Note:
Dark gray line represents the post title
Gray lines represent the post excerpt
Light gray line represents metadata; data/author name etc.
Displaying meta data in a horizontal box looks fine until the quantity of excerpt changes.
Having the metadata right at the bottom also doesn't work.
What are some other solutions for placing the meta data?
I think that (even as a static content), an article is something that User interacts in time and it could be presented on a timeline so that the "conversation" between the site and User would look a little bit like this:
Site: "See what I have for you: The title."
User: "Well, this looks interesting. Let's see what it is about..."
Site: "This is just in, and about Tech and Science, written by John Doe"
User: "OK, Tech is what I like (I skip the rest). Ok, let us see what is in there."
Site: "It goes like this: Nullam quis risus eget urna mollis ornare vel eu leo. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec elit. Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non magna. Maecenas faucibus mollis interdum. Maecenas faucibus mollis interdum. Donec sed odio dui. Would you like to read more of this?"
User: "OK, give me more." – he clicks "Read more"
I think that once the User has entered the content (reading the excerpt) it would be unnatural to break the reading experience and hence the excerpt should go last:
The meaning of contemporary life
Posted by John Doe, Monday, 11th of April in: Science, Technology
Nullam quis risus eget urna mollis ornare vel eu leo. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec elit. Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non magna. Maecenas faucibus mollis interdum. Maecenas faucibus mollis interdum. Donec sed odio dui. Read more >>
I believe that this would enclose all the meaning between the opening (the title) and the exit ("Read more").
As a side effect, this would allow you to avoid your problem as well.
