About a week ago, I created a post detailing a web index I was working on.
I've implemented a few policy changes, after realizing I want this to be more like a library than a search engine.
I remember walking through library shelves as a kid, finding all the subjects I could learn about fascinating. And I'd really like to recreate that experience with this site. An infinitely scrollable catalog that transitions from subject to subject to subject, treating individual domains as books, with rankings (0-9) determined by a mixture of author authority and cultural relevance.
Current Plans:
- I'm removing the index.json requirement, and allowing users to simply submit domains for inclusion within the catalog.
- Domains are sorted via an alphanumeric XXX.XXX.XXX format (so cultural anthropology would be SCI.ANT.CUL)
- I also have plans to put the entire catalog on IPFS, for public accountability.
- I'm also no longer referring to it as an index, but a catalog.
You could even have a plethora of local results: USA.KTY.BWG, DEU.BER.MIT
Here is the current UX: https://imgur.com/a/QdXTmbz I'm looking for suggestions to make it a better experience. The name is just a placeholder.
Reminds me of early days Alta Vista and Yahoo that had directories of sites organised by subject. Google changed all that but now their search has atrophied thanks to seo and slop and here we are back at the start.
Web rings too seem to have returned. https://indieweb.org/webring
The human effort to maintain this seems overwhelming. Would you have editors looking after categories like wikipedia to manage the load?
The screenshots pasted in the other comments don't show any browsing through domains or categories, what would that look like?
save