Index: app/models/project.rb
===================================================================
--- app/models/project.rb	(revision 17839)
+++ app/models/project.rb	(working copy)
@@ -620,9 +620,13 @@
     name
   end
 
-  # Returns a short description of the projects (first lines)
+  # Returns a short description of the projects (first 3 lines)
   def short_description(length = 255)
-    description.gsub(/^(.{#{length}}[^\n\r]*).*$/m, '\1...').strip if description
+    if description
+      description =~ /\A(?>[^\r\n]*(?:\r\n?|\n)?){0,3}/
+      s = $&.strip[0...length]
+      s << '...' if s != description
+    end
   end
 
   def css_classes