How to list many categories

Question

What is the best way to list categories. When a user clicks on these categories, i want them to go to the search page with the category as the search term. to filter the categories, there is a search input at the top navigation bar. i feel the way i listed the categories is way too cluttered and not intuitive. https://v2.curriculum.co.ke/categories

UPDATE

1. The number on the right of each category is the count on the materials associated with the category
2. The categories are flat, no hierarchies (more like tags)

Answer 1

Well,you need some sorting in your "Categories" tab like making a categorization to itself.

There might be tons of alternatives to doing it in a different manners but you simply should categorize to the levels you choose (like menu-submenus or category-subcategories and etc.). If you want to get an example answer from me, I'd say for the easeness,

Categories >
             UX          >
                           Design
                           Tips
                           Flow
                           Methodology   >
                                           Card Sorting
                                           A/B Testing

                           User Journey
                           Card Sorting
                           Good Practices
                           Mobility

             Performance >
                           Blabla
                           Foobar
                           That's all

             Frontend >
                           Development
                           Tools
                           Bad habits
                           Adaptivity
                           Responsiveness

UPDATE

Since you make a bit clarification on the situation, I'd prefer to offer the solution below rather than above. (If possible) Simply placing a sorting option (dropdown) to the user (Item counts, alphabetically, by topic) would be an option which lets user change how he/she wants would be more proper.

With the excel-like table (which you may shape later wherever your needs lean), you may display the sorting according to user's need, and you may let user to see the rest if he/she intends to see more via scrolling.

Note: Eventhough they're more like tags, they contain some priority you may play or categorize with like UX related tabs can be categorized under UX if you're also likely to do so.

^{download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups}

Answer 2

At first I could imagine at least 2 ways of how to list them:

a) List them alphabetically by indicating a letter at the top of each list

b) Include all of these categories in various master groups, such as Design, Research, Development, SEO etc.

Answer 3

Usually we do a competitive audit in these cases. That is, we look at how other sites and apps handle our problem. We can then compare what we find to our specific needs. One advantage of this is that we learn what pattern users are familiar with (and, presumably, what they know how to use already).

You could start here at StackExchange, where there's a huge number of tags that can be applied to posts. As you type into the tags field, matching tags appear. (In my office we call this a type-ahead.) So you're not presented with that giant list of tags. It's not perfect; you have to know what to type to get the results you want. But it's quick and easy to try a bunch of things.

I also remember seeing somewhere a giant list of categories/tags that you can scroll through and select. It might have been a music app, where you're picking genres and the scrolling and selecting is kinda fun.

So consider whether selecting things from the collection needs to be quick and easy or if it can be done leisurely.