This tutorial explains how to write an excerpt in WordPress.
An excerpt is a short extract of your content, allowing users to know its subject. Normally excerpts include a Read More or Continue reading button.
After reading this tutorial, you will be able to add excerpts to your content easily by following a few steps. The explained methods describe how to implement the More block and write an excerpt within the post settings. You don’t need to install plugins to apply the instructions below.
All steps described in this WordPress article include screenshots, making it easy for all WordPress users to follow them.
Writing an excerpt in WordPress:
To begin, login to your WordPress dashboard and open the edit page of the post for which you want to write an excerpt.
On the right menu, select Post to show general post options, and then press the Excerpt option as shown in the following screenshot (Post>Excerpt).
Below you can have a closer view of the menu.
When clicking Excerpt, an empty box “Write an excerpt (optional)” will appear, where you can write the excerpt for your WordPress post. After typing it, press the Publish or Update button to apply changes.
That’s one method to add excerpts to your WordPress blog.
Adding an excerpt using the “More” block:
You also can define the start of the content as an excerpt on the main blog page or archives page.
For this, you also can use the More block.
Move your mouse cursor over the empty block after the text you want as an excerpt and press the + (plus) symbol as shown in the screenshot below.
In the emerging box, use the search box and type “More”, then press the More icon as shown by the lower arrow.
Now you will see the READ MORE block after the excerpt.
As you can see below, I shortened the text to make sure the length does not require more space than allowed by the theme settings, just for testing purposes, I made it short, and the excerpt ends with words “CUT HERE”.
Once you have added the More block, press the Publish or Update button.
If confirmation is requested, press the Publish button again.
As you can see in the following image, the excerpt is properly shown and contains the text before the More block.
That’s how to use the More block.
What is an excerpt:
An excerpt summarizes your content displayed on the archives page or the main blog page. In some cases, they are shown on the home page if you want to show your most relevant or latest posts there.
Excerpts make it easy for users to find their relevant content manually; they may include an attractive image to attract visitors to your post.
You need to take into consideration not all themes support excerpts. If you manage a blog, you probably want to check if your theme supports this.
Conclusion:
Adding excerpts in WordPress is pretty simple by following a few steps, as shown above. All users can do it independently of their knowledge level. Excerpts are especially useful for blog posts, archive pages or pages linking to diverse content; they may make navigation more user-friendly by providing an introduction or description of your content.
If used properly, excerpts can improve the user experience for visitors with disabilities (You can find guidelines at https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/glance/)
Thank you for reading our blog tutorial explaining how to write an excerpt in WordPress. Keep following us for more professional tips and tutorials.
