3
Yes you can change the character limit to larger, but please ba careful because this change may make the display messy esp when you use two column blocks. The default setting is 18 characters. For Recent News and Top Read News block, you can change like this:
open modules/news/blocks/news_top.php, within function b_news_top_show() (should be line 35-37):
change
if (strlen($title) >= 19) {
$title = substr($title,0,18)."...";
}
to
if (strlen($title) > 35 ) {
$title = substr($title,0,35)."...";
}
this way it displays 35 characters.
For other blocks, you can look into all files under blocks/ dir of the module, and change as you like. You should test to find the best character limit and it should be dependant on your theme. If you dont allow theme change, and use only one theme and the best the theme has fixed width, you can get the best result.
Try it, and be cautious.
BTW, you should know the max length of the subject is 80 characters. If you need change to longer, you can do , but the ultimate limit is 255 characters. The best you dont change, or seek help before doing.