Truncating number of post characters to display on home page

[Spangles]

Hi all

 

I am extremely new to PHP and trying to modify a WordPress theme called Monochrome.

 

By default, it displays the full post text on the home page and I want to be able to truncate this to say, 100 characters. Can anyone help?

 

I think this is the code snippet that needs to be modified.

 

<!-- BOTTOM LEFT FOUR CATEGORY LISTINGS -->

<?php

// enter the IDs of the categories to display

$display_categories = array('3','19','20','21');

foreach ($display_categories as $category) { ?>

<div class="column span-4 append-1">

<div class="five_posts">

<?php query_posts("showposts=1&cat=$category");

    $wp_query->is_category = false;

$wp_query->is_archive = false;

$wp_query->is_home = true;

?>

 

Thanks in advance

 

[JasonLewis]

I don't see any variable that would have anything to do with the actual post. Basically what you need to do is substr() the string.

 

Example:

 

$string = "This is a really long string that we want to be shortened!";

$string = substr($string, 0, 25) . "..."; //This shortens it by 50 characters and places ... at the end
echo $string;

[Spangles]

This is the full code behind the Main Index Template (index.php) page. I don't see a reference to the string anywhere. Do I need to be looking somewhere else?

 

 

 

<?php get_header(); ?>

<!--BEGIN SLIDESHOW POSTS-->

<div id="feature" class="column span-15 first">

<script type="text/javascript">

function startGallery() {

var myGallery = new gallery($('myGallery'), {

timed: true,

showArrows: false,

showInfopane: true,

showCarousel: false

});

}

window.addEvent('domready', startGallery);

</script>

<div id="myGallery">

<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

<div class="imageElement">

<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>" class="open"></a> <img src="<?php $key="photo"; echo get_post_meta($post->ID, $key, true); ?>" class="full" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>" /><img src="<?php $key="small_photo"; echo get_post_meta($post->ID, $key, true); ?>" class="thumbnail" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>" />

<h3><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>" class="title"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>

<?php the_excerpt(); ?>

</div>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.'); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

</div>

<hr class="space" />

</div>

<!--END SLIDESHOW POSTS-->

 

<!--BEGIN RIGHT SIDE-->

<div class="column span-7 prepend-1 last topright news">

<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('Sidebar-Single') ) : ?>

<?php endif; ?>

</div>

<hr class="space" />

<!--END RIGHT SIDE-->

<!-- BOTTOM LEFT FOUR CATEGORY LISTINGS -->

<?php

// enter the IDs of the categories to display

$display_categories = array('3','19','20','21');

foreach ($display_categories as $category) { ?>

<div class="column span-4 append-1">

<div class="five_posts">

<?php query_posts("showposts=1&cat=$category");

    $wp_query->is_category = false;

$wp_query->is_archive = false;

$wp_query->is_home = true;

?>

<h6 class="category_head"><a href="<?php echo get_category_link($category);?>"><?php single_cat_title(); ?></a></h6>

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

<?php

$values = get_post_custom_values("thumbnail");

if (isset($values[0])) {

?>

<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><img class="photo_align_left" src="<?php $key="thumbnail"; echo get_post_meta($post->ID, $key, true); ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>"  /></a>

<?php } ?>

<h6><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>" class="title"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h6>

<div class="excerpt_small">

<?php the_excerpt(); ?>

</div>

<?php endwhile; ?>

 

</div>

</div>

<?php } ?>

<!-- LAST CATEGORY LISTING - NEEDED TO END CSS COLUMNS -->

<?php

// enter the IDs of the categories to display

$display_categories = array('22');

foreach ($display_categories as $category) { ?>

<div class="column span-4 last">

<div class="five_posts">

<?php query_posts("showposts=1&cat=$category");

    $wp_query->is_category = false;

$wp_query->is_archive = false;

$wp_query->is_home = true;

?>

<h6 class="category_head"><a href="<?php echo get_category_link($category);?>"><?php single_cat_title(); ?></a></h6>

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

<?php

$values = get_post_custom_values("thumbnail");

if (isset($values[0])) {

?>

<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><img class="photo_align_left" src="<?php $key="thumbnail"; echo get_post_meta($post->ID, $key, true); ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>"  /></a>

<?php } ?>

<h6><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>" class="title"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h6>

<div class="excerpt_small">

<?php the_excerpt(); ?>

</div>

<?php endwhile; ?>

</div>

</div>

<?php } ?>

<hr />

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>