Feature summary (what you would like to be able to do and where):
T306883 turned on thumbnail results for Special:Search, but does not have a method to prevent these. This enhancement request is to add search option, that is also callable as a parameter if calling search results outside of the UI, to suppress the thumbnails.
Use case(s) (list the steps that you performed to discover that problem, and describe the actual underlying problem which you want to solve. Do not describe only a solution):
Multiple users have reported that they use search results in ways that the thumbnails are interfering, such as scraping result to be inputs to other processes. Additionally, when large results are requested the resultant output is slower and significantly larger when having to include media with each result.
Benefits (why should this be implemented?):
Reduce waste of processing and bandwidth resources, especially client side. Restore workflows that use certain scraping methods.
Acceptance Criteria
- A preference is created under Search -> General that reads "Show thumbnails in Special:Search"
- The preference defaults to checked
- If unchecked, thumbnails do not appear in search results on Special:Search, except for File results
- Help text is available that reads "Also show thumbnails for (Main) namespace. Thumbnails for File are always shown."
- The ability to suppress thumbnails is also callable as a parameter if calling search results outside of the UI
