Simple Recent Posts Widget for Blogger/Blogspot

The main advantage on this Recent Posts widget is that it will show not only post titles but also post excerpts or snippets and it's easy to customize/ apply different style on it. To style it into your own design, you just have to modify the CSS style - you can change the link or background color, the size and color of text/links.

What you can do with this widget:

• display post titles only
• change the number of posts
• change the number of characters of the post snippet/excerpt
• show the post dates

See the screenshot below:

How to add Recent Posts Widget to Blogger

Step 1. Log in to your Blogger Dashboard, then go to Layout and click on Add a Gadget link

Step 2. From the pop-up window, scroll down and choose HTML/JavaScript

Step 3. Select & Copy the code from one of the options below and paste it into the new HTML/JavaScript:

Option 1: Recent posts widget with snippets

<div id="hlrpsa">
<script src="http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/recent-posts-with-snippets.js">
</script>
<script>
var numposts = 5;var showpostdate = false;var showpostsummary = true;var numchars = 100;var standardstyling = true;
</script>
<script src="http://your-blog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=published&amp;alt=json-in-script&amp;callback=showrecentposts">
</script></div>
<div id="rpdr" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9px;">
<a href="http://helplogger.blogspot.com/2012/04/recent-posts-widget-for-bloggerblogspot.html" target="_blank" title="Grab this Recent Posts Widget">Recent Posts Widget</a> by <a href="http://helplogger.blogspot.com" title="Recent Posts Widget">Helplogger</a></div>
<noscript>Your browser does not support JavaScript!</noscript>
<style type="text/css">
#hlrpsa a {color: #0B3861; font-size: 13px;} #rpdr {background: url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCCRaxe_AdGRxQPvbmqlFl64EHdR6h5R1I3XD2jWlSmQRuPeD6L1eweuyyG5nnxVZlBVVVhiFNGBdDS5aSk-HKohXZkbOoGK5bNABvKj0uNKlyz8O9PdsCWVtkLwwG-eTiOpi5B-ZGjBw/s1600/blogger.png) 0px 0px no-repeat; padding: 1px 0px 0px 19px; height:14px; margin: 5px 0px 0px 0px;line-height:14px;}
#rpdr, #rpdr a {color:#808080;}
#hlrpsa { color: #999999; font-size: 11px; border-bottom:1px #cccccc dotted; margin-top:-10px; padding-bottom:10px;}
.hlrps a {font-weight:bold; }
.hlrpssumm {}
</style>

Option 2: Recent Posts Widget Showing Post Titles Only

<div id="hlrpsb">
<script style="text/javascript" src="http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/recent-posts-with-titles-only.js"></script>
<script style="text/javascript">var numposts = 10;var showpostdate = false;var showpostsummary = false;var numchars = 100;var standardstyling = true;</script>
<script src="http://your-blog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=published&alt=json-in-script&callback=showrecentposts"></script></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9px;" id="rpdr"><a href="http://helplogger.blogspot.com/2012/04/recent-posts-widget-for-bloggerblogspot.html" title="Grab this Recent Posts Widget" target="_blank">Recent Posts Widget</a> by <a href="http://helplogger.blogspot.com" title="Recent Posts Widget">Helplogger</a></div><noscript>Oops! Make sure JavaScript is enabled in your browser.</noscript>
<style type=text/css>
#hlrpsb a {color: #0B3861; font-size: 13px;} #rpdr {background: url( https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCCRaxe_AdGRxQPvbmqlFl64EHdR6h5R1I3XD2jWlSmQRuPeD6L1eweuyyG5nnxVZlBVVVhiFNGBdDS5aSk-HKohXZkbOoGK5bNABvKj0uNKlyz8O9PdsCWVtkLwwG-eTiOpi5B-ZGjBw/s1600/blogger.png ) 0px 0px no-repeat; padding: 1px 0px 0px 19px; height:14px; margin: 5px 0px 0px 0px;line-height:14px;}
#rpdr, #rpdr a {color:#808080;}
.bbrecpost2 {
padding-top:6px;
padding-bottom:6px;
border-bottom: 1px #cccccc dotted; }
</style>

Step 4.

• Change 5 (option 1) and 10 (option 2) with the number of posts you want to display. 
• Change false to true if you want the posts dates to appear 
• Change 100 (option 1) if you want more characters to be displayed.
• To change the color and font size of the links, modify the values in blue (links) and violet (font-size)
• To change the style of posts summary, modify the values in green (color) and orange (font size)
• Replace the your-blog text with the name of your blog or if you have a custom domain change all the bolded line with your address like in this example:

http://www.your-site.com/feeds/posts/default....

Step 5. Save your widget. And that's it! Enjoy!

If you need any help, leave a comment below.
And if you liked this post, please consider sharing it. Thanks.

A Beautiful jQuery Drop-Down Menu For Blogger Blogspot

Alright, this time, we are going to make a stylish and simple jQuery drop down menu. The main objective is to make it as simple as possible, with some little jQuery effect and easy to customize/ apply different style on it. To style it into your own design, you just have to modify the a tag CSS style. You can change colors or put background images, or the size and color of text.

Steps Adding the jQuery Drop-Down menu

Step 1. Go to Dashboard - Template - Edit HTML - Proceed

Step 2. Expand Widget Template (make a backup)

Step 3. Search for the following code:

]]></b:skin>

Step 4. Add the following CSS code before/above it:

#jsddm {
height: 40px;
margin: 0;
overflow: visible;
z-index: 2;
padding: 15px;
position:relative;
}
#jsddm li {
float: left;
list-style: none;
font: 12px Tahoma, Arial;
}
#jsddm li a {
display: block;
white-space: nowrap;
margin:1px 3px;
border: 1px solid #AAAAAA;
background: #cccccc;
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#ebebeb), to(#cccccc));
background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #ebebeb, #cccccc);
padding: 5px 10px;
-webkit-border-radius: 5px;
-moz-border-radius: 5px;
border-radius: 5px;
text-shadow: #ffffff 0 1px 0;
color: #363636;
font-size: 15px;
font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;
text-decoration: none;
vertical-align: middle;
}
#jsddm li a:hover {
background: #C8C8C8;
}
#jsddm li ul {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
position: absolute;
visibility: hidden;
border-top: 1px solid white;
}
#jsddm li ul li {
float: none;
display: inline;
}
#jsddm li ul li a {
width: auto;
background: #CAE8FA;
}
#jsddm li ul li a:hover {
background: #A3CEE5;
}

Step 5. Now find this piece of code:

</head>

Step 6. Add this code immediately before/ABOVE it:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.2.6/jquery.js' type='text/javascript'/>
  <script type='text/javascript'>
  //<![CDATA[
var timeout    = 500;
  var closetimer = 0;
  var ddmenuitem = 0;
function jsddm_open()
  {  jsddm_canceltimer();
  jsddm_close();
  ddmenuitem = $(this).find('ul').css('visibility', 'visible');}
function jsddm_close()
  {  if(ddmenuitem) ddmenuitem.css('visibility', 'hidden');}
function jsddm_timer()
  {  closetimer = window.setTimeout(jsddm_close, timeout);}
function jsddm_canceltimer()
  {  if(closetimer)
  {  window.clearTimeout(closetimer);
  closetimer = null;}}
$(document).ready(function()
  {  $('#jsddm > li').bind('mouseover', jsddm_open)
  $('#jsddm > li').bind('mouseout',  jsddm_timer)});
document.onclick = jsddm_close;
  //]]>
  </script>

Step 7. Click on Save Template button.

Step 8. Go to Layout > click on "Add a gadget" link

Step 9. Choose HTML/JavaScript from the pop-up window

Step 10. Paste the following code in the empty box:

<ul id="jsddm">
  <li><a href="#">Home</a>
  <li><a href="#">Link 1</a>
  <ul>
  <li><a href="#">Drop 1-1</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Drop 1-2</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Drop 1-3</a></li>
  </ul>
  </li>
 <li><a href="#">Link 2</a>
  <ul>
  <li><a href="#">Drop 2-1</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Drop 2-2</a></li>
  </ul>
  </li>
 <li><a href="#">Link 3</a>
  <ul>
  <li><a href="#">Drop 3-1</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Drop 3-2</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Drop 3-3</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Drop 3-4</a></li>
  </ul>
  </li>
 <li><a href="#">Link 4</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Link 5</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Link 6</a></li>
  </li></ul>

Note :

You must change links titles and replace the # symbol with the URL address of each of your links

Step 11. Click on Save

Important:

- if your menu is on the sidebar, or footer, just drag it to your page header and click and click Save again.
- if drop down links are not showing, do the following:

Go back to Template > Edit HTML and search (CTRL + F) for this code:

<b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='1' showaddelement='no'>

You should change 1 with 3 and no with yes like this:

<b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='3' showaddelement='yes'>

Save the Template.

Next thing to do is to go to Layout and drag your menu immediately below your header

Then click on Save Arrangement

Here you can see the DEMO.

Enjoy! :)