Harnessing the power of and, part 1

I like how wide-open things feel on delicious. Because we’re limited only by our language when it comes to what we tag our bookmarks, there are as many tagging systems as there are users. For that reason, the tag search function should allow at least a few more Boolean options than a simple +.

For now, let’s focus on wringing all we can from the delicious search field or typing our search terms directly into the URL field at the top of your browser window. This is the first in an occasional series of posts sharing a few methods for getting the most out of combining tags in the URL. We’ll start out rudimentary; I’m hoping to get some comments explaining some more advanced methods and ideas.

Use a place or a place+time combination to anchor one or more other tags:

London+2009+event

NYC+event

Berlin+event

Or simply browse the recent tag for event or events. Combine these with general adjectives commonly used to describe events you might like to attend:

art+event

conference+event

design+event

When you see a bookmark you like, make sure you click through to some of the users who have saved it; at least one of those people is bound to have saved a few more links that might interest you.

There are a few more Boolean options available in the search function - see http://delicious.com/help/faq#searching - but yes, we’re thinking about this.