Tag, date, and category archives have a new format: they show the first 100 words of each post, including HTML and images. To read more you have to click “CONTINUE READING.”
Before, they were full-text just like regular pages, basically becoming a holding pen for posts. Most people browsing archive pages don’t want to read everything; they’re skimming for information. But the reason I refused to use WordPress’ the_excerpt tag is because it strips images or HTML. Since my Thripp.com blog is a photo-blog with the photos at the top of each post, that is unacceptable.
After much searching, I’ve found a better way: a plugin called The Excerpt Reloaded. It lets you customize the excerpts by using a new function, the_excerpt_reloaded, instead of the_excerpt. I’ve customized and activated it for all blogs on Thripp.com and DaytonaState.org.
I dropped the file in the mu-plugins folder, after removing the changelog to possibly save resources. Since the Thripp.com network only has one theme, I just edited index.php to use the_excerpt_reloaded on archives and category/tag pages. I don’t use separate templates for those pages; I just use conditional tags in one index.php file.
if ( is_category() || is_archive() )
the_excerpt_reloaded(100, ‘<a><abbr><acryonym><b><blockquote><code><em><i><strike><strong><u><img><p><ul><li><script><h1><h2><h3><h4><h5><h6>’, ‘content’, true, ‘… CONTINUE READING’, false, 1, true, false, ‘p’, ‘Click to see whole entry.’, 1);
else the_content(__(’… CONTINUE READING’));
It’s as simple as that! Check out an example here. This is easier to skim, looks good, and will help our Google ranks.
Remember that when you write or edit a post or page, you can enter your own excerpt under Advanced > Excerpt, and that will be used instead. I never enter an excerpt… I don’t think it’s worth the effort. But you can if you’d like.
