Advanced Random posts widget for Blogger with image thumbnails and snippets

When your blog has too many posts, visitors don't always have the time or desire to go through all the posts written there in order to make an idea of the blog's content. Thus, a 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.


Adding Random Posts with Thumbnails and Posts Summary on Blogger

Step 1 - Login to your blogger account, select your blog and go to Layout → Click on Add a Gadget
Step 2 - Select HTML/Javascript 
Step 3 - Copy the Code Bellow and Paste it Inside the Empty Box


<style>#random-posts img { border-radius: 10px; float: left; margin-right: 5px; width: 75px; height: 75px; 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: 12px; 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 = 110; var randomposts_details = 'yes'; 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.$t } else { var randompostsnippet = ""; } }; randompostsnippet = randompostsnippet.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, ""); if (randompostsnippet.length < randomposts_chars) { var randomposts_snippet = randompostsnippet } else { randompostsnippet = randompostsnippet.substring(0, randomposts_chars); var whitespace = randompostsnippet.lastIndexOf(" "); randomposts_snippet = randompostsnippet.substring(0, whitespace) + "…"; }; for (var j = 0; j < entry.link.length; j++) { if ('thr$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/AVvXsEhyjunZYPNZuQtxHQAnWUK-u8KGVpCbDRJAplLtoQ4heC5nkW9WkRoeUy8Ye9jk9CM4IwW3R_ePmlTPejwSD5VZeC51lW2-kgARrsm_MNPQgJ3TwWl8l0LKXTuKedPq9LjvLXf4rUBeCg4/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>

- Thumbnail dimensions: To change the size of thimbnails - replace 75px
- Summary length: you can control the the length of the summary (in characters) by changing the 
- Post Info: if you want to hide the post date and comment count change 'yes' from var randomposts_details='yes'; to 'no'
- 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 12px value



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