We made a few minor changes. - It works now.. thanks for your help!
<div class='post-entry all_sort <?php echo $sort_classes.' '.$grid.' '.$extraClass.' '.$style; ?>'>
<?php
$slider = new avia_slideshow(get_the_ID());
echo $slider->display_small($image_size, $showcaption);
$slider_link = get_permalink($slider->slides[0]["slideshow_link_page"]);
//$showcaption
if(!isset($avia_config['remove_portfolio_text']))
{
echo '<div class="post-content">';
echo "<h1 class='post-title'>";
#echo "".get_the_
title()."";
echo "".get_the_t
itle()."";
echo "</h1>";
echo '<div class="entry-content">';
if($avia_config['portfolio_columns_iteration'] == 1)
{
echo '<span class="portfolio-categories minor-meta">';
echo get_the_term_list( get_the_ID(), 'portfolio_entries', ''.__('Categories','avia_framework').': <span
>', '</span><span class="text-sep">/</span><span>','</span>');
echo '</span>';
}
the_excerpt();
#echo ''.__('Read more →','avia_framework').'';
echo ''.__('Read more →','avia_framework').'';
echo "</div>";
echo "</div>";
}
else
{
$hr_class = 'hr hr_invisible';
}
?>
<!-- end post-entry-->
</div>