diff --git a/app/models/project.rb b/app/models/project.rb
index 0e7f8284c..42f2ddfd9 100644
--- a/app/models/project.rb
+++ b/app/models/project.rb
@@ -52,12 +52,11 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
 
   attr_protected :status, :enabled_module_names
   
-  validates_presence_of :name, :description, :identifier
+  validates_presence_of :name, :identifier
   validates_uniqueness_of :name, :identifier
   validates_associated :custom_values, :on => :update
   validates_associated :repository, :wiki
   validates_length_of :name, :maximum => 30
-  validates_length_of :description, :maximum => 255
   validates_length_of :homepage, :maximum => 60
   validates_length_of :identifier, :in => 3..20
   validates_format_of :identifier, :with => /^[a-z0-9\-]*$/
@@ -184,6 +183,15 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
     name.downcase <=> project.name.downcase
   end
   
+  def to_s
+    name
+  end
+  
+  # Returns a short description of the projects (first lines)
+  def short_description(length = 255)
+    description.gsub(/^(.{#{length}}[^\n]*).*$/m, '\1').strip if description
+  end
+  
   def allows_to?(action)
     if action.is_a? Hash
       allowed_actions.include? "#{action[:controller]}/#{action[:action]}"
diff --git a/app/views/admin/projects.rhtml b/app/views/admin/projects.rhtml
index 3a759ecaa..d35c484b5 100644
--- a/app/views/admin/projects.rhtml
+++ b/app/views/admin/projects.rhtml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 <% for project in @projects %>
   <tr class="<%= cycle("odd", "even") %>">
 	<td><%= project.active? ? link_to(h(project.name), :controller => 'projects', :action => 'settings', :id => project) : h(project.name) %>
-	<td><%= textilizable project.description, :project => project %>
+	<td><%= textilizable project.short_description, :project => project %>
 	<td align="center"><%= image_tag 'true.png' if project.is_public? %>
 	<td align="center"><%= project.children.size %>
 	<td align="center"><%= format_date(project.created_on) %>
diff --git a/app/views/projects/_form.rhtml b/app/views/projects/_form.rhtml
index e63c929cc..a810369d4 100644
--- a/app/views/projects/_form.rhtml
+++ b/app/views/projects/_form.rhtml
@@ -8,8 +8,11 @@
     <p><%= f.select :parent_id, (@root_projects.collect {|p| [p.name, p.id]}), { :include_blank => true } %></p>
 <% end %>
 
-<p><%= f.text_area :description, :required => true, :cols => 60, :rows => 5 %><em><%= l(:text_caracters_maximum, 255) %></em></p>
-<p><%= f.text_field :identifier, :required => true, :disabled => @project.identifier_frozen? %><br /><em><%= l(:text_length_between, 3, 20) %> <%= l(:text_project_identifier_info) unless @project.identifier_frozen? %></em></p>
+<p><%= f.text_area :description, :rows => 5, :class => 'wiki-edit' %></p>
+<p><%= f.text_field :identifier, :required => true, :disabled => @project.identifier_frozen? %>
+<% unless @project.identifier_frozen? %>
+<br /><em><%= l(:text_length_between, 3, 20) %> <%= l(:text_project_identifier_info) %></em>
+<% end %></p>
 <p><%= f.text_field :homepage, :size => 40 %></p>
 <p><%= f.check_box :is_public %></p>
 <%= wikitoolbar_for 'project_description' %>
diff --git a/app/views/projects/list.rhtml b/app/views/projects/list.rhtml
index a18f63e43..15ea06483 100644
--- a/app/views/projects/list.rhtml
+++ b/app/views/projects/list.rhtml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 <% @project_tree.keys.sort.each do |project| %>
 <h3><%= link_to h(project.name), {:action => 'show', :id => project}, :class => (User.current.member_of?(project) ? "icon icon-fav" : "") %></h3>
-<%= textilizable(project.description, :project => project) %>
+<%= textilizable(project.short_description, :project => project) %>
 
 <% if @project_tree[project].any? %>
     <p><%= l(:label_subproject_plural) %>:
diff --git a/app/views/welcome/index.rhtml b/app/views/welcome/index.rhtml
index 2e7ec2c06..d618fa6e1 100644
--- a/app/views/welcome/index.rhtml
+++ b/app/views/welcome/index.rhtml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 		<% for project in @projects %>
 			<li>
 			<%= link_to project.name, :controller => 'projects', :action => 'show', :id => project %> (<%= format_time(project.created_on) %>)
-			<%= textilizable project.description, :project => project %>
+			<%= textilizable project.short_description, :project => project %>
 			</li>
 		<% end %>
 		</ul>
diff --git a/db/migrate/087_change_projects_description_to_text.rb b/db/migrate/087_change_projects_description_to_text.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d215840aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/087_change_projects_description_to_text.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+class ChangeProjectsDescriptionToText < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def self.up
+    change_column :projects, :description, :text, :default => ''
+  end
+
+  def self.down
+  end
+end