Better author/artist search

[acs87]

Currently, when searching by author kr artist, it matches any author containing the search string. I think it would be nice to match thr string completely. For example, ONE, gives a bunch of results. But if i only want to see mangas by ONE, maybe being able to enclose the search string in “quotes” or something. Tell me what you think.

 

[mimicking]

i second this. i've found this to be an issue for a long time; not only with kr authors, but other lang authors too. for example, there is an author that goes by the name of "rio", but the search function on mangadex looks for "rio" as an artist AND part of a name. finding more manga by simply "rio" becomes an arduous task and i have to leave the site in order to do so.

i'd prefer if searching for names were to be more specific :)

 

[Oeconomist]

I'd like to propose that exact full-string matches appear first in any search results, but that at least in the absence of quotation marks or somesuch all those hits that are presently returned continue to be returned.

I don't know whether that behavior would satisfy @acs87 or @mimicking or others, so perhaps behavior should be different with quotation marks or with some box checked.

 

[acs87]

@Oeconomist I like having quotation marks as it mirrors the exact phrase search from Google. But that works too.

 

[mimicking]

i tried using quotation marks the first time i came across this problem and was honestly devastated it'd probably be best to use quotation marks and other commonly used symbols/words to narrow down search results

 

[Oeconomist]

@acs87—

There are various other sites (some of them predating Google) that use quotation marks in the same or very similar manner, and there's certainly something to be said for adopting a pre-existing convention.

@mimicking—

What I propose gives you narrowed results, followed by un-narrowed results. In what way does it not actually meet your need?

What I see as the downside of my proposal is that, as results are being assembled, those matches that are not exactly of the full string must be held in storage until the exact matches have all been found and delivered; that holding represents an increase in required computing resources.

 

[acs87]

@Oeconomist I’m not against your idea, but wouldn’t that require an extra query in their side? Results for a exact match and another result for a “contains” search? Wouldn’t it be easier just going with an exact match only?

 

[Oeconomist]

@acs87—

It would almost surely be easier to provide a distinctive search that delivered only exact matches than to implement my proposal. There wouldn't necessarily be a second query to implement my proposal, but however it were done it would demand more computing resources.

The upside is that the user interface would be far simpler while those seeking exact full-string matches would be well served; in fact, some of these exacting users would be less likely to shoot themselves in the feet.

My guess is that the share of users of Google, eBay, &c who actually use the quotation marks, parentheses, and so forth is tiny.

 

[mimicking]

@oeconomist actually, i neither supported nor refuted your proposal lol. i didn't address it at all, but it seems fine.

 

[acs87]

@Oeconomist have you seen 9anime’s search function? It does exactly what you’re proposing. Now that I kind of have a small visual, I do kind of prefer the exact match results only... And after thinking about it, exact results are better in my opinion... but your way works too.

 

[ixlone]

Improvements to author and artist areas of the site are currently planned for version 4 of the site - we are on like 3.14159 right now. Once we have pages set up for each author/artist we will be able to include them in the new search that is due out soon™

 

[Oeconomist]

@acs87—

I'm unfamiliar with 9anime. In any case, I certainly can't argue against your preference, and I reiterate my earlier acknowledgement that my proposal is more resource intensive than is yours.