Quick WordPress Tip: Playing with More

While working with a friend of mine, she had noticed that some other blogs were able to customize the text people see to read an extended entry. By default, when you use the built in “more” tag with WordPress, people will see (more…) or whatever’s customized in the theme template; however, there’s a quick and easy way that you can override it.

Before WordPress 2.1, you’d need a plugin to accomplish this, but now all you need to do is add a bit of text in the more comment tag. Write your blog entry as usual, add the break where you want it, then switch to the code editor (if you’re using WYSIWYG), and add the text you wish to use for the extended entry link after “more” — just make sure there’s a space after the word “more”.

Example:

When you publish your blog entry, instead of (more…), the reader will see “Show me the rest, please”. That’s all there is to it, but bear in mind this tip will only work for WordPress 2.1 and above.