Blogger Featured Post Widget With Thumbnails

 

1. Go to Design 

2.Add a Gadget 

3. HTML/JavaScript. 

Now simply add the following code in that widget:

<div id='mbtboxes'>
<div style='visibility: visible; overflow: hidden; position: relative; z-index: 2; left: 0px; width: 100%; '>

<ul>
<li>
<div class='mbtbody'>
<a class='Fadein3' href='POST 1 LINK'>
<img height='100' src='POST 1 IMG LINK' width='170'/>
</a>
<div class='clear'></div>
<h3><a href='POST 1 LINK'>POST 1 DESCRIPTION</a></h3>
<p>POST 1 PARAGRAPH</p>
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class='mbtbody'>
<a class='Fadein3' href='POST 2 LINK'>
<img height='100' src='POST 2 IMG LINK' width='170'/>

</a>
<div class='clear'></div>
<h3><a href='POST 2 LINK'>POST 2 DESCRIPTION</a></h3>
<p>POST 2 PARAGRAPH </p>
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class='mbtbody'>
<a class='Fadein3' href='POST 3 LINK'>
<img height='100' src='POST 3 IMG LINK' width='170'/>
</a>
<div class='clear'></div>
<h3><a href='POST 3 LINK'>POST 3 DESCRIPTION</a></h3>
<p>POST 3 PARAGRAPH</p>

</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class='mbtbody'>
<a class='Fadein3' href='POST 4 LINK' rel='nofollow'>
<img height='100' src='POST 4 IMG LINK' width='170'/>
</a>
<div class='clear'></div>
<h3><a href='POST 4 LINK' rel='nofollow'>POST 4 DESCRIPTION</a></h3>
<p>POST 4 PARAGRAPH</p>
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class='mbtbody'>
<a class='Fadein3' href='POST 5 LINK'>

<img height='100' src='POST 5 IMG LINK ' width='170'/>
</a>
<div class='clear'></div>
<h3><a href='POST 5 LINK'>POST 5 DESCRIPTION</a></h3>
<p>POST 5 PARAGRAPH</p>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>

Add Your Own Links The widget contains 5 featured posts. So your have to configure all those posts links, images for each posts, their description and a small paragraph related to that article.

I have separated all those 5 posts areas with different colors. Note that description is the main heading for the post. So don't confuse it with a small paragraph of few lines. Check the demo if you haven't.

Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3 | Post 4 | Post 5
Step 2: Adding CSS Now go to Design >> Edit HTML and tick the check box. And don't forget to download your template for backup purposes.

Now search for the following code by (Ctrl + F):

]]></b:skin>

Now just above this code, add the following code:

/*----------- MBT Gallery -----------------*/

#mbtboxes{height:210px;overflow:hidden;margin:0px;position:relative;width:948px;background:; border:0px solid #333; padding:5px 5px;}
#mbtboxes ul{ margin-left: 10px; padding: 0pt; position: relative; list-style-type: none; z-index: 1;  width: 100%; }
#mbtboxes ul li{ overflow: hidden; float: left; width: 180px; height: 180px; border-top:0px solid #333; margin-right:6px; padding:2px 0px 4px 0px; }
#mbtboxes ul li:hover{ border-bottom:1px solid #c5c5c5; }
#mbtboxes img{width:150px;height:100px; padding:2px; border: 1px solid #A3A3A3; border-radius:10px; -moz-border-radius:10px;  margin-top:0px;}
#mbtboxes img:hover{border: 1px solid #c5c5c5; }
.mbtbody img{float:left}
.mbtbody {position:relative;margin:0 5px 0 5px;width:170px;height:210px;display:inline;float:left;color:#c4c4c4}
.mbtbody h3{padding:5px 0;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold; font-family: verdana, sans-serif, arial; margin:0;}
.mbtbody h3 a:link,.mbtbody h3 a:visited{color:#2F97FF;}
.mbtbody h3 a:hover{color:#c5c5c5}
.mbtbody p{margin:0; padding:0 0;color:#cdcdcd;font:10px normal verdana, sans-serif, Arial;}
.Fadein3 img {
filter:alpha(opacity=80);
opacity: 0.8;
border:0;
}
.Fadein3:hover img {
filter:alpha(opacity=100);
opacity: 1.0;
border:0;
}

Now simply save your template and would be all done.

NOTE: The images that you would link to the widget, should be 170px width and 100px in height. You may like to read :

Create Blogger Backup For Images And Get Image URLs


Customization: Say if you want to match the widget with your colored template. You can easily do that by changing the background color code that i have made bold the coded above.

background: Your Color Code;

Or you could add a border to the widget by using 1 or 2 at most instead of value 0.
border:0px

Thats all. Hope that was useful and exciting. Waiting for your feed back.
Cheers!