Last modified: 2014-04-13 21:34:46 UTC
Commons (at least) needs an additional search mode: "image search". (Maybe Special:Imagesearch.) Image search mode should only search pages in the Image: namespace and should display the results in a gallery a la [[special:Newimages]]. Special:Newimages only searches image names (and works like a regular expression - searching for 'foo' returns results like 'food'). This is very useful and I suggest we extend on it by allowing the user to search the image name and/or image description (default both). It returns results in reverse chronological order of upload time. This is somewhat useful and it would be nice to keep this functionality, and also offer the option of ranking by relevance (the normal default for search). Commons in particular would probably like either 1) to make the search box in the menu be an Imagesearch, or 2) to have two search boxes in the menu, one for Imagesearch, one for (normal, text) search.
Is this fixed with the new search on Commons?
(In reply to comment #1) > Is this fixed with the new search on Commons? No, although the inclusion of thumbnails is certainly a big improvement. There are two issues, 1) media files among predominantly text-based results, and 2) media files in a media file search. Maybe thumbnails are good enough to improve (1), but for (2), I really think a totally separate form is needed. For media file search, at a minimum, files should appear in a gallery-style layout, a la Special:Newimages. Ideally, there would be lots of options like Mayflower <http://tools.wikimedia.de/~tangotango/mayflower/> - see advanced search, + hover-details Javascripty magic.
(In reply to comment #2) > improve (1), but for (2), I really think a totally separate form is needed. > I'm not sure whether I understand. Do you mean a form that basically does the same, except that it only performs search in the Image: namespace? In that case we might just want to set the default search to images only, or maybe make separate search buttons "Search images", "Search galleries", etc. > For media file search, at a minimum, files should appear in a gallery-style > layout, a la Special:Newimages. I disagree, the current listed layout is far more informative than a plain gallery style. > Ideally, there would be lots of options like > Mayflower <http://tools.wikimedia.de/~tangotango/mayflower/> - see advanced > search, I opened a separate bug 13370 for that. > + hover-details Javascripty magic. > About the category list for each image, I have an implementation which is waiting for performance review. The license of the image is unlikely to be shown as the software does not know what the license of a file is.
(In reply to comment #3) > (In reply to comment #2) > > improve (1), but for (2), I really think a totally separate form is needed. > > > I'm not sure whether I understand. Do you mean a form that basically does the > same, except that it only performs search in the Image: namespace? In that case > we might just want to set the default search to images only, or maybe make > separate search buttons "Search images", "Search galleries", etc. Not just does the same, but has a layout appropriate to images. Also, media-specific search options, such as file format, size. > > For media file search, at a minimum, files should appear in a gallery-style > > layout, a la Special:Newimages. > I disagree, the current listed layout is far more informative than a plain > gallery style. Gallery style layout = multiple columns. Put the snippet info below each thumbnail. Having one thumbnail per row is a waste of screen real estate.
New search frontend (on test.wikipedia.org currently) provides an 'images'/files tab which makes for easy searching of just media files, but the listing is still the same as before (single column).
