Use Automatic Fixed Read More Jump Break With Thumbnail On Blogger

On Blogger you have the option to add a jump break to your posts, so the posts will be displayed with just a short summery on the home page and a link to read the full post will be below.The jump break has a number of great advantages, if you display full posts on your home page it will severely slow down the load time, Also With the jump break in place visitors that land on your home page will see a selection of your posts without the need to scroll.It's also more professional looking and as visitors have to click through to the full post it increases page views.

In this Blogger Tip i have a script that will automatically turn your posts into read more summary's on your blogs home page with a few added extras.Here are some of the features of an auto Read More :

• Your posts will automatically be displayed as short summary's with a read more link.
• An image from the post will be re sized into a thumbnail and displayed beside the summery.
• You can choose how much text is displayed in the summery.
• You can choose the size of the thumbnail.
• All Previous posts will also have the jump break so you don't need to go through your archive adding it.

Add Auto Read More Post Summary's To Your Blog

1. Log in to Blogger Dashboard.

2. In your Blogger dashboard click Design > Edit Html > Tick The Expand Widget Templates Box.
(Note: Before editing your template, save a copy of it.)

3. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html :

---

</head>

---

4. Copy the following code and paste it Directly Above / Before </head>

---

<script type='text/javascript'>
var thumbnail_mode = "no-float" ;
summary_noimg = 430;
summary_img = 340;
img_thumb_height = 120;
img_thumb_width = 120;
</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 = summary_noimg;
if(img.length>=1) { imgtag = '<span style="float:left; padding:0px 10px 5px 0px;"><img src="'+img[0].src+'" width="'+img_thumb_width+'px" height="'+img_thumb_height+'px"/></span>';
summ = summary_img;
}
var summary = imgtag + '<div>' + removeHtmlTag(div.innerHTML,summ) + '</div>';
div.innerHTML = summary;
}
//]]>
</script>

---

Important:
The code in red sets how the post summary's are displayed.Remember if a post has an image it will be re sized into a thumbnail to be displayed beside the summery.If the post does not have an image just a text summery will be displayed.

• summary_ noimg= 430; --> The length of the summery if the post does not have a thumbnail.
• summary_img = 340; --> The length of the summery if there is an image in the post that will be converted into a thumbnail.
• null_thumb_height = 120; --> The height in pixels of the thumbnail.
• null_thumb_width = 120; --> The width in pixels of the thumbnail.

5. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html :

---

<data:post.body/>

---

6. Replace <data:post.body/> With The Code Below :

---

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<data:post.body/>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;static_page&quot;'>
<data:post.body/>
<b:else/>
<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>
<div style='clear: both;'/>
<span class='rmlink' style='font-weight:bold;padding:5px;float:right;text-align:right;'><a expr:href='data:post.url' >Read more ... </a></span>
</b:if>
</b:if>

---

Note - You can change the text in red from Read More to "Continue Reading", "Read Full Post" or anything you like.

Note - You should try to have the first image in your posts as close to square as possible so they work well when used as thumbnails on your home page.Images that are for example rectangle in shape will appear distorted when they are re sized.Try to add an image at the top of the posts that are close to square, then size then wont make a big impact on the appearance.Remember it's the first image in each post that is used as a thumbnail.

7. Save Your Template.

That's it for this Blogger tip, All your posts including all archived posts will now be displayed with a summary and read more on your home page, labels pages and archive pages.

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