Wikimedia Commons currently have two distinct search interfaces: the newer Special:MediaSearch, which displays search results as an image thumbnail grid, and the older Special:Search, which shows results in list format. While Special:MediaSearch excels in visual browsing and image selection convenience, Special:Search offers better search capabilities and allows displaying up to 5000 results at once.
As a user, I want to enhance my experience on Special:Search by adding image grid functionality and ability to further filter the list using client side filtering.
**Step 1: Adding Image Grid Toggle**
* Implement a feature in Cat-a-lot that allows toggling Special:Search results between the traditional list view and a new image grid view.
* Ensure that the image grid view remains compatible with Cat-a-lot's existing image selection functionality.
**Step 2: In-Page Text Search Filtering**
* Adding functionality to filter the displayed search results directly on the page by filename or other text criteria. Preferably option for using REGEXP in text seach.
* The in-page filter should operate client-side (ie. javascript impelemntation)
* After applying the filter, only images matching the entered search expression should be visible.
* When performing category actions, if previously selected images are hidden due to the applied filter, Cat-a-lot should prompt the user to confirm whether to deselect these hidden images before proceeding.
**Goals:**
* Improve usability and efficiency of browsing large sets of images.
* Allow refined post-search filtering directly on the results page.
* Maintain compatibility and improve user interaction within Cat-a-lot.