Is there a way not just to “search” for images (i.e., to find and display them based on specific criteria as a search result) but also to “filter” them (i.e., narrow them down based on specific criteria while maintaining the hierarchical display structure (Photo Stream, Events, Collections) and simply hiding the elements that don’t match)?
Why:
I want to assign images to different “channels,” such as PhotoJob1, PhotoJob2, Family, Vacation, Private. Then I’d like to be able to toggle these elements on and off within the same library, both individually and in combination (same thing like hiding all images with a rating < 3 stars or something like that).
Idea: More than one photo stream(s), each is represented by a folder in the file system. Each can be individually enabled/disabled, the enabled ones are building together event list, the photo stream in the middle area, etc.
One thing can always be done is to hold Ctrl/Cmd and then press on a collection or keyword in the collection pane to filter by that item. This will sometimes change the display mode of the center pane from an event/collection/photo stream view to a search result view, but the items will still be filtered result of the original view.
For more advanced filters, you have to enter additional conditions manually in the search bar at the top. The search field is always pre-filled with conditions that match the current view, so adding more terms will always narrow down what is currently displayed.
I think what would be an interesting improvement to think about here would be to change it so that adding a filter like this will stay in the previous view (e.g. event view) and then display the active filter/search expression in the header area, so that this becomes a more seamless transition between filtered and unfiltered.
At first sight, this looks like it has a lot of functional overlap with just switching between multiple separate libraries. Since it also sounds like it would lead to a non-trivial complexity increase (both UI and implementation), I’d say in this form it would be hard to justify in terms of cost/benefits. However, it would certainly be interesting to think about ways to attach additional metadata to events and possibly individual photo folders, which could then be used to get a very similar outcome.
In the case of events, we have already pretty much decided to add something in that direction. That metadata would then allow adding additional hierarchy levels to the event list - and making it also usable for filtering the event list somehow sounds like a reasonable addition. As for the photo stream/individual photo folders, this requires a bit more thought in terms of how it would interact with synchronization and the way normal individual photo folders, as opposed to scanned folders, are layed out within the library folder.
I’ve added a note to the ticket (#1483) that deals with additional event metadata to also keep the possibility of extending this to individual photo folders in mind when working out the final design.