Hi Malcolm,

As noted in this page: https://data.guix.gnu.org/repository/1/branch/master/latest-processed-revision/packages, you can search by package name or synopsis. 
I think Chris, whom I have cc-ed, is the most suitable person to talk about the required functionalities of the search, because he wrote the query that provides the search functionality within the Guix Data Service, which is used in the prototype.

  • > Immediate feedback of hits as you type is “nice”.  IMO suggested completion of search times is nicer.

  • Seems sensible, I will look into it even though I'm not yet sure how to implement it. :)

  • > Full detail of hits in columnar format is preferred over “cards”
  • In order for the prototype page to visually fit the design here: https://guix.gnu.org/packages/ I used cards.

    • Best,
    Danjela

    On Wed, 8 Jul 2020 at 22:31, Cook, Malcolm <MEC@stowers.org> wrote:

    A few quick thoughts –

     

    • There should be a link documenting the search language.  Are there Booleans allowed?  Is “stemming” automatic?  Do quote characters do anything?  Is proximity searching available?  Regular expressions?  What columns are searched?  License?  Version? Author?
    • Immediate feedback of hits as you type is “nice”.  IMO suggested completion of search times is nicer.
    • Browsing alphabetically by picking a letter provide little to no value
    • Full detail of hits in columnar format is preferred over “cards”

     

    Still lurking myself but loving the improvements….

     

    Go Guix,

     

    ~Malcolm

     

     

    From: Guix-devel <guix-devel-bounces+mec=stowers.org@gnu.org> on behalf of Daniela Lura <danielaluraa@gmail.com>
    Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at 1:50 PM
    To: "guix-devel@gnu.org" <guix-devel@gnu.org>
    Subject: [Guix Website] A Search Page for Packages

     

    CAUTION: This email was received from an External Source

     

    Hello everyone, 

     

    This is Danjela, the Outreachy intern at the Guix Data Service. 

     

    Taking into consideration the suggestion made in this thread:

    https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2020-05/msg00096.html, my mentor, Christopher Baines suggested me to write a script that serves a search page for packages using the search functionality within the Guix Data Service, https://data.guix.gnu.org/repository/1/branch/master/latest-processed-revision/packages?search_query=git&field=version&field=synopsis&after_name=&limit_results=100. 

     

    The prototype page can be accessed through a test version of the Guix website that Chris deployed: http://guix-website-test.cbaines.net/packages/search

     

    I'd like to know if you find the page useful so that I can hopefully start working on incorporating the search functionality into this page: https://guix.gnu.org/packages/. 

     

    Best Regards,

    Danjela