[wp-hackers] Idea: Rename the Excerpt to something accurate

[Demetris]

On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 1:42 AM, Lynne Pope <lynne.pope at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm all for improved functionality.
>
> Over the years the key things my clients have wanted from the_excerpt are:
> 1. control over length (both characters and words);
> 2. HTML formatting (achievable only if formatting filters are removed now);
> 3. control over the "more" - few like the [...] but not everyone knows how
> to write a function to change this.
> 4. ability to select whether to include the_excerpt above the post content
> or not, by use of a radio button.
>
> Still not convinced about changing the name though. the_summary would be
> just as misleading as the_excerpt (keeping an open mind about that though as
> I am interested in how many people actually think of it as a summary).
>
> Lynne
>
3 of the 4 points are about the *auto*generated excerpt (which is
indeed an excerpt in the common sense of the word), not about the
manual excerpt (which is not an excerpt in the common sense of the
word).

The manual excerpt:

1.  Does NOT have a length limit.
2.  DOES retain HTML formatting.
3.  Does NOT have an ellipsis or a link at the end.

For illustration, I just made a dummy short post with a long manual
excerpt.  See how the *manual* excerpt appears in the monthly
archives:

http://op109.net/date/2009/03

(But you won’t get this result with many themes.  The themes that
utilize manual excerpts fully and properly are few.)

Cheers,
-dk