Feature summary:
See Wish 221: Add a date range filter to Special:MediaSearch.
Please add a date-range filter for MediaSearch by which one can constrain files via metadata about date taken. (That metadata currently can be in structured data and/or the file's information template's date parameter and the file categories.)
This is quite similar to T329961 and it would be best to implement both functionalities in a combined way.
Use case(s):
One could also use this to see latest or earliest files for a certain timespan in a category (like all files taken since 2 months ago) using the deepcat search operator. (With the deepcat search operator one can see a neat wall of images to scroll through – example.)
One could also specify a certain time period of interest such as when one looks for files about a certain event or characteristic of a certain time period.
One could use this as a tool to aid categorization. See also this Commons discussion "There are many categories containing hundreds or thousands of files but no subcategories…"
Furthermore, one may look for images of a certain place during a specific time. With sorting only one may have to scroll for ages and manually inspect individual files to see which date it is, if it would work at all this way. Note that the current sorting is for date uploaded, not date taken (this info is added to the date field of the Information template when using the UploadWizard).
Benefits:
See above. The use-cases are beneficial to users who use the filter directly as well as for linkable dynamic feeds and the things contributed using these filters such as comprehensive subcategories about a certain event where files have been found using that filter.
Other info (expected challenges & ideas for solutions):
Maybe it could be implemented by enabling searching the Information template. It could also make use of chronological subcategories such as Category:NASA videos in 2025
Yes there are caveats and challenges to this such as files without date in the File information template (see also the idea to also use date-categories right above) – but this functionality would be very useful even if it's gappy and in some cases not working well. it may be best to show a warning at the top like 'Some relevant files may be excluded or falsely included when using the date-range filter'. One could also have options in the preferences and/or on the MediaSearch page when that filter is used such as for whether or not files with no date should be shown too and how files with broad dates like "1980s" (as if it was 1980-01-01? also included at the bottom when filtering 1985-1990?) should be included.
And see also T71417: Additional sort options for categories:: Usage (most/least used pages); Creation date (newest/oldest date of original image/video) and T393287: Add filter by date to the Special:ListFiles in Wikimedia Commons