{"id":1741,"date":"2018-04-19T01:56:14","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T01:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sparepencil.com\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2018-04-26T09:51:37","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T09:51:37","slug":"advanced-excerpt-plugin-download-instructions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparepencil.com\/en\/advanced-excerpt-plugin-download-instructions\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced Excerpt Plugin – Download & Instructions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The below text is out of date. Here is the current download link to the WordPress plugin<\/a>, the advanced excerpt plugin. The plugin is still active, and many people are using (90K+), but the Plugin has not been updated for over 2 years.<\/p>\n

This plugin adds several improvements to WordPress\u2019 default way of creating excerpts.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It can keep HTML markup in the excerpt (and you get to choose which tags are included)<\/li>\n
  2. It trims the excerpt to a given length using either character count or word count<\/li>\n
  3. You can customise the excerpt length and the ellipsis character that will be used when trimming<\/li>\n
  4. The excerpt length is\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0(everything belonging to HTML tags is not counted)<\/li>\n
  5. Possibility to ignore custom excerpts and use the generated one instead<\/li>\n
  6. Theme developers can use\u00a0the_advanced_excerpt()<\/code>\u00a0for even more control (see the FAQ)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In addition to keeping HTML markup in the excerpt, the plugin also corrects HTML that might have been broken due to the trimming process.<\/p>\n

    Version 0.2.1 adds support for multibyte characters (eg. Chinese and Japanese). This is slightly experimental, more details in the FAQ.
    \nPlugin translations are fully supported and language files are included for translation. The FAQ provides more info on this, also.<\/p>\n

    Installation<\/h2>\n

    After you\u2019ve downloaded and extracted the files:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Upload the complete\u00a0advanced-excerpt<\/code>\u00a0folder to the\u00a0\/wp-content\/plugins\/\u00a0<\/code>directory<\/li>\n
    2. Activate the plugin through the \u2018Plugins\u2019 menu in WordPress<\/li>\n
    3. Go to \u2018Excerpt\u2019 under the \u2018Options\u2019 tab and configure the plugin<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n

      Why do I need this plugin?<\/h3>\n

      The default excerpt created by WordPress removes all HTML. If your theme uses\u00a0the_excerpt()<\/code>\u00a0to view excerpts, they might look weird because of this (e.g. smilies are removed, lists are flattened, etc.) This plugin fixes that and also gives you more control over excerpts.<\/p>\n

      Does it work for WordPress version x.x.x?<\/h3>\n

      I haven\u2019t had the chance to test the plugin on many versions of WordPress. It has been tested on 2.2 through 2.7, but it might work on other versions, too. You can safely try it yourself, because the plugin is unlikely to break anything (it\u2019s only an output filter). Please let me know if you succesfully tested it on another version of WordPress.<\/p>\n

      Is this plugin available in my language? \/ How do I translate this plugin?<\/h3>\n

      The plugin comes bundled with a few languages. The correct language will automatically be selected to match your\u00a0WordPress locale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      More information on translation will be added in the future.<\/p>\n

      Does this plugin support multibyte characters, such as Chinese?<\/h3>\n

      First of all, it should be noted that word-based excerpt length only works if your language uses normal whitespace as a word separator. If you use another language, you have to uncheck the\u00a0Use words?<\/em>\u00a0option.<\/p>\n

      PHP\u2019s support for multibyte characters is not perfect. The plugin provides support for these characters to the best of its ability, but there are no guarantees that everything will work.
      \nYour best bet is to use UTF-8 encoding (which WordPress uses by default). If you still encounter problems, check with your host if the\u00a0mbstring<\/em>\u00a0PHP extension is enabled on your server.<\/p>\n

      Can I manually call the filter in my WP templates, for example?<\/h3>\n

      The plugin automatically hooks on\u00a0the_excerpt()<\/code>\u00a0function and uses the parameters specified in the options panel.<\/p>\n

      If you want to call the filter with different options, you can use\u00a0the_advanced_excerpt()<\/code>\u00a0template tag provided by this plugin. This tag accepts\u00a0query-string-style parameters<\/a>\u00a0(theme developers will be familiar with this notation).<\/p>\n

      The following parameters can be set:<\/p>\n