Even on a desktop, it feels like there's a lot more stuff on the page before I get to the first search result. Expanding the filter shows how the search was built, which I assume is why it's open by default, but I've been wondering if it should start collapsed too. I hadn't realized it was also open on small screens.

To counteract the lack of information when the filter section is collapsed, we could show a filter summary when collapsed. On post lists, the collapsed filter section already says "Filters (none)" when no filters are applied, but simply "Filters ()" when there are filters applied.

Those empty parentheses could show a one line summary of the applied filters, which would remove the need for having the filter section expanded except when editing the filters.

Oh wait; the filter state doesn't reflect the search; it's the same empty starting point as on the category list. I think expanding it here is unintentional. Search can do things that filters can't, so on reflection, a filter can't be guaranteed to wholly reflect a search query.

That seems like a good reason to make the filters start collapsed, but they might still benefit from a summary in parentheses for after filters are applied.

This isn't really search specific though, so maybe I'll raise this for filters in general.

PR. Doing the simple thing now.