The current method of search allows you to scroll through isolated matches (I’m not sure what the proper term is, but what I mean is only displaying matched cards and hiding non-matches). IMO this is a powerful feature, but sometimes the downside is a loss of context. Often I just want to see matches with context (eg a matched card and its neighbors) or just in a normal, zoomed out view with matches highlighted among the sea of other cards.
My suggested solution would be to highlight matches (perhaps changing the color of the background to a light color or adding a thick colored border) and let users scroll through highlighted matches without isolating the cards or explore the tree themselves with the cards highlighted until they exit search. This, IMO, is a general search use case that any user would appreciate (“Will this be useful to everyone?”) as it gives users a different way of exploring/analyzing their search results in a more free, zoomed out forest view.
As @Adriano notes, it is important to avoid adding complexity to Gingko. I think it is hard to add this feature without a new checkbox or shortcut to allow users to toggle between a more zoomed in search (isolating matches - current search) versus zoomed out search (highlighting matches - my suggestion).
So now we have to ask, would this extra search view be worth the slightly extra complexity? IMO, yes, because it is a feature that almost any user can benefit from, enhances an existing feature, and offers a different way of exploring your tree, Any opinions/thoughts?