Blogger

 

 (Note: You’ll only see the labels here if you have at least one post already labeled. You can label an individual post on the posting form.)
If you click the label links on the left-hand side, the list of posts will be narrowed down to show only posts with that particular label.
Each post has a checkbox next to it. If you want to make a change to multiple posts, first check all the ones that you want to affect. Then select an option from the “Label Actions…” menu.

 

1. Click the “Books” label link on the left side of the page.
2. Click the “Select All” link at the top of the list of posts.
3. From the “Label Actions…” menu, choose “Remove label > Books.”
4. From the “Label Actions…” menu, choose “Apply label > New Label…”
5. Enter “Reading” as your new label. (If you already have some posts with the label “Reading,” you can simply apply that label, without making a new label.)

Featured Sliders also known as Slideshows, Image Sliders, Featured Posts Sliders and Carousels are very popular among bloggers.They can be used to link to featured content in your blog or just as an image carousel for your pictures.I have not really covered sliders or slideshows too much on Spice Up Your Blog.The main reason is there are so many tutorials already available for Blogger sliders, i did share 5 of my favorite Blogger Featured Sliders from other blogs not too long ago.

But over the coming weeks i have lined up some very unique Slideshow options including the one in this post that not only can slide through images but also accepts html as slides ! 

The main advantage of this is you can actually have YouTube videos (Or Any Videos) as part of the slideshow.That’s not a thumbnail or image linking to the video it’s the actual video that can be played within the slideshow, How cool is that.

The slider is called the ‘Anything Slider’ and was created by Chris Coyier of Css Tricks, Check them out.There are tons more features but first Lets look at the live demo, you will notice every second slide i have set to be a video.



As you will have seen the slideshow has some cool extra features on the face such as it is both auto scroll and manual scroll, numbered tabs to jump to each slide are below, a start stop option is also available, the slide will also stop when your cursor hovers over a slide.

Add The Anything Slider To Blogger

Step 1. In Your Blogger Dashboard Click Design > Edit Html



Step 2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code – More Info)

]]></b:skin>

Step 3. Copy and paste the following code directly Above / Before ]]></b:skin>

Note – Width And Height Are Highlighted At The Top Of The Code and can be easily changed.Those comfortable enough to do so can also change some of the appearance options.

Step 4. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code – More Info)

</head>

Step 5. Copy and paste the following code Directly Above / Before </head>

Step 5. Save your template.

We have now added the Css, jQuery and javascript to make the Featured Slider work next we need to add the actual content.

Adding The Slider And Content

You will want to add the slider below your header across your blog.This position is known as ‘crosscol’ or Cross Column.



Some templates may not have that section available, if your blog doesn’t you can see how to make it available here – Full Width Cross Column Gadget.

We all have it now so you can click ‘Add A Gadget’ and choose ‘Html/Javascript’.

Adding slides could not be easier, in your html/javascript gadget you add an opening tag which is <ul id=”slider1″> at the top and a closing tag </ul> at the bottom and the images or videos go in the middle wrapped in list tags :

<ul id=”slider1″>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
<li>Place Image Or Video Code Here</li>
</ul>

This is the code for the slider on the demo page :

<ul id=”slider1″>

<li><iframe width=”640″ height=”390″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/FFVSa4HEW1k?rel=0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></li>

<li><a href=”http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/”><img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bw_c8KpBko4/TdK2lnRjg8I/AAAAAAAAD4A/A-RjX-DdeQw/s1600/slide-civil-2.jpg” alt=”” /></a></li>



<li><iframe width=”480″ height=”385″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/DbtrJmjXMOk?rel=0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></li>


<li><a href=”http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/”><img src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xPits9ZP8Z0/TdK2yoE0JaI/AAAAAAAAD4I/0DhxMUWbQEw/s1600/slide-civil-1.jpg” alt=”” /></a></li>

<li><iframe width=”640″ height=”390″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/bz9LOf9j-DA?rel=0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></li> 

<li><a href=”http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/”><img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6A5FpvDIeYA/TdK2_sYHuHI/AAAAAAAAD4Q/YzR7KrrWDEo/s1600/slide-env-2.jpg” alt=”” /></a></li>

</ul>

Highlighted in yellow you can see how the videos were added and highlighted in red you can see how the images were added.That’s it, a unique jQuery featured slider for both images and video.

Thanks to Css Tricks for the very cool Slideshow and there is actually another few versions of this slider we may cover in the future.

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below. 

I’m sure you will have noticed the new Google design as covered in the post Evolving the Google design and experience on the official Google blog.While the changes have been subtle some stand out like the new sleek search bar on results pages.The new search bar has a more modern minimalist look with rounded corners and hover effect.But one new feature i quiet like is as you type your text into the search field an X appears than can be clicked to remove your text.Yes it’s nothing major but still a neat feature none the less.So in this post i will show you how you can re-create the new Google search bar and use it on your blog.

Once on your blog it will look the very same, using jQuery for the X delete button and your blogs default search to generate results.This was covered on the Awesome Queness.Com design blog and with just a few changes i have it ready to go For Blogger.

Lets look at some screenshots and the live demo :

On Google 



On Blogger



On the demo page i have it wide across the top of the posts but you can also easily make it smaller to fit nicely into your sidebar.If you want to actually try it just search for one of the recent posts you can see in the sidebar of that blog.

 

Add The New Google Style Search Bar To Blogger

Remember Always Back Up Your Template Before You Make Changes – How To Back Up A Blogger Template 

Step 1. In Your Blogger Dashboard Click Design > Edit Html 



Step 2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code – How To Find Code In Blogger Template Template) 

]]></b:skin>

Step 3. Copy and Paste the following code Directly Above / Before ]]></b:skin>

-Scroll Box Make Sure To Get All The Code.

Note – To change the width of the search bar simply change the line highlighted in yellow from 200px up or down.

Step 4. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code – How To Find Code In Blogger Template Template) 

</head>

Step 5. Now Copy And Paste This Code Directly Above / Before </head>

Note – If you have previously added jQuery script to your template you can remove the code highlighted in green.

<script src=’http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.6.1.min.js’ type=’text/javascript’/>

<script type=’text/javascript’>
$().ready(function() {
// if text input field value is not empty show the &quot;X&quot; button
$(&quot;#field&quot;).keyup(function() {
$(&quot;#x&quot;).fadeIn();
if ($.trim($(&quot;#field&quot;).val()) == &quot;&quot;) {
$(&quot;#x&quot;).fadeOut();
}
});
// on click of &quot;X&quot;, delete input field value and hide &quot;X&quot;
$(&quot;#x&quot;).click(function() {
$(&quot;#field&quot;).val(&quot;&quot;);
$(this).hide();
});
});
</script>

Step 6. Save your template, we have the Css added to style the search bar and the jQuery for the X button now we add the html.

Step 7. Head back to your blogs design page and click Add A Gadget > Choose Html/Javascript.





Step 8. Copy and Paste the following code into the Html/Javascript gadget :

<div id=”searchContainer”>
<form name=”SUYB” action=”/search” method=”get”>
<input type=”text” id=”field” id=”s” name=”q”/>
<div id=”delete”><span id=”x”>x</span></div>
<input type=”submit” name=”submit” id=”submit” value=”Search” />
</form>
</div>

Step 9. Save the html/javascript gadget and you can drag and drop it into place.

And that is it ! A lot of steps but over all i think it was easy enough to implement.Thanks once again to Queness for the original design, make sure to check out more of our Blogger Gadgetsand jQuery tutorials.If your looking for something more basic we have a Simple yet stylish search bar for blogger.
Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.