Customizing Numbered Lists in Posts + 3 Examples

From the Compose tab of a Blogger post, we can create numbered lists using the "Numbered List" tool.

A numbered list is achieved through the HTML code of a "ordered list". You don't have to worry about adding the HTML, because the editor does it for you by using this tool. If you go to the HTML tab, you'll see that the list you created appears something like this:

   <ol>
<li>The content of the 1st. element</li>
<li>The content of the 2nd. element</li>
<li>The content of the 3rd. element</li>
<li>The content of the 4th. element</li>
    etc...
  </ol>

This tool will automatically number each element of the list taking an "order", hence the name "ordered lists in HTML". In each element a number is successively generated (from 1 onwards), though you can not see this in the HTML code.

Using ordered lists in posts

Creating numbered lists is very suitable for giving any instructions. It is ideal for cooking blogs where the steps in a recipe has to be numbered, or in those blogs that share tutorials... but can be used in any type of blog that need to number something.

By default, when using this tool, the numbered elements will look like:

1. Nulla tincidunt, neque nec laoreet iaculis, tellus libero sagittis nisl, sed commodo lacus nulla ac sapien. Pellentesque vel magna vitae diam hendrerit bibendum tempus at magna. 
2. Nulla pellentesque egestas sagittis. Cras blandit bibendum ante nec placerat. Nulla volutpat diam non quam suscipit et ornare nisi porttitor. Quisque eget elit nulla, et imperdiet nisi. 
3. Vivamus sit amet nibh vel enim aliquam auctor. Phasellus fringilla eros leo, nec varius lacus. Vestibulum id dolor a nisl venenatis varius in nec enim. Pellentesque feugiat arcu ac purus rhoncus dapibus. 
4. Etiam rutrum quam ac est bibendum cursus. In porttitor nunc odio, vel porttitor nisi. Pellentesque velit est, sodales luctus feugiat et, porta quis lacus. Vivamus non mauris urna, non commodo dui. 

However, we can customize the elements on the list with CSS. To achieve this, we will rely on this interesting tutorial from 456 Berea ST, that explains a technique in which using some key properties of CSS, we could customize both the numbers of each element in the list, also the content of each element.

The trick basically involves canceling the default numbering with "list-style: none", and then use automatic numbering properties: "counter-reset" and "counter-increment". Then the property "content" is added to the index of the counter that is created using the previous two properties.

Examples

Here are three examples that I have prepared for those of you who want to customize numbered lists and if you will like one of them, simply copy and paste the CSS code by going to Template > Customize > Advanced > Add CSS. Of course, later, you can customize the background colors, borders, etc..

Style 1.

1. Nulla tincidunt, neque nec laoreet iaculis, tellus libero sagittis nisl, sed commodo lacus nulla ac sapien. Pellentesque vel magna vitae diam hendrerit bibendum tempus at magna. 
2. Nulla pellentesque egestas sagittis. Cras blandit bibendum ante nec placerat. Nulla volutpat diam non quam suscipit et ornare nisi porttitor. Quisque eget elit nulla, et imperdiet nisi. 
3. Vivamus sit amet nibh vel enim aliquam auctor. Phasellus fringilla eros leo, nec varius lacus. Vestibulum id dolor a nisl venenatis varius in nec enim. Pellentesque feugiat arcu ac purus rhoncus dapibus. 
4. Etiam rutrum quam ac est bibendum cursus. In porttitor nunc odio, vel porttitor nisi. Pellentesque velit est, sodales luctus feugiat et, porta quis lacus. Vivamus non mauris urna, non commodo dui. 

.post-outer ol{
 counter-reset:li;
 margin-left:0;
 padding-left:0
}
.post ol li{
 position:relative;    
 margin:0 0 20px 2em !important;
 padding:4px 8px !important;
 list-style:none;
 *list-style: decimal;
}
.post ol li:before{
 content:counter(li);
 counter-increment:li;
 position:absolute;
 top:-8px;
 left:-39px;
 font-family:'Oswald', serif;
 font-size:40px; /* font size*/
 width:34px;
 margin:0 0 10px 0;
 padding:4px !important;
 color:#727272; /* font color */
 text-align:center;
}

Style 2.

1. Nulla tincidunt, neque nec laoreet iaculis, tellus libero sagittis nisl, sed commodo lacus nulla ac sapien. Pellentesque vel magna vitae diam hendrerit bibendum tempus at magna. 
2. Nulla pellentesque egestas sagittis. Cras blandit bibendum ante nec placerat. Nulla volutpat diam non quam suscipit et ornare nisi porttitor. Quisque eget elit nulla, et imperdiet nisi. 
3. Vivamus sit amet nibh vel enim aliquam auctor. Phasellus fringilla eros leo, nec varius lacus. Vestibulum id dolor a nisl venenatis varius in nec enim. Pellentesque feugiat arcu ac purus rhoncus dapibus. 
4. Etiam rutrum quam ac est bibendum cursus. In porttitor nunc odio, vel porttitor nisi. Pellentesque velit est, sodales luctus feugiat et, porta quis lacus. Vivamus non mauris urna, non commodo dui. 

.post-outer ol{
counter-reset:li;
margin-left:0;
padding-left:0
}
.post ol li{ /* the style of each element */
position:relative;
margin:0 0 20px 2em !important;
padding:4px 8px !important;
list-style:none;
*list-style: decimal;
border:1px solid #e2e3e2; /* border color */
background:#f2f2f2; /* background color */
text-indent:10px;
}
.post ol li:before{ /* the numbers' style */
content:counter(li);
counter-increment:li;
position:absolute;
top:-5px;
left:-5px;
font-family:'Oswald', serif;
font-size:14px;
width:12px;
margin:0 0 10px 0;
padding:4px !important;
color:#727272; /* text color */
text-align:left;
background:#e2e2e2; /* background color */
text-indent:2px
}
.post ol li:after{
content:"";
position:absolute;
top:-5px;
left:14px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-style: solid;
border-width: 5px 0 0 5px;
border-color: transparent transparent transparent #aeaeae; /* triangle color */
}

Style 3.

1. Nulla tincidunt, neque nec laoreet iaculis, tellus libero sagittis nisl, sed commodo lacus nulla ac sapien. Pellentesque vel magna vitae diam hendrerit bibendum tempus at magna. 
2. Nulla pellentesque egestas sagittis. Cras blandit bibendum ante nec placerat. Nulla volutpat diam non quam suscipit et ornare nisi porttitor. Quisque eget elit nulla, et imperdiet nisi. 
3. Vivamus sit amet nibh vel enim aliquam auctor. Phasellus fringilla eros leo, nec varius lacus. Vestibulum id dolor a nisl venenatis varius in nec enim. Pellentesque feugiat arcu ac purus rhoncus dapibus. 
4. Etiam rutrum quam ac est bibendum cursus. In porttitor nunc odio, vel porttitor nisi. Pellentesque velit est, sodales luctus feugiat et, porta quis lacus. Vivamus non mauris urna, non commodo dui. 

.post ol{
counter-reset:li;
margin-left:0;
padding-left:0
}
.post ol li{
position:relative;    
margin:0 0 13px 2em !important;
padding:4px 8px !important;
list-style:none;
*list-style:decimal;
}
.post ol li:before{
content:counter(li);
counter-increment:li;
position:absolute;
top:0;
left:-2em;
width:27px;
margin-right:8px;
padding:3px 1px 4px 0 !important;
color:#fff; /* text color */
font-size:16px;
background:url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7n5df44APwqjGuFP0o0XBs4Fv6FxjLJhTn3AMLU9mi0KabEJDec4nrNlQ2QI_sciI5CncKIs8b_V8W0qEQvNuUDFpp4x_7txGdoXNY2thyphenhyphenNtnU9rnM2BtVlhbDjLWmZTfx-qU4NZ184/s1600/blue.png) no-repeat left top;
font-weight:bold;
text-align:center
}

In this last example, I decided to use an image for the circle (highlighted in blue) as the background of the number. We can create the circle with CSS, but it will be squared in Internet Explorer 8.

Anyway, here I leave other images of circles with other colors that you can use if you want.

Note: With red are highlighted the values that can be edited in the CSS of these three examples, and added some comments highlighted in /* green */, so that you can know what each thing does.

Compatibility:

This will work in all browsers including IE8 - in the case of Internet Explorer 7, the number' styles will not be seen as it does not support the :before or :after pseudo-elements. However, I have added a line in the CSS that's specific for that browser and will bring up the default numbering of the ordered list.

Hopefully it will be useful for you ;)

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, which 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.

And that's it! I've already customized the popular posts widget, when it only shows 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:0;
font-size:1.3em;
text-indent:-12px;
font-size:18px;
text-align:center;
color: #000; /* Color of the widget's title */
}
#PopularPosts1 ul{
list-style:none;
counter-reset:li;
padding:8px 0px 1px;
left:-8px;
width:290px;
}
#PopularPosts1 li{
position:relative;
margin:0 0 10px 0;
padding: 3px 2px 0 7px;
left:-5px;
width:285px;
border:1px solid #ccc;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:before{
content:counter(li);
counter-increment:li;
position:absolute;
display:block;
top:-5px;
left:-5px;
font-size:18px;
width:14px;
margin:0 0 10px 0;
padding:4px 4px 4px 3px;
color:#333;
text-align:left;
background:#E8E8E8;
text-indent:2px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:after{
content:"";
position:absolute;
top:-5px;
left:15px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-top:5px outset transparent;
border-left:5px solid #aeaeae;
}

#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
font-size:17px; /* Font size of the links */
color:#444; /* Color of the links */
font-style: italic;
margin-left:17px;
display:block;
min-height:25px;
text-decoration:none;
padding:0 4px 3px 0;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:hover{
background:#f9f9f9;
border:1px solid #aaa;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color:#0174DF;
}

Style 2:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
position:relative;
padding:8px 10px 6px 10px;
width:100%;
margin:0;
font-size:17px;
background: #bada55;
color:#222; /* Color of the widget's title */
text-align:center;
}
#PopularPosts1 h2:before{
position:absolute;
content:"";
top:-6px;
right:-5px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-bottom:24px outset transparent;
border-top:24px outset transparent;
border-right:24px solid #fff; /* Color of the triangle */
}

#PopularPosts1 h2:after{
position:absolute;
content:"";
top:-7px;
left:-5px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-bottom:24px outset transparent;
border-top:24px outset transparent;
border-left:24px solid #fff; /* Color of the triangle */
}

#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{ /* style of the numbers */
content:counter(li);
counter-increment:li;
position:absolute;
top:2px;
left:-23px;
font-size:35px; /* Font size of the numbers */
width:20px;
color:#666; /* Color of the text */
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
display:block;
position:relative;
left:-30px;
width:100%;
margin:0;
padding: 9px 3px 10px 29px;
font-size:15px; /* Font size of the links */
font-style: italic;
color:#333; /* Color of the links */
text-decoration:none;
transition: all .1s ease-in-out;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color:#3366ff;
margin-left:3px;
}

Style 3:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
position:relative;
right:-2px;
padding:8px 63px 6px 17px;
width:100%;
margin:0;
font-size:16px;
background:#C00000; /* Background color */
color:#f2f2f2; /* Color of the widget's title */
text-align:left;
text-indent:18px;
}
#PopularPosts1 h2:before{
position:absolute;
content:"";
top:33px;
right:0px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-bottom:12px outset transparent;
border-left:12px solid #800000;
}
#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 #fff;
}
#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:33px;
width:20px;
color:#888888;
}

#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
display:block;
font-size:14px; /* Font size of the links */
color: #666; /* Color of the links */
text-decoration:none;
transition: all .1s ease-in-out;
}
#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.

Fonts will be inherited from the template, since they have not been declared in the CSS.

Fade In/Out Page Loading Effect On Blogger Posts

A very common effect in jQuery is the fade effect that hides or shows an element by fading it, and we can use it in many ways as for example in the blog's navigation. The following script does just that, by loading the page with a fading effect when we browse on internal links that are in the blog, such as post titles, labels links, archive, navigation links, etc..

You can see an example in this demo blog, click on the title of any post and see the fading effect when the page is loading.

How To Implement the Fade In Loading Effect

1) To put this fading effect on your blog, go to your Template > Edit HTML :

2) Click anywhere inside the code area and search for the </head> tag using CTRL + F keys:

3) Then, just above </head> add the following code:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
$(document).ready(function() {
$("body").css("z-index", "-10");
$("body").fadeIn(0);

$("a").click(function(event){
event.preventDefault();
linkLocation = this.href;
$("body").fadeOut(500, redirectPage); });
function redirectPage() {
window.location = linkLocation;
}
});
//]]>
</script>
<style>
html {
background-color: #F2F2F2; /* Color fading */
}
</style>

4) Save the changes and that's it. In green you can see where to change the color that fades on a loading page.

The original script hides the body of the page while loading, I prefer to change that property with a negative z-index to avoid problems with the search engine robots that may effect the positioning.

Problems?

Consider that such effects could increase the blog loading time, so I recommend using it only when your blog loads fast and does not have too many scripts.

If you already use another version of jQuery remove the other, leaving only this which will be readed first.

If you are using Mootools or Scriptaculous, then you have to make some modifications to the code in order to be compatible.

If you have another script with a fade effect, then it could interfere with this and you might not see anything on the page except the color fading, in such cases it is better without this script.

You can also use this effect only on some links, for example, if you want to appear only when you click on the post titles in the navigation links (older posts and newer posts), and on the top tabs, then replace this line:

$("a").click(function(event){

With this:

$(".post-title a, .blog-pager-older-link, .blog-pager-newer-link, .tabs").click(function(event){

In some cases, the page can load for a second and then load with the fade effect, this may be "normal" because the browser is slow to read the script on page load.

Apart from these drawbacks, I think it's a very elegant way to load blog pages while browsing them, don't you think?