When I first started programming, I thought the description next to the folder / file name on github was actually describing the item - as you did above, and not just the message from the last commit that altered the file.
Many years later, I still believe that's how it should be.
Agree! I gave that feedback many times, who cares about commit message? I want documentation here!
I think Github should really start taking a stance on convention, and come up with project structure conventions that would help project navigation. For example, youtube does that with chapters in videos, if you write a description with timestamps it will display these chapters in the timeline of the video[1].
IMO Github should do the same if you have a README in your folder, describing the folder with a certain syntax, then it should extract this info and show it next to folders.
If anyone at Github is reading this, pretty please :D?
This makes me think we should be able to put something like a standard tag for a 1-line summary (maybe embedded in some markdown in a comment) in a fashion the VCS's can detect & extract and then render in their UXs.
e.g. something very simple would probably work like the first line found that matches something like:
Many years later, I still believe that's how it should be.