I searched for similar threads, but apparently I can't find any.
Making use of search-categorizing keywords
We could use special words for categorizing the search, similar to how you can use inurl: or site: on your google searches. It would be nice if we could have a similar feature for searching specific fields of a beatmap. Examples of these categories would be a map's title, artist, tags, difficulty names, mapper, and other string values as well.
It's possible to just use the same syntax as google.
e.g.: searching ar:duca should return all maps with artists that contain the string duca.
But we could also use a custom syntax.
e.g.: searching touhou \c:shin\ \a:oshim\ \t:"misty " stroem\ \g:game\ \d:hard\ should return this specific difficulty.
On the example given, a backslash indicates the start and the end of a section. which means osu! would search for maps with touhou somewhere in it, search the creator's username for shin, search the song's artist for oshim, search the tags for stroem, strictly search tags for "misty " (exact per-letter matches only since there's a space), search the genres for game, and search the difficulty names for hard.
Using the said syntax, we could also add \bg:, \sb:, \vid:, and \skin: to filter maps whether they have a storyboard, video, or a custom skin included. 1 or 0 would follow the syntax, but it should default to 1 if you use it without it.
e.g: searching djmax \vid\ or djmax \vid:1\ should return all djmax related tracks with a video.
It's also possible to filter modes. We could use \mode: or \md: to specify game mode. We could use searches like \mode:taiko (using the complete mode name) or \md:1 (using integers) or \mode:m (using the mode's initial).
That's almost everything I have in mind for now. Again, I'm not requesting specifically for this syntax to be implemented. I'm requesting for a general search revamp so it would be possible to search different fields specifically.
It's possible to just use the same syntax as google.
e.g.: searching ar:duca should return all maps with artists that contain the string duca.
But we could also use a custom syntax.
e.g.: searching touhou \c:shin\ \a:oshim\ \t:"misty " stroem\ \g:game\ \d:hard\ should return this specific difficulty.
On the example given, a backslash indicates the start and the end of a section. which means osu! would search for maps with touhou somewhere in it, search the creator's username for shin, search the song's artist for oshim, search the tags for stroem, strictly search tags for "misty " (exact per-letter matches only since there's a space), search the genres for game, and search the difficulty names for hard.
For people who would most likely be commenting about the example's length being too long"Wouldn't it take too long to type that entire thing? I'd prefer being able to search maps faster."
duh, no one would need to search that long just to single out that one difficulty. Searching is all about finding the best keywords to use to filter your maps efficiently. You might find yourself typing out a map's entire title at first, but soon you'll find easier ways to search for it. Using the current search system, I could single out that one difficulty just by searching "nx cr ha"
duh, no one would need to search that long just to single out that one difficulty. Searching is all about finding the best keywords to use to filter your maps efficiently. You might find yourself typing out a map's entire title at first, but soon you'll find easier ways to search for it. Using the current search system, I could single out that one difficulty just by searching "nx cr ha"
Using the said syntax, we could also add \bg:, \sb:, \vid:, and \skin: to filter maps whether they have a storyboard, video, or a custom skin included. 1 or 0 would follow the syntax, but it should default to 1 if you use it without it.
e.g: searching djmax \vid\ or djmax \vid:1\ should return all djmax related tracks with a video.
It's also possible to filter modes. We could use \mode: or \md: to specify game mode. We could use searches like \mode:taiko (using the complete mode name) or \md:1 (using integers) or \mode:m (using the mode's initial).
That's almost everything I have in mind for now. Again, I'm not requesting specifically for this syntax to be implemented. I'm requesting for a general search revamp so it would be possible to search different fields specifically.
Making the search less strict
1. Using quotes for exact matches. Currently, it's practically impossible to search for maps by L i z z. You would only get maps with the letters l, i, and z on them. We should be able to use quotes to search for exact matches like this: "L i z z". Despite being an exact match, it should still ignore the case of the search.
2. Ignoring certain characters in search. It's a pain having to hit the period button when I'm trying to search for S.A.T.O.R.A.R.E. Basically, osu! should ignore periods, apostrophes, commas, and other unnecessary characters when searching. (if you really need those characters on your query, quotes should help)
3. Handling duplicated search keywords. Currently, if you're trying to search for this map using it's title, you would find all matches with the words pure and heart in it. Idea is, if the search contains the same keyword twice, osu! should only display results with two or more instances of that keyword as well.
2. Ignoring certain characters in search. It's a pain having to hit the period button when I'm trying to search for S.A.T.O.R.A.R.E. Basically, osu! should ignore periods, apostrophes, commas, and other unnecessary characters when searching. (if you really need those characters on your query, quotes should help)
3. Handling duplicated search keywords. Currently, if you're trying to search for this map using it's title, you would find all matches with the words pure and heart in it. Idea is, if the search contains the same keyword twice, osu! should only display results with two or more instances of that keyword as well.
I personally think this would make the search easier to use, but I could find flaws in having this feature as well.
- wider search results (this might be a disadvantage in some cases)
- searching would take longer (you have to type more things)