diff --git a/_includes/scripts/search.liquid b/_includes/scripts/search.liquid
index 658ee7d..3acf15c 100644
--- a/_includes/scripts/search.liquid
+++ b/_includes/scripts/search.liquid
@@ -27,11 +27,11 @@
     // add the home and posts menu items
     ninja.data = [
       {%- for page in site.pages -%}
-        {%- if page.permalink == '/' -%}{%- assign about_title = page.title -%}{%- endif -%}
+        {%- if page.permalink == '/' -%}{%- assign about_title = page.title | strip -%}{%- endif -%}
       {%- endfor -%}
       {
         id: "nav-{{ about_title | slugify }}",
-        title: "{{ about_title }}",
+        title: "{{ about_title | truncatewords: 13 }}",
         section: "Navigation",
         handler: () => {
           window.location.href = "{{ '/' | relative_url }}";
@@ -44,11 +44,11 @@
             {%- for child in p.children -%}
               {%- unless child.title == 'divider' -%}
                 {
-                  {%- assign title = child.title | escape -%}
+                  {%- assign title = child.title | escape | strip -%}
                   {%- if child.permalink contains "/blog/" -%}{%- assign url = "/blog/" -%} {%- else -%}{%- assign url = child.url -%}{%- endif -%}
                   id: "dropdown-{{ title | slugify }}",
-                  title: "{{ title }}",
-                  description: "{{ child.description | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape }}",
+                  title: "{{ title | truncatewords: 13 }}",
+                  description: "{{ child.description | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape | strip }}",
                   section: "Dropdown",
                   handler: () => {
                     window.location.href = "{{ url | relative_url }}";
@@ -59,11 +59,11 @@
 
           {%- else -%}
             {
-              {%- assign title = p.title | escape -%}
+              {%- assign title = p.title | escape | strip -%}
               {%- if p.permalink contains "/blog/" -%}{%- assign url = "/blog/" -%} {%- else -%}{%- assign url = p.url -%}{%- endif -%}
               id: "nav-{{ title | slugify }}",
-              title: "{{ title }}",
-              description: "{{ p.description | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape }}",
+              title: "{{ title | truncatewords: 13 }}",
+              description: "{{ p.description | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape | strip }}",
               section: "Navigation",
               handler: () => {
                 window.location.href = "{{ url | relative_url }}";
@@ -74,17 +74,17 @@
       {%- endfor -%}
       {%- for post in site.posts -%}
         {
-          {%- assign title = post.title | escape -%}
+          {%- assign title = post.title | escape | strip -%}
           id: "post-{{ title | slugify }}",
           {% if post.redirect == blank %}
-            title: "{{ title }}",
+            title: "{{ title | truncatewords: 13 }}",
           {% elsif post.redirect contains '://' %}
             // TODO: fix the svg icon position for external posts
-            title: '{{ title }} <svg width="1.2rem" height="1.2rem" top=".5rem" viewBox="0 0 40 40" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M17 13.5v6H5v-12h6m3-3h6v6m0-6-9 9" class="icon_svg-stroke" stroke="#999" stroke-width="1.5" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"></path></svg>',
+            title: '{{ title | truncatewords: 13 }} <svg width="1.2rem" height="1.2rem" top=".5rem" viewBox="0 0 40 40" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M17 13.5v6H5v-12h6m3-3h6v6m0-6-9 9" class="icon_svg-stroke" stroke="#999" stroke-width="1.5" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"></path></svg>',
           {% else %}
-            title: "{{ title }}",
+            title: "{{ title | truncatewords: 13 }}",
           {% endif %}
-          description: "{{ post.description | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape }}",
+          description: "{{ post.description | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape | strip }}",
           section: "Posts",
           handler: () => {
             {% if post.redirect == blank %}
@@ -97,37 +97,18 @@
           },
         },
       {%- endfor -%}
-      {%- assign news = site.news | reverse -%}
-      {%- for item in news -%}
-        {
-          {%- if item.inline -%}
-            {%- assign title = item.content | remove: '<p>' | remove: '</p>' | escape | strip -%}
-          {%- else -%}
-            {%- assign title = item.title | escape -%}
-          {%- endif -%}
-          id: "news-{{ title | slugify }}",
-          title: '{{ title | emojify }}',
-          description: "{{ item.description | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape }}",
-          section: "News",
-          {%- unless item.inline -%}
-            handler: () => {
-              window.location.href = "{{ item.url | relative_url }}";
-            },
-          {%- endunless -%}
-        },
-      {%- endfor -%}
       {%- for collection in site.collections -%}
-        {%- if collection.label != 'news' and collection.label != 'posts' -%}
+        {%- if collection.label != 'posts' -%}
           {%- for item in collection.docs -%}
             {
               {%- if item.inline -%}
-                {%- assign title = item.content | remove: '<p>' | remove: '</p>' | escape | strip -%}
+                {%- assign title = item.content | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape | strip -%}
               {%- else -%}
-                {%- assign title = item.title | escape -%}
+                {%- assign title = item.title | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape | strip -%}
               {%- endif -%}
               id: "{{ collection.label }}-{{ title | slugify }}",
-              title: '{{ title | emojify }}',
-              description: "{{ item.description | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape }}",
+              title: '{{ title | emojify | truncatewords: 13 }}',
+              description: "{{ item.description | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape | strip }}",
               section: "{{ collection.label | capitalize }}",
               {%- unless item.inline -%}
                 handler: () => {