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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Recent Rotating Post Gadget with Excerpt For Blogger

This Javascript code will display the latest posts of any feed with the distinction of having two parts that can be used individually or combined. At the top this widget will show a single post along with the title (link), author, date and a brief summary of its content. In addition, this post will rotate automatically within a list whose number of elements will be decided by us. At the bottom, we'll find a full list with chosen posts that will change the post above when we mouse over them, thus breaking the automatic cycle.

Before installing anything, let's see it in action to decide if it does what we want.

Loading...

How to Add Recent Rotating Posts Widget to Blogger

Step 1. Go to Layout > click on Add a Gadget link.

Step 2. From the pop-up windows, choose the HTML/Javascript gadget

Step 3. Paste this code inside the empty box:

<style>
.gfg-root {
width: 100%;
height : auto;
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
margin: 0 auto;
text-align : center;
font-size: 12px;
border: 1px solid #DBDBDB;
}
.gfg-title {
font-size: 16px;
font-weight : bold;
color : #6B6B6B;
background:#F3F3F3;
background-repeat: repeat;
line-height : 1.4em;
overflow : hidden;
white-space : nowrap;
padding: 5px;
text-shadow: 0px 2px #fff;
}
.gfg-entry {
background-color: #FFFFFF;
width : 100%;
height : 9.2em;
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
text-align : left;
margin-top : 3px;
}
.gf-title a {
text-transform: capitalize;
color: #0000ff;
font-size: 14px;
}
.gfg-subtitle {
display: none;
}
.gfg-list {
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
text-align : left;
}
.gfg-listentry {
line-height : 1.5em;
overflow : hidden;
white-space : nowrap;
text-overflow : ellipsis;
padding-left : 15px;
padding-right : 5px;
}
.gfg-listentry-odd {
background-color : #F3F3F3;
border-bottom : 1px dotted #CCCCCC;
padding: 5px;
}
.gfg-listentry-even {
background-color : #F3F3F3;
border-bottom : 1px dotted #CCCCCC;
padding: 5px;
}
.gfg-listentry-odd a{
color: #595959;
padding: 0 0px 0 10px;
}
.gfg-listentry-even a{
color: #242424;
padding: 0 0px 0 10px;
}
.gfg-listentry-highlight {
background: #FFFFFF;
}
.gfg-listentry-highlight:before {
position: absolute;
left: 0;
content: '\25BA ';
font-size: 14px;
color: #DBDBDB;
}
.gfg-listentry-highlight a {
color: #242424;
}
.gfg-root .gfg-entry .gf-result {
position : relative;
background-color: #ffffff;
width : auto;
height : 100%;
padding-left : 20px;
padding-right : 5px;
}
.gfg-root .gfg-entry .gf-result .gf-title {
font-size: 14px;
line-height : 1.2em;
overflow : hidden;
white-space : nowrap;
text-overflow : ellipsis;
margin-bottom : 2px;
margin-top: 5px;
}
.gfg-root .gfg-entry .gf-result .gf-snippet {
height : 3.8em;
color: #000000;
margin-top : 3px;
}
.clearFloat {
clear : both;}</style>
<script src="http://www.google.com/jsapi" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="http://www.google.com/uds/solutions/dynamicfeed/gfdynamicfeedcontrol.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
function showGadget() {var feeds = [{title:'List',url:'http://helplogger.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=10'},];
new GFdynamicFeedControl(feeds, 'feedGadget',{title: 'Latest Posts', numResults : 10, displayTime : 5000, hoverTime : 500});} google.load("feeds", "1");
google.setOnLoadCallback(showGadget);
</script>
<div id="feedGadget">Loading...</div>

Customizations:

The url in blue is the feed address. Obviously, the http://helplogger.blogspot.com address should be replaced with yours.

Next is start-index=1. This number indicates which post will appear first on the list. By default it is the latest post published on our blog, so if we want to begin displaying older posts, we need to change the 1 value.

max-results=10 indicates the maximum number of posts that we will be reading from the feed, beginning from the one that we have set up before in the start-index=1. This number always needs to be equal or greater to what we should see later and its purpose is to set the number of posts that will be shown in the gadget. The easy thing would be to put 500 in order not to fail, but the higher the number is, the longer the gadget will take to load, so it's better to adjust to what we need to show.

Finally here are some other parameters of the script:

title: 'Latest Posts', is the widget's title that appears on top.
numResults: 10, number of posts that will show in the list
displayTime: 5000, the delay time between posts in the rotator (in milliseconds)
hoverTime: 500, minimum time for an item in the list to be displayed at the top.

If you want to hide the list and show only the posts, then change this part:

.gfg-list {
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
text-align : left;
}

 to :

.gfg-list {
display:none;
}

and if you want to display only the list, then change this part:

.gfg-entry {
background-color: #FFFFFF;
width : 100%;
height : 9.2em;
position : relative;
overflow : hidden;
text-align : left;
margin-top : 3px;
}

to:

.gfg-entry {
display: none; }

Step 4. Save the gadget and you're done. Enjoy!

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Filter out your visits to your blog from Google Analytics traffic statistics

The results of daily visits in the web hit counters always have a margin of error. In most of them, this margin is very high, therefore the statistics shown are not even a bit closer to the actual visits we have. Google Analytics has a very short margin of error, which makes it more reliable, so that we have a better idea of how many people visit us.

However, if you visit your own website, either to check if everything works well, to review comments, to answer them, to see if anyone is online, or just because you need to enter, then your visit will also be registered in the counter. This implies that the margin of error is larger again, because those visits are not our actual visits and we are not interested in knowing how many times we are coming back to our site, but how many people from elsewhere are visiting.

Therefore what we can do is to filter our IP so that we won't be registered in the statistics and thus to get "cleaner" results on the total number of visits and page views.

1. The first thing is to find out what is your IP address. Just type "what is my ip address" on google and above all of the results it will say "Your public IP address is..." or you can use an online service that shows your IP. There are many of these sites, one of them being http://whatismyipaddress.com... just go to the site and it will automatically show your IP.
2. Login to your Google Analytics account and click Admin in the orage bar on the right side. This will take you to the account administration screen 
3. On the left is the Account section and below you'll find a tab called All Filters, just click the "+NEW FILTER" button.
4. Give the filter any name you'd like. Filter Type is "Predefined filter", "Exclude", choose "traffic from the IP addresses" and "that are equal to" then enter your four numbered IP address you looked up in step 1.  Check whether it's IPv6 or not (if you don't know leave it unchecked).
5. Save the changes.

Screenshot:

You can add as many IP as you want, depending on how many different computers you use to access your site. And that's it. Now you can browse your site without registering a click in the Google Analytics metrics.

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How to Use Character Entities in CSS, HTML and JavaScript

 

Sometimes, when using scripts, we must write special characters like accents by using a special set of codes called character entities, however these don't always look good or we get a question mark or other strange symbols. Usually, this is solved if the character encoding is done right but the logic may not always work.

In Blogger, special characters most of the time appear correctly, but when it is about other services, like external files, things can get complicated.

For example, this usually looks good and when you click on this link, you should see the letters in the right way:

alert(" á é í ó ú  ☺ ✛ ❤ ");

If we are trying to use other method and we want to use this type of characters, sometimes we need to write them in a special format called escape sequence which is nothing but a backslash followed by a letter and a number in hexadecimal format. In the case of common characters or accents, it would be \x followed by two hex digits:

\xe1 is the letter á
\xe9 is the letter é
\xed is the letter í
\xf3 is the letter ó
\xfa is the letter ú

Other combinations generate special characters:

\n is a line break
\t is the tab character
\' is single quote
\" is double quote
\\ is a back slash

Or we can use \u followed by the Unicode character code expressed as four hexadecimal digits:

\u00e1 is the letter á
\u00e9 is the letter é
\u00ed is the letter í
\u00f3 is the letter ó
\u00fa is the letter ú

this will allow us to see correctly what we couldn't before if we were using some other services:

alert(" \u263a \u2764 \u271b ");

On this page you can find a comprehensive list of all the characters, both symbols and different alphabets.

Although rare characters are not often used in the CSS, there is a case when they are necessary as well, like when using the content property with the :after and :before pseudo-elements.

The same criteria applies there, but we only need to add a backslash followed by the four-digit hexadecimal code. For example:

content: ":\24d1\24d4\24d5\24de\24e1\24d4";

content: ":after  \263a  \2724  \2602";

:ⓑⓔⓕⓞⓡⓔ

:after ☺ ✤ ☂

Remember that IE doesn't understand the :before pseudoclass with content, and you would have to set the list-style-type property as none, or you would get 2 bullets in CSS compliant browsers.

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Spacegallery: image gallery/slideshow made with jQuery

 

There are many types of galleries for images that can be found on the internet, but we rarely find one showing images so differently like this one. Those using Mac OS X will surely notice a lot of similarity with TimeMachine and those who don't, for sure will enjoy this type of effect for viewing images.
I'm talking here about Spacegallery, an image gallery done with jQuery in which images are being displayed one after another when clicking on them. Click on the pictures below to see how it works:

How to Add Spacegallery Image Slideshow to Blogger

To implement this gallery is very simple. Just follow the steps below:

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

Step 2. Click anywhere on the code area and search by using the CTRL + F keys for this tag

</head>

Step 3. Before the </head> tag, paste the following scripts:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.10.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/SpaceGallery/eye.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/SpaceGallery/utils.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/SpaceGallery/spacegallery.js' type='text/javascript'/>

<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
(function($){
var initLayout = function() {
var hash = window.location.hash.replace('#', '');
var currentTab = $('ul.navigationTabs a')
.bind('click', showTab)
.filter('a[rel=' + hash + ']');
if (currentTab.size() == 0) {
currentTab = $('ul.navigationTabs a:first');
}
showTab.apply(currentTab.get(0));
$('#myGallery').spacegallery({loadingClass: 'loading'});
};

var showTab = function(e) {
var tabIndex = $('ul.navigationTabs a')
.removeClass('active')
.index(this);
$(this)
.addClass('active')
.blur();
$('div.tab')
.hide()
.eq(tabIndex)
.show();
};

EYE.register(initLayout, 'init');
})(jQuery)
//]]>
</script>

Screenshot

Note: if you have already jQuery added in the template, then delete the line in red.

Step 4. Next, search for ]]></b:skin> (CTRL + F) and when you found it, click on the arrow next to it:

Step 5. Paste just above ]]></b:skin> the following CSS style:

#myGallery {
width: 100%;
height: 400px;
}
#myGallery img {
border: 2px solid #52697E;
}
a.loading {
background: url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKwwZomcTZvMIKVxd2o7EtsI9PmR2DXsqPf8xUIqOGCF-9fdOrBNlHqa7Dw6pLFLexvNuIDDoMXQV7kwM_8VcXLcyBnG5wiwFyrlmUTmo51TwszdOCeeJ5c9rQS9aPrhkmoGtQWfcgCIQX/s1600/ajax_small.gif) no-repeat center;
}
.spacegallery {
position: relative;
overflow: hidden;
}
.spacegallery img {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
}
.spacegallery a {
position: absolute;
z-index: 1000;
display: block;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}

Step 6. To save the changes, click the Save template button.

Step 7. Finally, go to Layout > Add a Gadget > HTML/Javascript and copy-paste the code below:

<div class="spacegallery" id="myGallery">
<img src="Image URL"/>
<img src="Image URL"/>
<img src="Image URL"/>
<img src="Image URL"/>
<img src="Image URL"/>
</div>

Replace the Image URL text with the image addresses that you want to appear on the gallery, considering that the last image is the first to be displayed. And if you want to add this slideshow inside a post, just go to your dashboard and create a New Post, then paste the code in the HTML section.

That's it! Now, you can enjoy this simple image gallery on your blog and although, it has no display options or settings, is without a doubt a gallery that will draw the attention of your readers.

Read more ...

Before/After Photo Effect with jQuery

 

If you have a design or makeup blog, or if you are using before and after image comparison, this script will surely be very useful for you.

In this tutorial we'll learn how to add the Before/After plugin, a script that works with jQuery and displays two pictures dynamically for comparing them at the same time. By dragging sideways a small bar we can see both images that are being compared.

See this Brittany Murphy pic before and after photoshop:

Show only beforeShow only after

Implementing this script is simple, we just need jQuery, the Before/After script, and the two images that we are going to compare.

How to add the Before/After plugin to Blogger

Step 1. Go to Template > Edit HTML and before </head> (CTRL + F to find it) paste the following:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.10.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://http://code.jquery.com/ui/1.10.3/jquery-ui.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/jquery.beforeafter.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script type='text/javascript'>
$(function(){
$(&#39;#beforeafter1&#39;).beforeAfter({showFullLinks : true});
});
</script>

Step 2. Click on the Save template button
Note: if the above script doesn't work for you, add it above the </body> tag. Also please verify if you have added jQuery in your template (if you did so, then remove the line in green)

Step 3. Go to Layout, add a HTML/Javascript gadget and paste this code inside the empty box:

<div id='beforeafter1'>
<div><img alt='before' src='URL of the first image' width='500' height='291'/></div>
<div><img alt='after' src='URL of the second image' width='500' height='291'/></div>
</div>

Add the URL of the first image that is the Before image, and the URL of the second image that is the After image.

It is important that you have specified the width and height of each picture so that they work on all browsers.
If you want to add more images just change the ID of the container, in this case the container is called beforeafter1 so you need to change it to beforeafter2 and so on, although you can choose any name as long as all are different.

And in the first code to paste, add another line like this one in blue:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.10.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://http://code.jquery.com/ui/1.10.3/jquery-ui.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/jquery.beforeafter.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script type='text/javascript'>
$(function(){
$(&#39;#beforeafter1&#39;).beforeAfter({showFullLinks : true});
$(&#39;#beforeafter2&#39;).beforeAfter({showFullLinks : true});
});
</script>

You can add as many before/after images as you like as long as all containers have a different ID and the corresponding lines are added in the script.
Below each photo container are the "Show only Before" and "Show only after" links that when you click on them, the complete pictures will be shown. If you want to hide these links, then just change true to false in the first code and they will not be displayed anymore.

Note: if you see white space around the drag icons, then search for this code in your template:

   <Group description="Images" selector=".main-inner">
     <Variable name="image.background.color" description="Background Color" type="color" default="#ffffff" value="#ffffff"/>

... and change the #ffffff value in red to transparent.

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How to Write SEO Optimized Blog Posts

 

I'm not a SEO Expert, nor what we will read further is a top secret, but this is about the basic positioning that everyone should apply in order to optimize their blog posts. And with these techniques, effort, and a lot of patience, we can occupy the best places in the search results of different search engines.

For sure not all the cases are alike, neither all blogs are positioned in the same manner, some might have greater competition than others depending on how popular is the topic that they handle, thus, when it comes to web positioning, there's no specific time that applies for all. Having said this, let's begin.

Focus on a topic

Whatever the theme of your blog is, when writing a post, try focusing on a definite subject that has a clear objective and has no distractions. For example, if you write about Digital Cameras, then the beginning and the end of the post should be only about it. Don't start talking about digital cameras and end up telling about what you have done last weekend. A reader goes to a page because is looking for a specific information, so unless it is not a personal blog (where you write about your daily life) do not digress.

Define the post title

The post title should be precise, so that you can briefly summarize the content of the post, but you must not abuse this either, and although it should be concise, do not save words that might be keys to the search.

Examples:

Collection of all the cameras that have been released last year on the market

The best digital cameras of 2012

Clearly, the first one hasn't been defined very much and the second is not only more accurate but it is more appropriate as well, for what people are searching on the internet.

The keywords

Keywords are those terms that the most people search for on the internet and you should try focusing on them when writing an article; these keywords have to be included throughout the entire article but you should be careful not repeating them too many times.

Example:

During the fourth week of the technology, there were many products that are utilized today, and the most famous experts gave a speech on them.

At the opening of the fourth Technology Week, the experts talked about various topics, including how to choose a digital camera, had discussions about the pros and cons of the iPad, and which are the best smartphones.

In the first example we have written without giving importance to any terms, meanwhile, in the second one, we used phrases that are searched on the internet by the most users.

So, the most frequent search terms should be included wisely without cluttering your posts with them, or it can be counterproductive.

These keywords should be added in the title of the posts, as well.

Rely on synonyms

While it is good using keywords, we should not limit ourselves to a single word. It is recommended using synonyms because users do not name things in same way and using less keywords, you'll avoid leaving the reader under the impression that you are being repetitive and insistent.

Examples:

For those who like good quality pictures, Nikon D7000s Digital Camera is a 16.2 megapixel digital camera that takes great pictures.

For those who like good quality images, Nikon D7000s is a 16.2 megapixel digital camera that takes excellent pictures.

In the first example we have repeated the word digital camera and pictures twice, meanwhile, in the second one, we used the digital camera keyword once and changed the word pictures with images.

This way, the reader will find a greater diversity of words and might enjoy the article more.

Using bold and italics

The main keywords should be highlighted, so that they will stand out from the rest; this is taken into account by the search engine robots being like some kind of lures for them, so the words with which you want to position yourself, need to be highlighted with bold, but be careful, this shouldn't be done with CSS, but with HTML, i.e. they should not be tagged with font-weight: bold; but rather with <b> or even better, with <strong>.

Examples:

For those who like good quality images, Nikon D7000s is a 16.2 megapixel digital camera that takes excellent pictures.

The result seems to be the same, but it is not. Although the three sentences are in bold, only one is more attractive to robots, which is the first.

For those who like <span style="font-weight: bold;">good quality images</span>, <strong>Nikon D7000s</strong> is a 16.2 megapixel <b>digital camera</b> that takes excellent pictures.

The same goes for the italics, use them for highlighting important words, but do not put them between font-style: italic; but rather between <i> or even better <em>.

For those who like <span style="font-style: italic;">good quality images</span>, <em>Nikon D7000s</em> is a 16.2 megapixel <i>digital camera</i> that takes excellent pictures.

Again, the first has a better chance of positioning than the others. So, it is recommended to highlight the keywords in bold and italics, or to put them between <strong> and </strong>, or between <em> and </em>.

Using links

Some believe that we shouldn't use links in the posts because this way we are giving away our Page Rank. This is not quite true, using referral links to sites that have already shaped their credibility, will also help us to shape our own. Certainly, we should not flood our posts with links, but we can do it when is necessary and especially with sites that address the same topics as you.

Also, avoid putting the typical "click here" or similar texts. When you put a link, the anchor text should be fairly descriptive.

Examples:

<a href="Link URL">Click here</a> to know more

More information about <a href="Link URL">digital cameras</a>

In the first example, the anchor text is not relevant and descriptive, in the second it is.

Illustrating with images

Articles with images are not only visually appealing, but might help the reader to understand what you are talking about, thus, whenever you can, use an image in your post to illustrate the publishing, but do not overdo it, because many images or very large images can slow the loading time of the blog.

New and relevant content

You should focus not only on writing many posts, but also making them relevant to your readers. New and original content is more attractive to the search engines than a copy & paste and actually, the last gets penalized. So try to write new stuff, even if you think that all has been said, it isn't so, each person has a different way of saying things.

Also, always try to get informed before writing an article; do a research and see if the information is valid, based on that, you will gain the trust of your readers.

With these few techniques you can increase the chances of positioning your posts on the internet. As I said earlier, these aren't things that no one heard about, but I know that many are beginners and don't know how to optimize the blog posts.

It does not hurt repeating that the positioning is not given overnight, but with some effort and patience, you should see the desired results over time.

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Top Commentators Widget with Avatars for Blogger

 

The commentators are a fundamental part of any blog, since they are the ones that give life to the blog, opening and replying to discussions which leads to more activity in the posts.

It is therefore very important to know which are the most active users of your blog, the users who leave more comments, and for this reason, today I present a great method to display a list with the top commentators.

The gadget will look something like this:

This Top Commentators gadget comes with user's avatar and is done with JavaScript.

How to Add the Top Commenters Gadget to Blogger

1. To add this gadget, you have to go to Layout, click on Add a Gadget link.

2. Select the HTML/JavaScript gadget and copy/paste within the empty box the following code:

<style type="text/css">
.top-commentators {
margin: 3px 0;
border-bottom: 1px dotted #ccc;
}
.avatar-top-commentators {
vertical-align:middle;
border-radius: 30px;
}
.top-commentators .commenter-link-name {
padding-left:0;
}
</style>
<script type="text/javascript">
var maxTopCommenters = 8; 
var minComments = 1;    
var numDays = 0;        
var excludeMe = true;   
var excludeUsers = ["Anonymous", "someotherusertoexclude"];
var maxUserNameLength = 42;
//
var txtTopLine = '<b>[#].</b> [image] [user] ([count])';
var txtNoTopCommenters = 'No top commentators at this time.';
var txtAnonymous = '';
//
var sizeAvatar = 33;
var cropAvatar = true;
//
var urlNoAvatar = "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69_JfKeIoOWGIoO3K8UfbasGfBFlA9aOjWG76B01mWOK_HDOy-grrfx4vR-8pciPu3JPU0N1XfX0sPN05_E-y8HnpOUqWH0Vy1PN35gxxw8SDjNjIbZ-sMOgPvrWpcqJUxpfy-GV-FTKS/s1600/avatar_blue_m_96.png" + sizeAvatar;
var urlAnoAvatar = 'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEvsCGZduD0gTXtKom_7v7w9n0nSQslHwQmECWeveVXVBZN2WqUeR8H0ECj-MLU0LTrwWMyr3v7CBPPtpNT3-2PYjURin79dX0wKxgE8vneluv-8oYVvPAkNsRcYk1_rfjNeZYgsHJPqIz/s1600/avatar1.png' + sizeAvatar;
var urlMyProfile = '';
var urlMyAvatar = '';
if(!Array.indexOf) {
 Array.prototype.indexOf=function(obj) {
  for(var i=0;i<this.length;i++) if(this[i]==obj) return i;
  return -1;
}}
function replaceTopCmtVars(text, item, position)
{
  if(!item || !item.author) return text;
  var author = item.author;
  var authorUri = "";
  if(author.uri && author.uri.$t != "")
    authorUri = author.uri.$t;
  var avaimg = urlAnoAvatar;
  var bloggerprofile = "http://www.blogger.com/profile/";
  if(author.gd$image && author.gd$image.src && authorUri.substr(0,bloggerprofile.length) == bloggerprofile)
    avaimg = author.gd$image.src;
  else {
    var parseurl = document.createElement('a');
    if(authorUri != "") {
      parseurl.href = authorUri;
      avaimg = 'http://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=' + parseurl.hostname;
    }
  }
  if(urlMyProfile != "" && authorUri == urlMyProfile && urlMyAvatar != "")
    avaimg = urlMyAvatar;
  if(avaimg == "http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" && urlNoAvatar != "")
    avaimg = urlNoAvatar;
  var newsize="s"+sizeAvatar;
  avaimg = avaimg.replace(/\/s\d\d+-c\//, "/"+newsize+"-c/");
  if(cropAvatar) newsize+="-c";
  avaimg = avaimg.replace(/\/s\d\d+(-c){0,1}\//, "/"+newsize+"/");
  var authorName = author.name.$t;
  if(authorName == 'Anonymous' && txtAnonymous != '' && avaimg == urlAnoAvatar)
    authorName = txtAnonymous;
  var imgcode = '<img class="avatar-top-commentators" height="'+sizeAvatar+'" width="'+sizeAvatar+'" title="'+authorName+'" src="'+avaimg+'" />';
  if(authorUri!="") imgcode = '<a href="'+authorUri+'">'+imgcode+'</a>';
  if(maxUserNameLength > 3 && authorName.length > maxUserNameLength)
    authorName = authorName.substr(0, maxUserNameLength-3) + "...";
  var authorcode = authorName;
  if(authorUri!="") authorcode = '<a class="commenter-link-name" href="'+authorUri+'">'+authorcode+'</a>';
  text = text.replace('[user]', authorcode);
  text = text.replace('[image]', imgcode);
  text = text.replace('[#]', position);
  text = text.replace('[count]', item.count);
  return text;
}
var topcommenters = {};
var ndxbase = 1;
function showTopCommenters(json) {
  var one_day=1000*60*60*24;
  var today = new Date();
  if(urlMyProfile == "") {
    var elements = document.getElementsByTagName("*");
    var expr = /(^| )profile-link( |$)/;
    for(var i=0 ; i<elements.length ; i++)
      if(expr.test(elements[i].className)) {
        urlMyProfile = elements[i].href;
        break;
      }
  }
  if(json && json.feed && json.feed.entry && json.feed.entry.length) for(var i = 0 ; i < json.feed.entry.length ; i++ ) {
    var entry = json.feed.entry[i];
    if(numDays > 0) {
      var datePart = entry.published.$t.match(/\d+/g);
      var cmtDate = new Date(datePart[0],datePart[1]-1,datePart[2],datePart[3],datePart[4],datePart[5]);
  
      var days = Math.ceil((today.getTime()-cmtDate.getTime())/(one_day));
      if(days > numDays) break;
    }
    var authorUri = "";
    if(entry.author[0].uri && entry.author[0].uri.$t != "")
      authorUri = entry.author[0].uri.$t;
    if(excludeMe && authorUri != "" && authorUri == urlMyProfile)
      continue;
    var authorName = entry.author[0].name.$t;
    if(excludeUsers.indexOf(authorName) != -1)
      continue;
    var hash=entry.author[0].name.$t + "-" + authorUri;
    if(topcommenters[hash])
      topcommenters[hash].count++;
    else {
      var commenter = new Object();
      commenter.author = entry.author[0];
      commenter.count = 1;
      topcommenters[hash] = commenter;
    }
  }
  if(json && json.feed && json.feed.entry && json.feed.entry.length && json.feed.entry.length == 200) {
    ndxbase += 200;
    document.write('<script type="text/javascript" src="http://'+window.location.hostname+'/feeds/comments/default?redirect=false&max-results=200&start-index='+ndxbase+'&alt=json-in-script&callback=showTopCommenters"></'+'script>');
    return;
  }
  // convert object to array of tuples
  var tuplear = [];
  for(var key in topcommenters) tuplear.push([key, topcommenters[key]]);
  tuplear.sort(function(a, b) {
    if(b[1].count-a[1].count)
        return b[1].count-a[1].count;
    return (a[1].author.name.$t.toLowerCase() < b[1].author.name.$t.toLowerCase()) ? -1 : 1;
  });
  var realcount = 0;
  for(var i = 0; i < maxTopCommenters && i < tuplear.length ; i++) {
    var item = tuplear[i][1];
    if(item.count < minComments)
        break;
    document.write('<di'+'v class="top-commentators">');
    document.write(replaceTopCmtVars(txtTopLine, item, realcount+1));
    document.write('</d'+'iv>');
    realcount++;
  }
  if(!realcount)
    document.write(txtNoTopCommenters);
}
document.write('<script type="text/javascript" src="http://'+window.location.hostname+'/feeds/comments/default?redirect=false&max-results=200&alt=json-in-script&callback=showTopCommenters"></'+'script>');
</script>

3. Now you just have to save changes and you're done!

Configuration

- To modify the number of users displayed in the gadget, look for var maxTopCommenters = 8; and change 8 with any number you want.
- To change the avatar size of the commenters, look for var sizeAvatar = 33; and change number 33 with the number of pixels you want.

- To hide your name or some other username, replace the someotherusertoexclude text between the quotes (to add more, add another comma after the text in red, then type the username you want to exclude between the quotes)

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Add a forum on your Blogger blog with Nabble

Forum is a platform where visitors can interact with each other and discuss different hot topics. There you can add desired topics for getting comments and diverse suggestions on them. If you have a good traffic, then you can place questions on daily basis for the potential visitors to answer, thus your forum simultaneously converts itself into a huge frequently asked quesions section "FAQ". Forums will provide your visitors an open social atmosphere to express their useful ideas and share other's ideas.

In this brief tutorial, I have explained simple steps to add a forum to your Blogger or blogspot blog. So let's get started!

How to Create a Forum With Nabble

To implement a forum we will use Nabble, in my opinion, one of the best free options. We go to Nabble page and there, we will create an account (keep in mind that this account will be the moderator of the forum).

And once we have everything set (it also has a wide variety of customizing options), go to Options -> Application -> Change appearance:

There, we can also edit the CSS of the forum and other things...

Now we have to give the structure of a real forum, i.e. organizing it by categories. To do this click on the Options menu, select Application, then click Change application type:

Then choose the Forum category and save your changes.

To finish, we only have to create categories and for this go back to Options, this time select Structure and then choose Create a new sub-forum:

Fill in the details of the category and that's it, you will have your forum running.

The rest are small details, like sort categories (Options > Structure > Manage sub-forums), customize your avatar and your signature (YourNickname > Account Settings), change permissions (Options > Users > Permissions), etc.

Now for integrating the newly created forum to your blog, you must go to Options - Embedding options and copy the javascript code.

Embed the forum in a Blogger page

Login to your Blogger Dashboard, select your blog, click the Pages link on the left sidebar and create a new Blank Page

Once there, get in the HTML mode.

Paste inside the empty box the code that we copied earlier, and if everything went well, we should see our brand new forum for our blog!

I hope this tutorial was helpful to you and you will begin using this great service.

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How to Add a Recent Forum Topics Widget to Blogger

If you are using the Nabble forum in your blog is very likely that this gadget will interest you because, as the title suggests, it will display the lastest topics that have been published in your forum in a very similar manner to the recent comments gadget that works with the blog's feed.

If you want to add a list with the Recent Forum Topics then follow the steps below:

Go to your forum and look at the bottom where it says Feeds, click on that link and then two links of the Feed will appear (the first being the Topics only Feed and the other one is Topics and replies) - choose the one you want.

After this, log in to your Blogger Dashboard, go to Layout, click on Add a Gadget link, choose Feed from the gadgets list and paste the Feed URL you have selected inside the text box.

Click on Continue, and you only have to configure the parameters, then Save changes to see the results.

That's it! Enjoy :)

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