diff --git a/kallithea/lib/helpers.py b/kallithea/lib/helpers.py
--- a/kallithea/lib/helpers.py
+++ b/kallithea/lib/helpers.py
@@ -101,8 +101,12 @@ def html_escape(s):
         .replace("'", "'")
         )
 
-def shorter(s, size=20):
-    postfix = '...'
+def shorter(s, size=20, firstline=False, postfix='...'):
+    """Truncate s to size, including the postfix string if truncating.
+    If firstline, truncate at newline.
+    """
+    if firstline:
+        s = s.split('\n', 1)[0].rstrip()
     if len(s) > size:
         return s[:size - len(postfix)] + postfix
     return s