As you'll see from http://unlimitedit.co.uk/j32_stock/ I am trying to produce a slightly altered Community Polls view for the home page of my site. The end effect should be one more akin to a standard blog where the featured polls are introduced on the homepage such that members can get an overview of the subject and then drill down to vote and comment. The present layout as seen on my site is a modified version of components/com_communitypolls/views/polls/tmpl/default.php. The immediate improvements I would like to make are:

1. Display the votes counter below the avatar rather than to the right. I'm sure this is simple but I haven't managed to make it work by changing divs so far.
2. Display the actual description rather than the placeholder I have at present. I have tried to use the description script from components/com_communitypolls/views/poll/tmpl/default.php but I'm obviously missing something obvious as it's not working.
3. If possible show just the first x number of words of the description.
4. On the assumption that this is possible, what code is required to change the 'Read more...' placeholder to be a link to the full poll displayed using components/com_communitypolls/views/poll/tmpl/default.php (obviously removing the poll title that is currently displayed)?

Once this modified template is working correctly I then need to add it to the choices available in the 'Menu Item Type' field in 'Menu Manager: Edit Menu Item'. I intend to have the new template reside in components/com_communitypolls/views/homepolls/tmpl/default.php. Which files need to be adapted and what adaptations / additions need to be made? I can then reset components/com_communitypolls/views/polls/tmpl/default.php to its original form.