5 Best Popular Posts Widgets for Blogger

If you're using Blogger as the platform for your personal or business blog, you're probably looking for ways to customize it and make it your own. This way, you'll make your webpages unique and eye-catching and ensure they'll stand out from the many other pages on the internet. You'll also grab the attention of your target market, encourage them to browse through your blog and become your loyal readers and followers.

Fortunately, there are lots of ways to personalize your Blogger blog, and one of these is to customize your Popular Posts widget. Haven't installed this yet? Don't worry since putting it in your blog easy.

Adding the Popular Posts Widget for Blogger

Just click on your blog title, access the Layout menu, click "Add Widget" and choose "Popular Posts". A window will appear asking you to configure the widget by choosing which posts you'll feature (e.g. those that were most viewed in the past 7 days or 30 days or from the beginning of your blog). You'll also be asked to choose how many posts you'll feature in your Popular Posts section and select if you'll show the post title only or along with the image thumbnail and/or the snippet. (Remember that each widget style has different requirements, so follow the instructions carefully to know if you'll need the snippet and image thumbnail or not).

Once you've followed these instructions, you'll get to see the basic version of the Popular Posts Widget for Blogger in your blog. You can stick with this if it matches your blog design but, if it sticks out like a sore thumb or doesn't suit your taste, there's no need to fret since you can personalize it. You can choose from the following styles - see the demo blog:

Demo blog

Popular Posts Style 1 - Box within a box

This is an interesting widget style since it uses your snippet and image thumbnail in a unique way. Your snippet is written in opaque text and placed in a small transparent box. This, in turn, is placed in a bigger rectangular box, wherein your image thumbnail is used as a background. Choosing this Popular Posts Widget for Blogger can be a great option if you want to brighten up your blog and grab the attention of readers with your colorful photos.

CSS code:

Popular Posts Style 2 - Large thumbnails with small post titles underneath

This uses the same code as the basic Blogger Popular Posts Widget with a few tweaks. Popularized by well-known blogs, this style is eye-catching because it focuses on pictures, which don't only summarize the posts' content but also add visual drama to the entire page. This is particularly useful for blogs that focus on clothes, makeup, art and other topics that highly depend on visual presentation to better express ideas.

CSS code:

Popular Posts Style 3 - Colorful boxes

If your blog needs a pop of color, this is the right choice for you. This widget style presents your Popular Posts in several boxes that feature a thumbnail image and have bright, eye-catching shades like light green, ocher yellow and vivid orange. Each box has a different color, and you can add up to four boxes.

CSS code:

Popular Posts Style 4 - Grid layout

Just like the large-picture widget style, the grid layout is an excellent option if you want to showcase your pictures or if your blog depends on visual information. However, the title of your posts won't be included in the layout, so readers will have to hover their mouses on the images to read the titles.

CSS code:

Popular Posts Style 5 - Numbered posts

If you love numbered lists, or if you'd like to make your blog more organized, this can be the perfect option. By using the code for this widget style, your Popular Posts will be automatically numbered and will feature clean, minimalistic boxes that include your snippet and image thumbnail.

CSS code:

These are just some of the widget styles you can choose from. When you've picked a style you want, make sure to copy its CSS code. Once you do so, go to your blog, click "Template" on the left side and select "Edit HTML" under the template preview.

These next codes need to be pasted above the "" or "" tags, so check the instruction to know exactly where you need to put the code.

Adding the CSS

When the template editor has opened, click anywhere inside the code area and hit CTRL + F or Command F to search the following tag:

Just ABOVE the tag, copy-paste the CSS code of one of the styles above.

Important: If the Popular Posts widget is located in the footer of your blog, remove the .sidebar class found in the CSS code in order to make it work.

Please note that most of the styles are using the Oswald font which you need to add to your template's code as well.

So, search for this tag:

Just BELOW it, add this line:

Adding the JavaScript

These styles also require JavaScript codes in order to resize the popular posts image / thumbnail and trim the post snippet and title. To add the JavaScript, search the tag and paste the following script just above it:

Note: if you have already the jQuery library in your template, remove the line in red.

Once you have added all the codes in the right place, press the "Save template" button to save the changes.

That's it!

The five Popular Posts widgets for Blogger featured today are all great solutions for adding a popular post section to your blog. They all have different appearance for determining what makes a post popular, but the end result is the same: visitors are always one click away from your best content. Try some of these styles, find your favorite, and see how it impacts the performance of your blog.

How to Display Most Commented Posts in Blogger

One of the best gadgets for your Blogger blog is a popular posts widget for your sidebar. This lets visitors see what your trending posts are right now and encourages them to click on them to read them. This basic widget is just a little too basic, however, for the modern day website visitor. Not only do they want to see your trending posts, but they also want to join the discussions that are happening on your blog. To do that, you'll need a most commented posts widget for Blogger.

Having a customized widget on your site is a lot easier than you might think. In order to have an effective widget, however, you're going to need a few specific things to help you out.

Demo

Here's What You're Going To Get

There are certain aspects in the design of a most commented posts widget that you should expect. That's why you'll find these specific components with this custom widget:

• Ordered by popularity. The posts that have the most comments are the most likely to have visitors want to read the post and join in with the conversation. By ordering your posts based on the popularity of them, you'll give each visitor the chance to see what the hype really is about! This lets you have a charted graphic that gives a visitor easy recognition, but also allows you to keep it straight and aligned if you're looking for a cleaner look.

• Graphic incorporation. Blog posts that have at least one graphic incorporated with them will receive 100% more traffic than posts that have no images at all. For every graphic that you include with a blog post, the more likely you are to get a click! The same is true with your most commented posts widget, so be sure to incorporate graphics that stand out with your design.

• Descriptions that blend in. The internet today revolves around the value that you can provide each individual user. People don't just click on things because they look visually tempting. They click on them because they promise a level of value that another website like yours isn't able to provide. By having descriptions that blend in, you'll be able to enhance the perceived value that your site can provide. This leads to more clicks!

Related: Add Multi-Colored Popular Posts to Blogger

Add the Most Commented Posts Widget to Blogger

Step 1. Log in to your Blogger account and go to Template, press the "Edit HTML" button.

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and press the CTRL + F keys to open the Blogger' search box. Type the following tag inside it and hit Enter to find it:

Step 3. Just below , add this code:

Note: if you can't find the tag, try to find the following tag instead and add the variables just below it:

Step 4. Now search for the following tag (CTRL + F):

]]>

Step 5. And just above it, add this CSS code:

.comment-count {
    padding: 3px 10px;
    background: #fff;
    color: #000;
    font-size: 10px;
    float: right;
}

.most-commented ul {
    padding: 0px !important;
    font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;
}

.most-commented ul li {
    list-style-type: none;
    padding: 10px;
    color: #555;
    margin-top: -10px;
}

.most-commented ul li a {
    color: #444;
    font-weight: bold;
    text-decoration: none;
    font-size: 11px;
}

.most-commented ul li img {
    float: left;
    margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px;
    width: 60px;
    height: 60px;
}

.most-commented:nth-child(3n+0) {
    background: $(most.commented.background1);
    width: 100%;
}

.most-commented:nth-child(4n+0) {
    background: $(most.commented.background2);
    width: 95%;
}

.most-commented:nth-child(5n+0) {
    background: $(most.commented.background3);
    width: 90%;
}

.most-commented:nth-child(6n+0) {
    background: $(most.commented.background4);
    width: 85%;
}

.most-commented:nth-child(7n+0) {
    background: $(most.commented.background5);
    width: 80%;
}

Step 6. Save the template.

Now, let's add the Most Commented Posts widget to the Layout of our Blogger blog. Head over to the "Layout" section of your Blogger dashboard and click on the "Add a gadget" link on the right side. From the pop-up window, scroll down the list and select the "HTML/JavaScript" gadget:

Copy and paste this script inside the content box:

Add this widget

Here, change http://helplogger.blogspot.com with your blog URL. If you want to add more characters to the description, modify the "10" value in red from "postDescription,10".

If you want a more simple look (without the thumbnails and post snippets), add this script instead:

Add this widget

.... and replace http://helplogger.blogspot.com with your address.
To add the "comments" text after the comments number, replace the line in red:

' + postComments + "

"

with:

' + postComments + " comments" + "

"

Once you have finished adding your own settings, press the "Save" button to enable the gadget in the sidebar of your blog. That's it!

To change the background colors of the most commented posts, go to "Template" > hit the "Customize" button and navigate to "Advanced" > "Most Commented" tab. Here you can pick 5 different colors by clicking on the color boxes:

Once you've selected your favorite color scheme, click the "Apply to blog" button to save the changes... and you're done.

Why Use the Most Commented Posts widget?

The basic psychology in every human is that they want to feel like they belong to a community. That's exactly what this customized widget will bring to your site. No matter what content drew a visitor to see your content, this widget will invite them to join the lively parts of your piece of the internet. This helps to build relationships, with you and with other visitors, and this relationship-building engagement is what you need to start having real value.

Take the time to install this most commented posts widget on your site and you'll see for yourself why this is one of the most useful widgets that is available right now. Enjoy ;)

How to Increase Thumbnail Resolution on Blogger

When we add a widget on Blogger, the thumbnails will keep a default size of 72 x 72px which might not look good if we try to make them bigger using only CSS. However, with a bit of JavaScript we'll be able to replace the thumbnail with the same image of higher resolution and this way, larger images will no longer appear blurry.

In this tutorial we will see how we can replace the default thumbnail size of the popular posts widget even though we can apply this trick on any of the blog widgets.

Demo Blog.

Changing the Thumbnail Size for the Popular Posts Widget

Step 1. First, let's add the Popular posts gadget by going to Layout > click on the Add a gadget link and select Popular Posts from the popup window.

Step 2. Next, go to Template > click on the Edit HTML button > click anywhere inside the code area and press CTRL + F keys to open the Blogger search box.

Step 3. Type or paste the following tag inside the search box then hit Enter to find it:

After you found the tag, add this CSS above it:

Step 4. Now search for this tag:

... and just above it, add this script:

What I highlighted in red is the widget ID for the Popular Posts gadget. To change the thumbnail size for any of your blog widgets, first you need to find the gadget/widget ID and then add a line below this part:

changeThumbSize("PopularPosts1",210);
changeThumbSize("widget-ID-HERE",210);

 ... and replace widget-ID-HERE text with the ID of that widget/gadget.

Note: you won't see the changes if the widget has a class selector - for this you may need to change class with id and replace the dot "." symbol with "#" within the CSS...

If you don't know how to find the id of a particular widget, please check out this tutorial on How to Use Firebug to Design a Blogger blog.

Step 5. Finally, press the Save Template to save the changes. And that's it!

Popular Posts Widget for Christmas

The Christmas countdown has begun and while homes are decorated with colorful lights and the sweet smell of pine trees and the stores are playing Jingle Bells, there's no reason why we wouldn't decorate your Blogger blog with some ringing christmas bells right next to the Blogger Popular Posts widget!
So today I was playing around a bit with CSS and I was thinking that it would be nice to add some fresh styles to the Popular Posts widget so that it would look just ready for the forthcoming Christmas holiday.

Demo: Click here to see how it looks like.

How to Add the Popular Posts Widget with Ringing Christmas Bells to Blogger

Step 1. Log in to your Blogger Dashboard, go to Template and click the Edit HTML button

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and press the CTRL + F keys, then search for this tag:

Step 3. Just above the tag, add the following:

Next thing to do is to place the widget just above the blogger posts.

6. Search for this code:

...or if you can'find it, search for this one:

7. Just below it, add the following code:

 

  

   
    
• 
       
        
         
        
         
  
          
         
  
         
  
          
         
  
        
       
        
         
          
         
          
         
        
       
      

   
  

 

 

Note: delete the fragments of code in blue if you want this widget to be displayed in posts pages also.

8. Preview and if everything is ok, Save the Template.

Add Multi-Colored Popular Posts to Blogger

Popular Posts is a widget provided by Blogger that displays the most viewed posts on the blog in the last 7 days, last month and of all time. It has three displaying modes: display title only, display title with image thumbnail or display title along with the posts snippets.

To customize this popular posts widget, we have to add a new variable and some CSS codes to our blogger template. So let's begin:

How to add multi-colored popular posts to Blogger

Step 1. Login to your Blogger Dashboard, go to Design >> Edit HTML

Step 2. Select "Expand Widget Templates" (make a backup first)

Step 3. Search for the following tag:

/* Variable definitions
   ====================

Note: If you can't find it, paste it below the autor information that is usually below this tag (CTRL + F):

 

...and should end up with this symbol:
 

 ----------------------------------------------- */

Step 4. Copy and paste just below/after this tag, the next code:

Step 5. Search for the following piece of code:

]]>

Step 6. Just above/before it, add this code:

#PopularPosts1 ul{margin:0;padding:5px 0;list-style-type:none}
#PopularPosts1 ul li{position:relative;margin:5px 0;border:0;padding:10px}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child{background:$(PopularPosts.background.color1);width:90%}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child:after{content:"1"}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li{background:$(PopularPosts.background.color2);width:85%}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li:after{content:"2"}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li + li{background:$(PopularPosts.background.color3);width:80%}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li + li:after{content:"3"}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li + li + li{background:$(PopularPosts.background.color4);width:75%}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li + li + li:after{content:"4"}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li + li + li + li{background:$(PopularPosts.background.color5);width:70%}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li + li + li + li:after{content:"5"}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child:after,#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li:after,#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li + li:after,#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li + li + li:after,#PopularPosts1 ul li:first-child + li + li + li + li:after{position:absolute;top:20px;right:-15px;border-radius:50%;background:#353535;width:30px;height:30px;line-height:1em;text-align:center;font-size:28px;color:#fff}
#PopularPosts1 ul li .item-thumbnail{float:left;border:0;margin-right:10px;background:transparent;padding:0;width:40px;height:40px}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a{font-size:12px;color:#444;text-decoration:none}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{color:#222;text-decoration:none}

Step 7. Now find the following code:

Step 8. Delete it until you reach at this tag (delete the also):

Note: Be very careful when removing it. The entire fragment of code should look like this:

 

 

   

     
     
• 
         
           
             
             
           
             
             
  
             
  
           
         
           
             
             
  
               
                 

  
                   
                     
                   
                 

  
               
               

  
             
  
             
  
           
             
             

  
               
                 

  
                   
                     
                   
                 

  
               
               

  
               

  
             

  
             

  
           
         
       

     
   

   
 

Step 9. After you have deleted the above code, paste the following in its place:

  
   

  
  

   

    
     
• 
        
         
          
         
          
         
        
         
          
           
          
           
          
          
          
  
         
          
           
          
           
          
          
          

  
         
        
       

    
   

  

 

Step 10. Save template.

Settings

- Go back to Layout  and click on the edit link of Popular Posts widget.

Select to "display up to 5 posts", then Save the widget.

- You can easily change the background color of the popular posts widget, going to Template >> Customize  >> Advanced >> PopularPostsBackground and there you can select any color you want.

You're done!

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