Assuming, that your pulling all your data from one or more channels, have you considered just using Javascript filters, like Isotope. I've linked to the Isotope: Combination Filters Because, they're closer to what you want.
But here's an example of EE with Isotope, on a project still in development, Getting Started Guide: Madisonium. I haven't optimize images or javascript yet, since its still in active development, so it a tad slower than I like, but here's sample code of what I'm doing
The Filters: I'm just using basic filters, not combination, in the true sense. They are combined with categories, but not with other tags.
<!-- BREADCRUMB FILTERS -->
<section id="options" class="clearfix">
<ul id="filters" class="option-set clearfix breadcrumbs" data-option-key="filter">
<li><span><b>Filters</b></span></li>
<li><span><a href="#filter" data-option-value="*" class="selected">show all</a></span></li>
{exp:tag:cloud limit="6" orderby="total_entries" sort="desc"}
<li><span><a href="#filter" data-option-value=".{tag}">{tag}</a></span></li>{/exp:tag:cloud}
</ul>
</section>
<!-- // END BREADCRUMB FILTERS-->
The Entries: The entries are primarily just images with an overlay to provide more info.
<div id="filterable-profiles" class="clearfix">
{exp:channel:entries site="guide" channel="people" limit="30" orderby="title" sort="asc"}
<div class="clearfix profile four columns{exp:tag:tags entry_id='{entry_id}' limit='5' orderby='total_entries' sort='desc'} {tag}{/exp:tag:tags}">
<div class="profile-meta">
<h3><a href="/{profile_type}/profile/{url_title}/">{title}</a></h3>
<h4><a href="/{profile_type}/profile/{url_title}/">{if profile_position !=""}{profile_position}{/if}{if profile_organization !="" AND profile_position !=""}, {profile_organization}{if:else}{profile_organization}{/if}</a></h4>
<p>{profile_summary}</p>
</div>
<img src="/images/profiles/{profile_image}" alt="{title}" />
</div>
{/exp:channel:entries}
</div>
The Javascript: This is just straight from Isotope, with minor modifications. Our item selector is our profile class, and the container is id="filterable-profiles"
. We use CloudFlare as a CDN for client projects, so that's the rocketscript
reference you'll see.
<script type="text/rocketscript" data-rocketsrc="http://gettingstartedguide.org/scripts/isotope/jquery.isotope.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/rocketscript">
$(function(){
var $container = $('#filterable-profiles');
$container.isotope({
itemSelector : '.profile'
});
var $optionSets = $('#options .option-set'),
$optionLinks = $optionSets.find('a');
$optionLinks.click(function(){
var $this = $(this);
// don't proceed if already selected
if ( $this.hasClass('selected') ) {
return false;
}
var $optionSet = $this.parents('.option-set');
$optionSet.find('.selected').removeClass('selected');
$this.addClass('selected');
// make option object dynamically, i.e. { filter: '.my-filter-class' }
var options = {},
key = $optionSet.attr('data-option-key'),
value = $this.attr('data-option-value');
// parse 'false' as false boolean
value = value === 'false' ? false : value;
options[ key ] = value;
if ( key === 'layoutMode' && typeof changeLayoutMode === 'function' ) {
// changes in layout modes need extra logic
changeLayoutMode( $this, options )
} else {
// otherwise, apply new options
$container.isotope( options );
}
return false;
});
});
</script>
Basically though, as long as you can add the categories or other parameters as part of the <div class="brand1 size1 color1">
component, Isotope can filter, singularly or in combination. My example, is the singular. But it would work with combinations as well. No search required.