How can I explore without searching?

[StevenDufresne]

Problem

The homepage says I can explore the 700 million websites, but I can't seem to do it without a search term. Could we lead with some tags/categories somewhere that pulls me into the "explore" flow, similar to the empty result set view?

Homepage

Empty result set

Empty

Related

Since openverse is Search Term centric, when I search from something that has no results, there is no way to get out of that flow until i think of a new search term, or use the provided search term hints in the content.

GIF: Desktop

GIF: Mobile

[AetherUnbound]

Thanks for sharing your perspective as a user @StevenDufresne! We're actually working on a project currently which we hope will help with exactly this particular use case, you can see our progress & discussions on it here: #410. This effort will add several new ways to explore results, including by providers, tags, and creators, without having to use a specific search term. If you have any input you'd like to share on those designs or related issues, it'd be more than welcome!

[dhruvkb]

We have implemented additional search views, and one can enter the exploration flow by clicking any source name on the sources page. We've also discussed refreshing the homepage gallery in #5293 which will provide several different entrypoints for exploration.

With those, I think we can close this issue. Thanks again for the suggestion @StevenDufresne and we look forward to your feedback on the approaches we're taking.