope (search_scope): Title, Intro text, or Title and intro (text above the Read more break).

Tag Filter

• Enable Tag Filter (enable_tag_filter)
• Tag Filter Style (tag_filter_style): Dropdown or Pills.
• Tag Selection (tag_selection): Single or Multiple.
• Tag Match Mode (tag_match): Match any (OR) or Match all (AND).
• Show All Tags (show_all_tags)
• Include Tags (include_tag_ids): Optional IDs, names, or titles.
• Exclude Tags (exclude_tag_ids): Optional IDs, names, or titles.

Author, Date & Custom Fields

• Enable Author Filter (enable_author_filter)
• Enable Date Range Filter (enable_date_filter)
• Frontend Custom Field Filter (custom_field_filter)
• Custom Field Filter Label (custom_field_filter_label)
• Custom Field Filter Input (custom_field_filter_type): Auto, Text, or Dropdown.
• Second Custom Field Filter (custom_field_filter_2)
• Second Custom Field Filter Label (custom_field_filter_2_label)
• Second Custom Field Filter Input (custom_field_filter_2_type)

Sort, View & Reset

• Enable Sorting (enable_sorting)
• Allowed Sort Options (allowed_sort_options): Optional multi-select; leave empty for all Sort choices.
• Grid/List Toggle (view_toggle)
• Default View Mode (default_view_mode): Grid or List.
• Show Reset Button (show_reset)
• Reset Button Style (reset_display): Text or Icon.

Ordering

• Ordering (ordering): Default server-side sort field (publish date, created, modified, title, or manual ordering).
• Direction (direction): Ascending or Descending.

Article Arrangement

• Article Arrangement (layout_preset): Grid, News Portal, Magazine, List, Masonry, or Carousel.
• Apply Preset Defaults (apply_preset_defaults)
• Lead Story Mode (lead_mode): First result or Featured first.
• Overlay Lead Automatically (overlay_lead_auto)
• Section Headings on All (show_section_headings)
• Columns (columns): Desktop columns (1–4).
• Tablet Columns (columns_tablet): 1–3.
• Mobile Columns (columns_mobile): 1–2.
• Grid Gap (grid_gap): 0–64 px.
• Loading Style (load_behavior): Load More Button or Infinite Scroll.
• Prefetch Next Page (prefetch_next)

Card Appearance

• Theme Preset (theme_preset): Default or Dark.
• Card Appearance (card_style): Default, Outlined, Flat, or Compact.
• UI Corners (ui_corners): Rounded or Squared.
• Accent Color (accent_color)
• Card Background Color (card_bg_color)
• Card Border Color (card_border_color)
• Card Border Width (card_border_width): 0–8 px.
• Card Radius (card_radius): 0–48 px.
• Card Body Padding (card_body_padding): 0–48 px.
• Card Shadow (Resting) (card_shadow)
• Card Shadow (Hover) (hover_shadow)
• Hover Lift (hover_lift): 0–16 px.
• Equal Card Height (equal_card_height)
• Button Style (button_style): Filled, Outline, or Text.
• Image Ratio (image_ratio): 16:10, 4:3, 1:1, or 3:4.
• Image Fit (image_fit): Cover or Contain.
• Title Overlay on Image (title_on_image)
• Image Hover Effect (image_hover_effect): None, Zoom, Brighten, or Grayscale.
• Enable Image Lightbox (enable_lightbox)
• Title Font Size (title_font_size)
• Title Font Weight (title_font_weight)
• Title Line Clamp (title_lines): 0–6 lines; 0 disables clamping.
• Meta Font Size (meta_font_size)

Card Content

• Show Image (show_image)
• Image Source (image_source): Intro then full, Intro only, Full only, Custom field only, or Custom field then intro/full.
• Image Custom Field (image_custom_field): Field ID, name, or title.
• Fallback Image (fallback_image)
• Show Intro Text (show_intro)
• Intro Text Format (intro_format): Plain text or Safe HTML.
• Strip Content Plugin Syntax (strip_plugin_syntax): Yes (default) or No.
• Intro Text Limit (intro_limit): Character limit; 0 shows full intro.
• Use Fulltext When Intro Is Empty (intro_fallback_fulltext)
• Show Category (show_category)
• Show Date (show_date)
• Show Modified Date (show_modified_date)
• Date Format (date_format): Optional PHP date format string.
• Show Author (show_author)
• Show Tags on Card (show_tags_on_card)
• Show Hit Count (show_hits)
• Show Reading Time (show_reading_time)
• Show Featured Badge (show_featured_badge)
• Display Custom Fields (display_custom_fields)
• Show Read More Link (show_readmore)
• Read More Label (readmore_label)
• Read More Target (readmore_target): Same tab or New tab.
• Show Share Buttons (enable_share_buttons)
• Title Heading Level (heading_level): H2, H3, H4, or H5.

Advanced

• Alternative Layout (layout): Joomla alternate module layout override.
• Module Class Suffix (moduleclass_sfx)
• Disable Module CSS (disable_css)
• Custom CSS (custom_css): Use {module} as the wrapper placeholder.
• Skeleton Loading (enable_skeleton)
• Filter Transitions (enable_transitions)
• Output JSON-LD Schema (enable_schema)
• Caching (cache): Disabled or Use Global.
• Cache Time (cache_time): Seconds when caching is enabled.

Note: image_hover_zoom is a legacy hidden field kept for backward compatibility. Use Image Hover Effect instead.