How to create Random posts widget with image thumbnails and snippets for Blogger

You know that Visitors to your website is very important. When your blog has too many posts, visitors don't always have much time or desire to through all the posts written there in order to make an idea of the blogs content. So, an advance Random Posts widget that will allow visitors to find content more easily could be really useful. This tutorial will show you how to add a random posts widget to display a list of posts in a random order with thumbnails and excerpts/snippets.

Adding RANDOM POSTS With Thumbnails And Posts Summary (Snippets) On Blogger:

Step-1. Login to your blogger account, select your blog and go to Layout.
Step-2. Add new widgets by clicking on the Add a gadget link and select Html/JavaScript from the popup window.

Step-3. After adding the Html/JavaScript you need to copy the following script and paste it in the Content box.

<style>
#random-posts img {
border: 1px #eeeeee;
float: left;
margin-right: 5px;
width: 50px;
height: 50px;
background-color: #F5F5F5;
padding: 3px;
transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;
}
#random-posts img:hover {
opacity: 0.6;
}
ul#random-posts {
list-style-type: none;
padding: 0px;
}
#random-posts a {
font-size: 10px;
text-transform: uppercase;
padding: 0px auto 5px;
}
#random-posts a:hover {
text-decoration: none;
}
.random-summary {
font-size: 11px;
background: none;
padding: 5px;
margin-right: 8px;
}
#random-posts li {
margin-bottom: 10px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #EEEEEE;
padding: 4px;
}
</style>
<ul id='random-posts'>
<script type='text/javaScript'>
var randomposts_number = 5;
var randomposts_chars = 50;
var randomposts_details = 'no';
var randomposts_comments = 'Comments';
var randomposts_commentsd = 'Comments Disabled';
var randomposts_current = [];
var total_randomposts = 0;
var randomposts_current = new Array(randomposts_number);
function randomposts(json) {
total_randomposts = json.feed.openSearch$totalResults.$t
}
document.write('<script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&max-results=0&callback=randomposts\"><\/script>');
function getvalue() {
for (var i = 0; i < randomposts_number; i++) {
var found = false;
var rndValue = get_random();
for (var j = 0; j < randomposts_current.length; j++) {
if (randomposts_current[j] == rndValue) {
found = true;
break
}
};
if (found) {
i--
} else {
randomposts_current[i] = rndValue
}
}
};
function get_random() {
var ranNum = 1 + Math.round(Math.random() * (total_randomposts - 1));
return ranNum
};
</script>
<script type='text/javaScript'>
function random_posts(json) {
for (var i = 0; i < randomposts_number; i++) {
var entry = json.feed.entry[i];
var randompoststitle = entry.title.$t;
if ('content' in entry) {
var randompostsnippet = entry.content.$t
} else {
if ('summary' in entry) {
var randompostsnippet = entry.summary.$t
} else {
var randompostsnippet = "";
}
};
randompostsnippet = randompostsnippet.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, "");
if (randompostsnippet.length < randomposts_chars) {
var randomposts_snippet = randompostsnippet
} else {
randompostsnippet = randompostsnippet.substring(0, randomposts_chars);
var whitespace = randompostsnippet.lastIndexOf(" ");
randomposts_snippet = randompostsnippet.substring(0, whitespace) + "&#133;";
};
for (var j = 0; j < entry.link.length; j++) {
if ('thr$total' in entry) {
var randomposts_commentsnum = entry.thr$total.$t + ' ' + randomposts_comments
} else {
randomposts_commentsnum = randomposts_commentsd
}; if (entry.link[j].rel == 'alternate') {
var randompostsurl = entry.link[j].href;
var randomposts_date = entry.published.$t;
if ('media$thumbnail' in entry) {
var randompoststhumb = entry.media$thumbnail.url
} else {
randompoststhumb = "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR2bMmH85yjxR6WYQiOFkDC1Eebws0L74hgGS-6h0r2KCSIrid40A4OJgnNoym6vU8yi-3zxRftySJB_hvz14ViNbS79KDE-DdUw2tk8b-y8Sjd_6VPgOwvoWAbZp9hfPz0bTnQ-06vlM/s1600/no_thumb.png"
}
}
};
document.write('<li>');
document.write('<a href="' + randompostsurl + '" rel="nofollow"><img alt="' + randompoststitle + '" src="' + randompoststhumb + '"/></a>');
document.write('<div><a href="' + randompostsurl + '" rel="nofollow">' + randompoststitle + '</a></div>');
if (randomposts_details == 'yes') {
document.write('<span><div class="random-info">' + randomposts_date.substring(8, 10) + '.' + randomposts_date.substring(5, 7) + '.' + randomposts_date.substring(0, 4) + ' - ' + randomposts_commentsnum) + '</div></span>'
};
document.write('<br/><div class="random-summary">' + randomposts_snippet + '</div><div style="clear:both"></div></li>')
}
};
getvalue();
for (var i = 0; i < randomposts_number; i++) {
document.write('<script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&start-index=' + randomposts_current[i] + '&max-results=1&callback=random_posts\"><\/script>')
};
</script></ul>

Random Post Option:

- Thumbnail Dimensions: to change the size of the thumbnails in pixels, replace the 50px value.
- Summary length: you can control the length of the summary (in characters) by changing the 50 value from var randomposts_chars=110;
- Post info: if you want to show the post date and comment count, change 'no' from var randomposts_details='no'; to 'yes';
- Font Size for Posts Titles and Summary: to modify the font size for the post snippet, modify the 11px value and for the posts title, the 10px value;

Click on the Save button and View your blog. The sidebar will display a random posts widget on each of your blog pages.

Enjoy !