QGato v0.1.0 - Themes Update

I’m happy to announce a new release to QGato. This update brings several new features, improvements, and bug fixes to enhance your search experience.

Key Changes

1. UI Enhancements

  • Working Settings Page: The settings page is now fully functional and easier to navigate.
  • Settings Mini-Menu: A new mini-menu for settings is now available on the main search page for quick access.

“mini-menu”

2. Themes

  • New Themes: I’ve added four new themes Black, Night, Latte, Mocha to give you more customization options.
  • Updated Themes: The existing Light and Dark themes have been updated for a more polished look. (thanks araa)

Themes

3. Persistent Settings

  • Settings are now saved to cookies that expire in 90 days. I had to set it to 90 days because when no expiration date is set, some browsers assume the cookie should expire in 0 days and delete it immediately after closing the browser. In a nutshell, your settings will now be saved and remain persistent.

Settings Page

4. Improved Image Proxy

  • Image Proxy: I have significantly improved the image proxy, resulting in faster image page loading. This enhancement will provide a smoother and quicker browsing experience.

Old method takes about 10 seconds:

Old Image Loading

New method takes few miliseconds:

New Image Loading

5. Bug Fixes

  • YouTube Thumbnail: I fixed the issue where YouTube thumbnail images were unclickable.
  • Mobile Logo Background: I resolved the problem of the overlapping background behind the logo on mobile devices.
  • Maps Button: I fixed the issue where the “Maps” button was missing in certain situations.

6. Config File Update

  • Config Format: The configuration file format has been changed from .json to .ini for better readability and flexibility.
  • New Config Variables:
  • logLevel: Controls the level of logging. Values range from 0 (print everything) to 4 (print only errors).
  • peers: A list of available nodes for enhanced distributed search functionality.
  • authCode: A secret key used for authenticating nodes within the network.

7. Dynamic Features

  • Dynamic Loading: Added dynamic loading for image and text results.
  • Nodes Communication: Added experimental/testing support for communication between QGato search instances. Nodes can now request help from other nodes if they can’t find search results locally.

Nodes

8. Image Search

  • Bing Image Search: Added support for image search through Bing, expanding the range of images accessible through QGato.

9. License Update

  • License Change: I’ve updated QGato’s license from MIT to AGPL-3.0. This change reflects my commitment to open-source values. Additionally, since I’m currently using some .css and .html code from Araa-search, which is licensed under AGPL-3.0, I am required to adopt the same license to comply with its terms.

I hope you enjoy the new features and improvements in QGato.

Update Log Summary

New Features:

  • Dynamic loading for image pages.
  • Experimental node communication for distributed search.
  • Added image search through Bing.

UI Enhancements:

  • Added a settings mini-menu on the main search page.
  • Fully functional settings page.
  • New themes: Black, Night, Latte, Mocha.
  • Updated themes: Light, Dark.
  • Settings are now persistent across sessions.

Config File Changes:

  • Switched from .json to .ini format.
  • Added logLevel (0-4) for logging control.
  • Added peers for a list of available nodes.
  • Added authCode for node authentication.

Improved Image Proxy:

  • Faster image page loading.

Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed unclickable YouTube thumbnails.
  • Resolved overlapping background behind the logo on mobile.
  • Fixed missing “Maps” button in certain situations.

License Change:

  • Updated from MIT to AGPL-3.0.