How to create click events using CSS

An event is something that happens when we do something. In CSS, the most common is the hover selector which helps us to select elements when we mouse over them and then an event is executed automatically. There is one way to avoid this since in modern browsers there is a property called pointer-events which allows us to disable them. For instance, if we have a link and we set the pointer-events property value to none, it would simply not work:

<a href="page-url" style="pointer-events: none;">Click here</a>

Many use :target to make it work, however, this is not always the best choice if we consider its jumping behavior - click on the link below to see what happens:

Link with target

<style>
#linktarget {display: none;}
#linktarget:target {display: block;}
</style>
<a href="#linktarget">Link with target</a>
<div id="linktarget">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam eu cursus dui, ac fermentum eros. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce elementum sapien et augue fringilla aliquam. Ut a viverra libero, eget commodo nisi. Maecenas ultrices facilisis dignissim.
</div>

Another option is to use the :focus selector which will make the hidden content to expand on mouse click.

The advantage of this selector is that the page stays still, however, we have to click anywhere "outside" to close the expanded content and besides this, the hidden content should be immediately after, with no intermediate tags:

Demo with focus

<style>
.focuselector {display: none;}
span:focus ~ .focuselector {display: block;}
</style>
<span tabindex="0">Link with focus</span>
<div class="focuselector">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam eu cursus dui, ac fermentum eros. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce elementum sapien et augue fringilla aliquam. Ut a viverra libero, eget commodo nisi. Maecenas ultrices facilisis dignissim.
</div>

The last method is more fancy even though it requires more tags but it works the best since it allows us to create a toggle effect, i.e., expand on click and then collapse when clicking again. In this case, we'll use the :checked selector:

Demo with checked

<style>
.checked-selector {display: none;}
:checked ~ .checked-selector {display: block;}
input.hidden[type=checkbox] {position: absolute;left: -999em;}
</style>

<label for="toggle-hidden">Demo with checked</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="toggle-hidden" class="hidden" />
<div class="checked-selector">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam eu cursus dui, ac fermentum eros. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce elementum sapien et augue fringilla aliquam. Ut a viverra libero, eget commodo nisi. Maecenas ultrices facilisis dignissim.
</div>

To apply these effects on the links and content that you want to hide and expand only on mouse click is very easy: when you create a post, paste one of the codes above inside the HTML box and replace the text in blue with the name of your link and add your text instead of the green one.

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How to Add Adsense Ads In the Middle or Anywhere inside Blogger Posts

In a previous post we saw how and where we can place Adsense ads on our blog; however, these methods would only work when we place the ads on predetermined and fixed locations. For posts area, the most common places are below the title, at the beginning of the post or at the end of the post.

But what if we want to display an AdSense ad in the middle of a post?

We can manipulate the location of the ads to be displayed by adding a script inside the template, then using a label inside our post to where we want the AdSense ad to appear. Once added, we can place the ads anywhere, be it between paragraphs or in the middle of the content etc.

Manually inserting Adsense ads in the middle of posts in Blogger is pretty simple, just follow these steps below:

Before proceeding, it is recommended do backup your template (go to Template > click on the Backup/restore button)

Step 1. First thing we need to do is to "parse" the AdSense code, in other words, convert it to plain text. Then go to Template, click on the Edit HTML button, click anywhere inside the code area and look for this tag (CTRL + F):

<data:post.body/>

Note: you may find it several times, but we need to stop at the second one or if you can't see any changes, test the third one

Screenshot

Step 2. Replace the <data:post.body/> tag with this code:

<div expr:id='"adsmiddle1" + data:post.id'></div>
<div style="clear:both; margin:10px 0">
<!-- Add here the code of your ad -->
</div>
<div expr:id='"adsmiddle2" + data:post.id'>
<data:post.body/>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var obj0=document.getElementById("adsmiddle1<data:post.id/>");
var obj1=document.getElementById("adsmiddle2<data:post.id/>");
var s=obj1.innerHTML;
var r=s.search(/\x3C!-- adsense --\x3E/igm);
if(r>0) {obj0.innerHTML=s.substr(0,r);obj1.innerHTML=s.substr(r+16);}
</script>

Step 3. Put the converted Adsense code to where you see the <!-- Add here the code of your ad --> annotation, then save the changes by clicking on the Save template button

Step 4. When you create a New Post, add this tag inside the HTML section in the exact location where you want the Google AdSense ads to appear:

<!-- adsense -->

For example:

<div>This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text.</div>
<!-- adsense --><div>This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text.</div>

Screenshot

Note: If you don't add the label to bring up the ad then the ad appears below the title by default.

This method doesn't violate Google's Terms of Service because you are not changing the structure of the ad.

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Add a Cool Style to Blogger Threaded/Nested Comments

If you need a fresh style to the threaded comments of a standard Blogger template, here's a simple CSS that will help you to apply a different background, make your avatars rounded, add a border with rounded corners and a triangle which is actually an HTML entity to get that speech bubble look on your comments.


To have this style in your comments, all you need to do is to paste the below code inside the CSS part of the template, which is between <b:skin> and </b:skin>

Styling Simple Nested Comments with CSS

Step 1. From the Blogger Dashboard, go to Template and press the Edit HTML button

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and press the CTRL + F keys to open the search box:

Step 3. Paste or type the </b:skin> tag inside the search box and hit Enter. After you found the highlighted code, click on the arrow next to it to expand the code, then search it again by hitting Enter.

Step 4. Just above </b:skin> add this CSS:

.comments .comment-block {
background: #F9F9F9;
color: #555;
box-shadow: 0 4px 10px #EEEEEE;
position: relative;
margin-top: 10px;
margin-left: 60px;
padding: 10px;
border: 4px solid #EEEEEE !important;
border-radius:10px;
font: 1.190em/1.2 Cambria,Georgia,sans-serif;
}
.comment-thread li .comment-block:before {
position: absolute;
display: block;
left: -26px;
color: #EEEEEE;
content: "\25C4";
font-size: 30px;
}
.comments .avatar-image-container {
width: 60px;
height: 60px;
max-height: 60px;
margin:0px 0px 0 -28px;
padding: 0px;
border: 7px solid #EEEEEE;
border-radius:60px;
}
.comments .avatar-image-container img {
overflow:hidden;
width: 60px;
height: 60px;
max-width: 60px;
border:0 !important;
border-radius:60px;
}
.comments .comment-thread.inline-thread {
background: none;
}
.comments .continue {
border-top: 0px solid transparent;
}
.comments .comments-content .datetime {
float: right;
font-size: 11px;
}
.comments .comments-content .user a{
font-size: 15px;
color: #498EC9;
}
.comments .comments-content .datetime a:hover{
color: #777;
text-decoration: none;
}
.comments .comments-content .comment:first-child {
padding-top: 0px;
}
.comments .comments-content .comment {
margin-bottom: 0px;
padding-bottom: 0px;
}
.comments .continue a {
padding: 0px;
}
.comments .comments-content .icon.blog-author {
background-image: none;
}

How to Change Blogger Threaded Comments Background, Border and Colors

- replace the #F9F9F9 value to change the background color of the comments;
- #555 to change the text comments color;
- #EEEEEE to change the color of the shadow around comments;
- 4px solid #EEEEEE to change the border width (4px), style (solid) and color (#EEEEEE) around comments;
- 1.190em to change the comments font size;
- to change the arrow color, replace the #EEEEEE value from color: #EEEEEE;
- to change the border width (7px), style (solid) and color (#EEEEEE) around avatars, modify this part: 7px solid #EEEEEE;
- to change the avatars' size and roundedness, change the 60px value;

Here is a tool from that may help to pick your favorite color:
Color Code Generator (after you choose a color, copy the hex value)

Step 5. Finally, click on the Save template button... and you're done!

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How to Create Magazine Style with Post Summaries and Thumbnails on Blogger

The magazine or newspaper style templates are those that display the posts summaries in the homepage by stacking the columns on top of each other. This kind of templates is very popular nowadays, whether it is a news or technology blog, everyone needs a fresh magazine style layout for their blogs.

There are several ways to make posts appear this way. An option would be to use the Read more script to display a summary of the posts and add a conditional tag and a different style to the first post so that it will have a larger width than the older posts. So, in this tutorial I will show you how to create a magazine style for a Blogger Template. By following this tutorial, you can transform your boring and simple Blogger template to have an attractive and stylish magazine style layout.

Adding the Magazine/Newspaper style to the Blogger Template

Step 1. Before anything please make a backup of your current template to make sure that you won't lose anything important - just log in on your Blogger Dashboard and go to Template, then click on the Backup/Restore button. After you've got a copy of the xml template, click on the Edit HTML button:

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and search by using CTRL + F keys for this line:

<data:post.body/>

Note: You'll find it more than once, but stop to the second one in order to see the changes.

Step 3. Remove that line and instead it add this code:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;item&quot;'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;static_page&quot;'>
 <span class='post-comment-link'><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;item&quot;'><b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'><a class='comment-link' expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:post.numComments/></a></b:if></b:if></span>
<div expr:id='&quot;summary&quot; + data:post.id'><data:post.body/></div>
  <script type='text/javascript'>createSummaryAndThumb(&quot;summary<data:post.id/>&quot;);</script>
<span class='readmorebutton' style='float:right'><a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read More &#187;</a></span></b:if></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'><data:post.body/></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;static_page&quot;'><data:post.body/></b:if>

Note: you can replace the Read More text, by changing the code in red

Step 4. Now find (CTRL + F) this line:

<b:include data='post' name='post'/>

Step 5. Remove this as well and instead of it add this:

<b:if cond='data:post.isFirstPost'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.homepageUrl == data:blog.url'>
<div id='first'>
<b:if cond='data:post.title'>
<h3 class='post-title entry-title'>
<b:if cond='data:post.link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.link'><data:post.title/></a>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:post.url'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url'><data:post.title/></a>
<b:else/>
<data:post.title/>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</h3>
</b:if>
<div class='first-body'>

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;item&quot;'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;static_page&quot;'>
<div expr:id='&quot;summary1&quot; + data:post.id'><data:post.body/></div>
  <script type='text/javascript'>createSummaryAndThumb1(&quot;summary1<data:post.id/>&quot;);</script>
<span class='post-comment-link'><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;item&quot;'><b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'><a class='comment-link' expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:post.numComments/></a></b:if></b:if></span>
<span class='readmorebutton' style='float:right'><a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read More &#187;</a></span>
</b:if></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'><data:post.body/></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;static_page&quot;'><data:post.body/></b:if>

</div>
</div>
<b:else/>
<b:include data='post' name='post'/>
</b:if>
<b:else/>
<b:include data='post' name='post'/>
</b:if>

Note: you can change the Read More text here also, just replace the code in red with the text that you want to show.

Step 6. Now find the </head> tag and paste the following script before/above it:

<script type='text/javascript'>
posts_no_thumb_sum = 290;
posts_thumb_sum = 240;
img_thumb_height = 80;
img_thumb_width = 80;
first_no_thumb_sum = 600;
first_thumb_sum = 540;
img_thumb_height1 = 145;
img_thumb_width1 = 165;
</script>

<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
function removeHtmlTag(strx,chop){
if(strx.indexOf("<")!=-1)
{
var s = strx.split("<");
for(var i=0;i<s.length;i++){
if(s[i].indexOf(">")!=-1){
s[i] = s[i].substring(s[i].indexOf(">")+1,s[i].length);
}
}
strx = s.join("");
}
chop = (chop < strx.length-1) ? chop : strx.length-2;
while(strx.charAt(chop-1)!=' ' && strx.indexOf(' ',chop)!=-1) chop++;
strx = strx.substring(0,chop-1);
return strx+'...';
}

function createSummaryAndThumb(pID){
var div = document.getElementById(pID);
var imgtag = "";
var img = div.getElementsByTagName("img");
var summ = posts_no_thumb_sum;
if(img.length>=1) {
imgtag = '<span class="posts-thumb" style="float:left;"><img src="'+img[0].src+'" width="'+img_thumb_width+'px" height="'+img_thumb_height+'px"/></span>';
summ = posts_thumb_sum;
}

  var summary = imgtag + '<div>' + removeHtmlTag(div.innerHTML,summ) + '</div>';
div.innerHTML = summary;
}

function createSummaryAndThumb1(pID){
var div = document.getElementById(pID);
var imgtag = "";
var img = div.getElementsByTagName("img");
var summ = first_no_thumb_sum;
if(img.length>=1) {
imgtag = '<span class="first-post-thumb" style="float:left;"><img src="'+img[0].src+'" width="'+img_thumb_width1+'px" height="'+img_thumb_height1+'px"/></span>';
summ = first_thumb_sum;
}

var summary1 = imgtag + '<div>' + removeHtmlTag(div.innerHTML,summ) + '</div>';
div.innerHTML = summary1;
}

//]]>
</script>

Step 7. And below the script above add these CSS styles:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;static_page&quot;'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;item&quot;'>
<style type='text/css'>
.first-post-thumb {
margin-right: 10px;
border: 1px solid #fff;
-webkit-box-shadow: 2px 2px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);
-moz-box-shadow: 2px 2px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);
box-shadow: 2px 2px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);
}
.post-body img, .post-body .tr-caption-container, .Profile img, .Image img, .BlogList .item-thumbnail img {
background: none;
border: none;
box-shadow: none;
padding: 0;
}
#first { /* Styles for the First Post Container */
width: auto;
height: 250px;
float: left;
margin-bottom:10px;
background-color: #F4F4F4; /* background color for the first post */
border: 1px solid #E5E5E5; /* border for the first post */
}
.first-body { /* Style for the First Post summary */
color: #545454;
font-size: 13px;
text-align: justify;
padding: 5px 10px;
line-height:1.5em;
}
#first h3 a, #first h3 a:visited { /* Style for the First Post Title*/
border-bottom: 2px solid #DFDFDF;
color: #515151;
font-size: 20px;
display:block;
margin: 10px auto;
width: 95%;
font-size: 20px;
padding: 0px 0px 4px 0px;
font-weight: bold;
text-align:left;
line-height: 1.4em;
background: none;
}
#first h3 a:hover { /* Color on mouseover for the First Post Title */
color: #1061A1;
}
.post { /* Styles for the small posts container */
float:left;
margin-right: 10px;
width: 290px;
height: 210px;
padding: 0px 5px 5px 5px;
background: #FCFCFC; /* background color for the small posts */
border: 1px solid #E5E5E5; /* border for the small posts */
overflow: hidden;
}
.posts-thumb { /* Style for the small posts thumbnails */
margin-right: 5px;
background: #ddd;
padding: 3px 3px 0px;
border: 1px solid #C4C4C4;
border-radius: 4px;
}
h3.post-title a{ /* Style for the small posts titles */
font-size: 14px;
color: #747474;
background-color: #F4F4F4; /* Background color for the small posts titles */
width: 95%;
font-weight: bold;
font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif;
padding: 5px;
}
h3.post-title a:hover { /* Color on mouseover for the Small Posts Title */
color: #005B77;
}
h2.date-header { /* Hide the post date */
display:none;
}
.post-footer { display: none;}
h3.post-title {margin: 0px;}
.readmorebutton { margin-top: 5px;}

.readmorebutton a { /* Styles for the Read More link */
color: #767676;
border: 1px solid #E1E1E1;
background: #EAEAEA; /* Background color for the Read More link */
text-decoration:none;
padding: 3px 5px;
font-weight: bold;
font-size: 11px;
}
.post-comment-link { /* Style for the comment bubble of posts below */
float: right;
display: inline;
margin: -35px 0px;
border: 1px solid #E1E1E1; /* border for the comment bubble */
background: #EAEAEA; /* background color for the comment bubble */
font-size: 11px;
position: relative;
-webkit-border-radius: 100px;
-moz-border-radius: 100px;
border-radius: 100px;
}
#first .post-comment-link { /* Style for the comment bubble of first post */
margin: -200px 10px;
}
.post-comment-link a{ /* Link color for the comments bubble*/
padding: 10px;
color: #6A6A6A;
text-decoration:none;
font-weight: bold;
}
#blog-pager {clear:both;}
</style>
</b:if>
</b:if>

Customization:

1) At the beginning of the script from step 6, we have this section:

posts_no_thumb_sum = 290;
posts_thumb_sum = 240;
img_thumb_height = 80;
img_thumb_width = 80;
first_no_thumb_sum = 600;
first_thumb_sum = 540;
img_thumb_height1 = 145;
img_thumb_width1 = 165;

- The first number is the number of characters that will show for the small posts when there will be no image available
- The second number will be the number of characters that will show when the small posts will have an image
- The third and the forth line is for the height and width of the small posts thumbnails (images).
- The same goes for what is in blue, but this configuration affects only the first post. Since the first post is wider, it may contain a larger number of characters and we'll be able to make the thumbnail size larger.

2) And finally, we have the CSS styles. That last thing we added is a code that determines how the posts are going to look on the homepage (and archive pages as well, except for the first post).

To change the width an height, respectively the size for the first post container, look for these lines:

width: auto;
height: 250px;

Underneath the first post are the values for the other posts, just look for this part:

width: 290px;
height: 210px;

So, width is the width and height is the height of the other posts container. There you will have to experiment a bit with the sizes in order to make them appear correctly.

Finally set the number of posts to show on the homepage so that there will never be any empty space. Go to Settings >> Posts and comments >> Show at most and select the number of posts that you want to appear.

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