Recent Rotating Post Gadget with Excerpt For Blogger

This JavaScript code will display the latest posts of any feed, the difference being that it has two parts which can be used individually or combined. The top of this widget will show a single post along with the title (link), author, date and a brief summary of its content. In addition, this post will rotate automatically within a list whose number of elements will be decided by us. At the bottom, we'll find a full list with recent posts that, on mouse over, will replace the post above, thus breaking the automatic cycle.

Before adding anything, let's see it in action to decide if it does what we want.

Demo blog

How to Add Recent Rotating Posts Widget to Blogger

Step 1. Go to "Layout" > click on the "Add a Gadget" link.

Step 2. From the pop-up window, choose the "HTML/JavaScript" gadget

Step 3. Paste this code inside the empty box:

<style>
.gfg-root {
width: 100%;
height : auto;
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
margin: 0 auto;
text-align : center;
font-size: 12px;
border: 1px solid #DBDBDB;
}
.gfg-title {
font-size: 16px;
font-weight : bold;
color : #6B6B6B;
background:#F3F3F3;
background-repeat: repeat;
line-height : 1.4em;
overflow : hidden;
white-space : nowrap;
padding: 5px;
text-shadow: 0px 2px #fff;
}
.gfg-entry {
background-color: #FFFFFF;
width : 100%;
height : 9.2em;
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
text-align : left;
margin-top : 3px;
}
.gf-title a {
text-transform: capitalize;
color: #0000ff;
font-size: 14px;
}
.gfg-subtitle {
display: none;
}
.gfg-list {
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
text-align : left;
}
.gfg-listentry {
line-height : 1.5em;
overflow : hidden;
white-space : nowrap;
text-overflow : ellipsis;
padding-left : 15px;
padding-right : 5px;
}
.gfg-listentry-odd {
background-color : #F3F3F3;
border-bottom : 1px dotted #CCCCCC;
padding: 5px;
}
.gfg-listentry-even {
background-color : #F3F3F3;
border-bottom : 1px dotted #CCCCCC;
padding: 5px;
}
.gfg-listentry-odd a{
color: #595959;
padding: 0 0px 0 10px;
}
.gfg-listentry-even a{
color: #242424;
padding: 0 0px 0 10px;
}
.gfg-listentry-highlight {
background: #FFFFFF;
}
.gfg-listentry-highlight:before {
position: absolute;
left: 0;
content: '\25BA ';
font-size: 14px;
color: #DBDBDB;
}
.gfg-listentry-highlight a {
color: #242424;
}
.gfg-root .gfg-entry .gf-result {
position : relative;
background-color: #ffffff;
width : auto;
height : 100%;
padding-left : 20px;
padding-right : 5px;
}
.gfg-root .gfg-entry .gf-result .gf-title {
font-size: 14px;
line-height : 1.2em;
overflow : hidden;
white-space : nowrap;
text-overflow : ellipsis;
margin-bottom : 2px;
margin-top: 5px;
}
.gfg-root .gfg-entry .gf-result .gf-snippet {
height : 3.8em;
color: #000000;
margin-top : 3px;
}
.clearFloat {
clear : both;}</style>
<script src="http://www.google.com/jsapi" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="http://www.google.com/uds/solutions/dynamicfeed/gfdynamicfeedcontrol.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
function showGadget() {var feeds = [{title:'List',url:'http://helplogger.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=10'},];
new GFdynamicFeedControl(feeds, 'feedGadget',{title: 'Latest Posts', numResults : 10, displayTime : 5000, hoverTime : 500});} google.load("feeds", "1");
google.setOnLoadCallback(showGadget);
</script>
<div id="feedGadget">Loading...</div>

How to Customize the Recent Rotating Post Gadget

The URL in blue is for the feed. So, the http://helplogger.blogspot.com URL should be replaced with the feed URL of your blog.

Next is start-index=1. This number indicates which post will appear first on the list. By default, it is the latest post published on your blog, so if you want to begin displaying older posts, change the 1 value.

max-results=10 indicates the maximum number of posts that we will be reading from the feed, beginning from the one that we have set up before in the start-index=1. This number always needs to be equal or greater to what we should see later and what it does is to set the number of posts that will be shown in the gadget. The easiest way would be to put 500 in order not to fail, but the higher the number is, the longer this gadget will take to load, so it's better to adjust to what we need to show.

Finally, here are some other script parameters:

• title: 'Latest Posts', is the widget's title that appears on top.
• numResults: 10, number of posts that will show in the list.
• displayTime: 5000, the delay time between posts in the rotator (in milliseconds).
• hoverTime: 500, minimum time for an item in the list to be displayed at the top.

If you want to hide the list and show only the posts, change this part:

.gfg-list {
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
text-align : left;
}

To:

.gfg-list {
display:none;
}

If you want to display only the list, change this:

.gfg-entry {
background-color: #FFFFFF;
width : 100%;
height : 9.2em;
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
text-align : left;
margin-top : 3px;
}

To:

.gfg-entry {
display: none; }

Step 4. Save the gadget and you're done adding the recent rotating post widget with excerpt in Blogger.

4 Different Styles For the Popular Posts Widget

Blogger allows us to easily add a "Popular Posts" widget, that we select from its list of gadgets, and we can do that by going to the "Layout" of our Blog.

This gadget, as the name implies, shows which are the most visited blog posts, and you can set it to display the info you want in four possible combinations: (1) only the title of the post, (2) a thumbnail of the image and the post title, (3) post title with a summary, and (4) post title with a thumbnail and a post snippet.

This is an element that you shouldn't miss in your blog because it encourages your visitors to navigate through your content and that can result in higher income if you're monetizing your blog because it would generate an increase in the number of pages visited, and in turn, can attract the users' interest to subscribe to the blog and to read interesting content.

Preliminary steps: Add the gadget, if you haven't done it yet.

1. Select the "Layout" tab and add the "Popular Posts" gadget in that part of your blog you want to appear, such as in your sidebar, by clicking on "Add a Gadget".

2. Configure the widget to show only the post titles. You can do this by clicking on the "image thumbnail" and "snippet" checkboxes, as shown in the following image.

3. After configuring the widget, save the changes by clicking on Save, and then Save arrangement.

How to add the CSS to create the style of the Popular Posts widget

1. Choose a style, then copy the CSS that appears below the image that shows the style.

2. Select the "Template" tab, then click on Customize > Advanced > Add CSS and then paste the CSS style that you like the most.

3. Once you add the CSS, Save changes by clicking on the "Apply to Blog" button.

Note: Some Blogger templates might not allow adding CSS in that location. In that case, for adding the CSS style you need to access the Template's HTML - from your Blogger Dashboard, go to Template > Edit HTML and paste the code just above the ]]></b:skin> tag (press the CTRL + F keys to find it - you might need to click on the arrow to expand the code and after that search it again)

And that's it! You've already customized the popular posts widget when it shows only post titles.

Styles

Here is the CSS of each style, just choose the one you like the best and put it on your blog. You can see each of these styles in action in the following demo blog:

http://demo-blog343.blogspot.com

Style 1:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
padding:7px 0 3px 0;
width:100%;
margin-bottom:10px;
font-size:1.3em;
text-indent:-12px;
font-size:18px;
text-align:center;
color: #757575; /* Color of the widget's title */
}
#PopularPosts1 ul{
list-style:none;
counter-reset:li;
padding:8px 0px 1px;
left:-7px;
width:290px;
}
#PopularPosts1 li{
position:relative;
margin:0 0 10px 0;
padding: 3px 2px 0 17px;
left:-5px;
width:285px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li{
background: #eee;
position: relative;
display: block;
padding: .4em .2em .4em 2em;
*padding: .2em;
margin: .5em 0;
background: #ddd;
text-decoration: none;
border-radius: .3em;
transition: all .3s ease-out;  
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:before{
content: counter(li);
counter-increment: li;
position: absolute;
top: 50%;
margin: -1.3em;
height: 2em;
width: 2em;
line-height: 2em;
font-size: 15px;
color: #fff; /* text color of numbers */
background: #FB8835; /* background color of numbers */
border: .2em solid #fff; /* border color */
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 8px 5px -7px #888;
-moz-box-shadow: 0 8px 5px -7px #888;
box-shadow: 0 8px 5px -7px #888;
text-align: center;
font-weight: bold;
border-radius: 2em;
position: absolute;  
left: 0;
transition: all .3s ease-out;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:hover{
background: #eee;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:hover:before{
transform: rotate(360deg);  
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
font: 14px Georgia, serif; /* font size of post titles */
text-shadow: 0 -1px 2px #fff;
color: #444;
display:block;
min-height:25px;
text-decoration:none;
text-transform: uppercase;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color: #444;
}

Style 2:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
position:relative;
padding:8px 10px 6px 10px;
width:100%;
margin-bottom: 5px;
font-size:17px;
color:#757575; /* Color of the widget's title */
text-align:left;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul{
list-style:none;
counter-reset:li;
padding:10px;
left:-8px;
width:100%;
}
#PopularPosts1 li{ /* Styles of each element */
width:100%;
position:relative;
left:0;
margin:0 0 1px 12px;
padding:4px 5px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:before{
content: counter(li);
counter-increment: li;
position: absolute;
left: -30px;
top: 50%;
margin-top: -13px;
background: #8E8E8E; /* background color of the numbers */
height: 1.9em;
width: 2em;
line-height: 2em;
text-align: center;
font-weight: bold;
color: #fff;
font-size: 14px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:after{
position: absolute;
content: '';
left: -2px;
margin-top: -.7em;
top: 50%;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-top: 8px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 8px solid transparent;
border-left:10px solid #8E8E8E; /* background color of the right arrow*/
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
color: #444;
text-decoration: none;  
font-size:15px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li {
position: relative;
display: block;
padding: .4em .4em .4em .8em;
*padding: .4em;
margin: .5em 0 .5em 0.4em;
background: #ddd;
transition: all .3s ease-out;
text-decoration:none;
transition: all .1s ease-in-out;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:hover{
background: #eee; /* Background color on mouseover */
}  
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color:#444; /* Link color on mouseover */
margin-left:3px;
}

Style 3:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
position:relative;
right:-2px;
padding:8px 63px 6px 17px;
width:100%;
margin:0;
font-size:16px;
background:#4F4F4F; /* Background color */
color:#f2f2f2; /* Color of the widget's title */
text-align:left;
text-indent:18px;
}
#PopularPosts1 h2:before{
position:absolute;
content:"";
top:36px;
right:0px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-bottom:12px outset transparent;
border-left:12px solid #000000;
}
#PopularPosts1 h2:after{
position:absolute;
content:"";
top:-6px;
left:-5px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-bottom:24px outset transparent;
border-top:24px outset transparent;
border-left:24px solid #ffffff; /* Arrow background color on the left */
}
#PopularPosts1 ul{
list-style:none;
counter-reset:li;
padding:10px;
left:-8px;
width:100%;
}
#PopularPosts1 li{
width:100%;
position:relative;
left:0;
margin:7px 0 16px 12px;
padding:10px  4px 0 5px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:before{
content:counter(li);
counter-increment:li;
position:absolute;
top:-2px;
left:-20px;
font-size:35px;
width:20px;
color:#888888;
}

#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
display:block;
font-size:16px; /* Font size of the links */
color: #666; /* Color of the links */
text-decoration:none;
transition: all .1s ease-in-out;font-weight: bold;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color:#3366FF;
margin-left:3px;
}

Style 4:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
padding:8px 10px 3px 0;
width:100%;
margin:0;
font-size:16px;
position:relative;
left:-20px;
display:block;
border-bottom:2px solid #ccc;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul{
list-style:none;
counter-reset:li;
padding:10px;
width:100%;
}
#PopularPosts1 li{ /* Styles of each element */
width:100%;
position:relative;
left:0;
margin:0 0 6px 10px;
padding:4px 5px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:before{ /* Style of the numbers */
content:counter(li);
counter-increment:li;
position:absolute;
top:3px;
left:-39px;
font-size:21px;
width:28px;
height:28px;
border-radius: 50%;
color:#777; /* Text color */
border: 2px solid #ddd; /* Rounded border color */
padding:0;
text-indent:9px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
display:block;
position:relative;
left:-45px;
width:100%;
margin:0;
min-height:28px;
padding: 5px 3px 3px 39px;
color:#333; /* color of the links */
text-decoration:none;
font-size:14px; /* Font size of the links */
font-style: italic;

}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color:#3366ff;
margin-left:3px;
}

Final Notes

All the CSS is valid. I just have to mention that the numbering is not visible in Internet Explorer 7, since that version of the browser does not support properties that make the numbers appear. For example in the 4th style, the circles look squared in IE8 and earlier versions since, these versions do not support a property that makes them look as circles.