What is Blogger Random Post Slider Widget?
Due to the natural structure of blogging platforms such as blogspot, articles end up being buried down once they get old. New users often avoid navigating through all your labels/categories, as a result most of your best content receives no attention at all. A random post slider is the best way to showcase your oldest posts to your visitors. The slider widget will pick your old posts randomly and automatically display the thumbnails either on homepage or sidebar depending on what location best suits you. The slider rotates in a clockwise direction where each slide is both responsive and dynamic.
Features of Blogger Random Post Slider Widget
Each slide will display useful data which is fetched using a JSON Call. Features supported include:
- Article comments count,
- Author avatar,
- Author name,
- Published date,
- Labels,
- Featured Thumbnail,
- Third Party Thumbnail Support,
- YouTube Thumbnail Support,
- Editable Title,
- Mobile responsive (Smartphones/ Tablets/ Laptops/ Desktop Screens supported)
Create and Random Post Slider in Blogger
Follow these easy steps:
- Go To Blogger > Template
- Backup your template
- Click "Edit HTML"
- Just below
<head>tag paste the following JS and CSS source links:<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'></script>
<link href='http://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/assets/font-awesome/css/font-awesome.css' rel='stylesheet'/>
<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Oswald' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>
<link href='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/flexslider/2.6.1/flexslider.min.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>
<script src='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/flexslider/2.6.1/jquery.flexslider.min.js' type='text/javascript'></script>Note: Do not add JQuery, FontAwesome, FlexSlider or Oswald source links to your template if you are already using them on your site.
- Next search
]]></b:skin>and just above/before it paste the following code:/*######### Random Posts By MyBloggerTricks #############*/
.mbt-random{margin:0 5px;border:0;width:100%;overflow:hidden}
.mbt-random .slides{list-style-type:none;margin:0 auto;padding:0}
.mbt-random li{color:#fff;font-family:helvetica;font-size:12px;overflow:hidden;padding-top:10px}
.mbt-random .flex-control-nav li{display:inline-block;margin:0 2px}
.mbt-random .flex-control-nav a{text-indent:9999px;display:block;width:10px;cursor:pointer;height:10px;background-color:#000;border:1px solid #000;border-radius:0!important}
.flex-direction-nav .flex-prev{left:-50px}
.flex-direction-nav .flex-next{right:-50px;text-align:right}
.mbt-random .flex-control-paging{display:none}
.flex-direction-nav{position:relative;top:-250px}
.mbt-random .flex-control-nav a.flex-active{background-color:#84db06;border:1px solid #90f128}
.mbt-random .flex-div{margin:0 auto;display:block;padding:0!important;position:relative;height:370px}
.mbt-random li a{color:#0080ff;text-decoration:none}
.mbt-random i{color:#999;padding-right:5px}
.mbt-random .iline{line-height:2em;margin:0;position:relative;top:-90px;background:#56adff;padding:3px 10px;display:inline-block}
.mbt-random .icontent{line-height:1.5em;margin-top:5px}
.mbt-random div span{margin:0 5px 0 0;display:inline-block;font-weight:400}
.mbt-random .mbttitle{font-family:oswald;font-size:20px;color:#fff;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;position:relative;top:-90px;background:#66b5ff;padding:15px 10px;display:block}
.mbt-random .mbttitle:hover,.mbt-random .itotal a:hover{color:#fff;text-decoration:none}
.mbt-random .iedit a{text-decoration:none;color:#999;cursor:pointer}
.mbt-random .iedit:before,.mbt-random .iauthor:before,.mbt-random .itag:before,.mbt-random .icomments:before,.mbt-random .idate:before,.mbt-random .itotal span:before{font-family:fontAwesome;position:relative;padding-right:8px;color:#fff}
.mbt-random .iauthorpic{width:17px!important;height:17px!important;border-radius:50%;float:none;display:inline-block!important;margin:0;padding-right:3px;position:relative;top:3px}
.mbt-random .iFeatured{overflow:hidden;position:relative;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%}
.mbt-random .iFeatured a{background:none;padding:0;display:block;border:0px solid #eee;margin:0 -1px}
.mbt-random .iFeatured img{height:305px!important;-moz-transition:all .3s;-webkit-transition:all .3s;transition:all .3s;border-radius:0;margin:0;padding:0;opacity:.7}
.mbt-random .iFeatured:hover img{opacity:1;-moz-transform:scale(1.4);-webkit-transform:scale(1.4);transform:scale(1.4)}
.mbt-random .icomments a, .mbt-random .itag a{color:#0080ce;font-family:arial;font-size:12px}
.mbt-random .icomments a:hover, .mbt-random .itag a:hover{text-decoration:underline}
.mbt-random .itag:before{content:'\f02c';padding:0 3px 0 7px;color:#fff}
.mbt-random .icomments:before{content:'\f086';padding:0 3px 0 7px;color:#fff}
.mbt-random .idate{color:#fff;padding:3px 4px;font-family:arial;font-size:11px}
.mbt-random .idate:before{content:'\f073';padding:0 5px;color:#fff} -
Make these changes
- To change the blue background color behind the title edit: #66b5ff
- To change the light blue background behind Author name edit: #56adff
- To change the white color of the Title text edit: #fff
- To change the color of the comment and labels link edit: #0080ce
- Save your template.
- Now go to Blogger > Layout
- Select "Add a Gadget"
- Choose "HTML/JavaScript" gadget
- Keep the title field empty and then paste the following code inside it:
<script type="text/javascript">
//################### Defaults
var ListBlogLink = "http://mybloggertricks.com";
var ListCount = 4;
var TitleCount = 66;
var ImageSize = 800;$(window).load(function() {
$('.mbt-random').flexslider({
animation: "slide",
itemWidth: 600,
itemMargin: 25,
directionNav: true,
touch: true,
slideshowSpeed: 2500,
pauseOnHover: true,
animationSpeed: 700,
});
});var RandomArray = [];
var TotalPosts = 0;
var RandomArray = new Array(ListCount);
function TotalCount(json) {
TotalPosts = json.feed.openSearch$totalResults.$t
}
document.write('<script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"'+ListBlogLink+'/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&callback=TotalCount\"><\/script>');function GenerateNum() {
for (var i = 0; i < ListCount ; i++) {
for (var j = 0; j < RandomArray.length; j++){
var RandomNum = Math.floor(Math.random() * (TotalPosts ) + 1);
RandomArray[i] = RandomNum; }
}
}</script>
<div class="flexslider mbt-random">
<ul class="slides">
<script type="text/javascript">
//################### Function Start
function mbtrand(json) {
for (var i = 0; i < json.feed.entry.length; i++)
{
//################### Variables Declared
var listing= ListImage = ListUrl = ListTitle = ListImage = ListContent = ListConten = ListAuthor = ListTag = ListDate = ListUpdate = ListComments = thumbUrl = TotalPosts = sk = AuthorPic= ListMonth = Y = D = M = m = YY = DD = MM = mm = TT = "";
//################### Categoryif (json.feed.entry[i].category != null)
{
for (var k = 0; k < json.feed.entry[i].category.length; k++) {
ListTag += "<a href='"+ListBlogLink+"/search/label/"+json.feed.entry[i].category[k].term+"'>"+json.feed.entry[i].category[k].term+"</a>";
if(k < json.feed.entry[i].category.length-1)
{ ListTag += ", ";}
}
}
//################### URL
for (var j = 0; j < json.feed.entry[i].link.length; j++) {
if (json.feed.entry[i].link[j].rel == 'alternate') {
break;
}
}
ListUrl= "'" + json.feed.entry[i].link[j].href + "'";
//################### Info
TotalPosts = json.feed.openSearch$totalResults.$t;
if (json.feed.entry[i].title!= null)
{
ListTitle= json.feed.entry[i].title.$t.substr(0, TitleCount);
}
if (json.feed.entry[i].thr$total)
{
ListComments= "<a href='"+json.feed.entry[i].link[j].href+"#comment-form'>"+json.feed.entry[i].thr$total.$t+"</a>";
}
ListAuthor= json.feed.entry[i].author[0].name.$t.split(" ");
ListAuthor=ListAuthor.slice(0, 1).join(" ");
AuthorPic = json.feed.entry[i].author[0].gd$image.src;
//################### Date Format
ListMonth= ["Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun", "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"];
ListDate= json.feed.entry[i].published.$t.substring(0,10);
Y = ListDate.substring(0, 4);
m = ListDate.substring(5, 7);
D = ListDate.substring(8, 10);
M = ListMonth[parseInt(m - 1)];
ListUpdate= json.feed.entry[i].updated.$t.substring(0, 16);
YY = ListUpdate.substring(0, 4);
mm = ListUpdate.substring(5, 7);
DD = ListUpdate.substring(8, 10);
TT = ListUpdate.substring(11, 16);
MM = ListMonth[parseInt(mm - 1)];
//################### Thumbnail Checkif (json.feed.entry[i].media$thumbnail)
{
thumbUrl = json.feed.entry[i].media$thumbnail.url;
sk= thumbUrl.replace("/s72-c/","/s"+ImageSize+"/");
ListImage= "'" + sk.replace("?imgmax=800","") + "'";
}// YouTube scan
else if (json.feed.entry[i].content.$t.match(/youtube\.com.*(\?v=|\/embed\/)(.{11})/) != null)
{
var youtube_id = json.feed.entry[i].content.$t.match(/youtube\.com.*(\?v=|\/embed\/)(.{11})/).pop();
if (youtube_id.length == 11) {
var ListImage = "'//img.youtube.com/vi/"+youtube_id+"/0.jpg'";
}
}else if (json.feed.entry[i].content.$t.match(/src=(.+?[\.jpg|\.gif|\.png]")/) != null)
{
// Support For 3rd Party Images
ListImage = json.feed.entry[i].content.$t.match(/src=(.+?[\.jpg|\.gif|\.png]")/)[1];
}
else
{
ListImage= "'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtm0maNUr06C_jCvhDoLUkVnptgdxcrDZZu6uXi9IGh6IreJpMcY7Vcs4HP-ynBx46v8dBcA6Lk4Jhoy0TGbObxeJt3O6fnk1iWw1OAgEOBPQZQBEosJkkxc6iVuTMKCMa70UGC7-K9Do/s200/Icon.png'";
}
//################### Printing List
var listing = "<li><div class='flex-div'><div class='iFeatured'><a href="
+ ListUrl+
"><img src="
+ListImage+
"/></a></div><div class='iline'><span class='iauthor'><img class='iauthorpic' src='"+AuthorPic+"'/>"
+ListAuthor+
"</span><span class='icomments'>"
+ListComments +
"</span> <span class='idate'>"
+ D +
" "
+ M +
"</span><span class='itag'>"
+ListTag +
"</span></div><a class='mbttitle' href="
+ListUrl+
"target='_blank'>"
+ListTitle+
"</a></div></li>";document.write(listing);
} }
<!-- #### Invoking the Callback Function #### -->
for (var i = 0; i < ListCount ; i++) {
GenerateNum();
var scripta = '<script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"'+ListBlogLink+'/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&start-index='+RandomArray[i] + '&max-results=1&callback=mbtrand\"><\/script>';
document.write(scripta);
};</script>
</ul></div>Make these changes to customize the slider:
- Place your blog URL inside ListBlogLink
- Inside ListCount mention how many slides to display. I recommend not displaying more than 3 or 4 slides. Increasing this number will increase the number of iterations/loops and thus slowing down your site.
- Inside TitleCount mention the length of title characters to display. By default titles longer than 66 characters will be trimmed.
- Inside ImageSize mention the aspect ratio or resolution of your featured thumbnails. By default the thumbnails will be 800px in width. If you wish to display the slider in sidebar only then you can decrease this value to 400px.
- Click Save and you are all done!
You have now successfully created blogger random post slider and have installed it on your blog template. Visit your blog to see it working just fine. If in case you troubleshoot yourself, feel free to leave your comments below and I would love to help you with all your queries.
I have installed a random post widget on my blog slider and so far it has really helped growing our audience. I wish this slider may help you equally. This is the first random slider widget of its kind published online for blogger blogs therefore do let us know how useful is this slider for you and what is your experience after installing it successfully on your template. Peace buddies! :)
If you are interested to learn how are blogger widgets developed and coded then do read:
