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The reason for this suggestion is, @Vlad wanted to know how to bring all user submitted lenses into one place (see screenshot below).

I previously suggested a page for bangs similar to the https://duckduckgo.com/bangs site, maybe something similar could be done for lenses: https://kagifeedback.org/d/1989-kagi-specific-httpsduckduckgocombangs-make-bangs-searchable

In my opinon both of these pages are very similar and could be unified into one UI.
I proposed for the bangs page to be under /bangs, the lenses page could be under /lenses, but if these will be nearly one UI, it could be under one url, I don't really know if there is a description which is applicable for both.
Maybe something like /enhancements or /customizables 🤷 or just https://kagi.com/!/

Both of these pages would need these features:

  • explain what lenses/bangs are, how one can create them, use them, some examples how they improve QoL for the user.
  • search and filter for bangs/lenses
  • everything should be accessible in one place
  • Incorporate Kagi defined bangs/lenses and user created bangs/lenses

The only difference currently is, that bangs are not shareable compared to lenses which are shareable.

To maybe better understand what I have in mind, take a look at my previous suggestion about bangs.

Differences to the bang suggestion

Again as with the bang page at the top some cards, which briefly explain lenses, some examples, how a user can create/use them.
Along the lines of the assistant mockup @Vlad shared on discord, I don't know if I'm allowed to share the image here, it was in the #assistant-beta channel 2023-09-18 20:40.

Lenses shared/submitted by other users

The description of the lens is very important.
With bangs, one can already guess what it does by just looking at the domain/URL it redirects to.
With lenses, there are many more options than just a URL, so it's often not that clear why it could be useful.

I'm bad at designing stuff, but I tried my best in Streamlit, although Streamlit is not really flexible, so it's not really 100% what I envisioned 😅

With bangs, I recommended a columnar table layout to list the bangs.
Something like this:

With lenses, I'd recommend a list of "expandables"/"collapsibles"/"accordions", which show at a glance the Title and Description,
and when expanded shows the detailed settings for the lens.
For the list, it could be interesting to show the date when submitted.
Something like this:

Both should have a sort option to sort alphabetically, by date submitted, ...
Filters could include: keywords, domains, regions, default or News style, ...
Lenses could maybe also be categorized like bangs, but this would need to be an option when submitting or creating a lens, maybe with some predefined categories like news, shopping, documentation, programming, kids, blogs, images, ...

Future

Stuff that could be added, which would need further changes, similar to what I did in my previous suggestion

Votes

A voting system for the lenses, If a user likes a lens he can Upvote it (no downvote, similar to HackerNews posts).
Users would be able to sort by upvotes, to see what other users liked the most

Propose changes

For example, a user used the lens provided by someone else, but found out if you add a specific thing or remove a specific thing it yields better results.
Could also be just some optional contact info someone could add to the lens.

Statistics

Again similar to the bangs, I don't know if this is what Kagi wants, or the users want, because privacy and stuff, some simple statistics how many people clicked on the share link and added that lens to their own collection.
Again, something which users would be able to sort by, to see the "hot" lenses.

    Value7609 changed the title to Community lens page .

      I feel like, that user submittet lenses and bangs & themes should be in the same place. Maybe with a side panel that lets you switch between them?
      And this might be off-topic, but it is well past time that the limit on the lenses (both overall, 20 lenses is a bit low, as well as sites per lense, 10 is far too less) increases. Especially, when lenses will now be shared and actually a lot of thought will go into them.

      5 days later

      (Similar to https://kagifeedback.org/d/127-share-custom-lenses-with-other-users and https://kagifeedback.org/d/1098-a-page-for-a-list-of-sites-that-are-blockedpreferred-by-lots-of-users)

      I'll be honest, I've been paying for Kagi for more than a year but I don't really understand lenses. In the marketing they seemed like they'd be so helpful, and the available options seem powerful, but... I just don't know what to do with them.

      If lenses really are as helpful as they seem, I'd certainly benefit from a public list of lenses other people have created and shared, so I can use their lenses or I can be inspired to create my own.

      To anyone reading this, I invite you to share any lenses you've created, so I can be inspired without specifically needing a public list 🙂

        Merged 2 posts from Public Lenses List, aka What can I do with lenses?.
          7 days later
          13 days later

          What does your feature entail? What is it for? How will it affect existing workflows or user experience?
          My favorite part of Kagi is the lenses. I like the fact we can add all sorts of customizations, but I'm lazy and not good at coming up with my own. I know it's possible to share one via a sharing link, but I'd really love a gallery where I could search through existing lenses others have created.

          What are the exact ways that you see a user using your proposed feature? Please go into as much detail as possible, and provide examples of how other browsers/apps implement this feature, if applicable. If your feature suggestion adds on to an existing feature, how would it work into it to extend its usefulness?
          Some kind of online gallery similar to a web browser's extensions search.

            Merged 2 posts from Lense gallery.
              22 days later

              Recast The usage I can think of is to search for GPTs by adding "chat.openai.com/g". However, I don't know why this lens only works on my phone and cannot find any results on PC. 😅

                  25 days later

                  New user here.

                  Related to @Vlad's concerns about liability in the "Share custom lenses with other users" post: a flagging mechanism for lenses of malicious intent. As well as a scan of the URLs using a reputable phishing/malware list like https://openphish.com/, Google Safe Browsing, or something similar. Give clear explanations about what Kagi does and does not guarantee and an auditable description of safety measures Kagi has performed.

                  Create a vetted by Kagi list where a greater safety guarantee can be given. Grown at a rate comfortable for Kagi.

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