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.
