This week's Quick Tip covers some of the features of searching you may not have been aware of. Searching is actually a great way to find content and users, especially if you narrow your search in meaningful ways to avoid the clutter.

In order to take advantage of these features, start first by entering your search term in the search box at the very top of the right hand column. This is a comprehensive search, meaning it will return all content with the key word in it.

For example, say you're searching for a bike. Enter the word "Bike" into the search box and click "Go." You'll notice several results return, including some items being given away, some items needed, and even a user profile with the word "bike in it."

If the results are too comprehensive, you can click "Advanced Search" toward the top of the page and you'll see a box unfold that contains lots of options for narrowing your focus. You can enter words and phrases into the fields to narrow your search, you can select specific item categories to search in (hold down your "shift" key and you can click multiple categories), and you can even search according to content type (blog posts, item listings, groups, etc.) by clicking the check boxes. Enter all your criteria and click the "Advanced Search" button at the bottom of the box.

Very cool.

Also, you might have noticed there's another options at the top of the page: "users." Click "users" and you can search exclusively for profiles using any word. Enter "Jason" and you'll see the search returns two profiles, one guy from Ohio and one from Utah.

We're working on some other features that will hopefully extend searching functionality for the future, but for now there are some smart ways to narrow your search for items and people in the Twoshirts community.