Related Posts Widget For Blogger - Bugs fixed

Many of my readers are asking help to add Related Posts Widget . I was confused because i have added all the code correctly then why my friends are not getting this hack working. So i looked the templates of all those who sent me error message . All their templates are of same structure ( labels line is appearing below post , see the screenshot below)

But the script i have included in the post is for those who have Label line below post title like this.

Bloggers with the above format are not getting this related posts hack because the script loads earlier than the Labels line. We can fix this error in Three methods.

Method One :

Login to your blogger account and navigate to Layout section of the blog. Then go to edit HTML page and check expand widgets box.

Now search this line : <div class='post-header-line-1'/>

Now please copy and paste the code above that line.

<span class='meta'>

<b:if cond='data:post.labels'>
categories :
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<a expr:href='data:label.url' rel='tag'><data:label.name/></a><b:if cond='data:label.isLast != &quot;true&quot;'>,</b:if><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<script expr:src='&quot;/feeds/posts/default/-/&quot; + data:label.name + &quot;?alt=json-in-script&amp;callback=related_results_labels&amp;max-results=10&quot;' type='text/javascript'/>
</b:if>
</b:loop>
</b:if>

<b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'>
<a class='comment-link' expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><b:if cond='data:post.numComments == 1'> 1 <data:top.commentLabel/> &#187;<b:else/> <data:post.numComments/> <data:top.commentLabelPlural/> &#187;</b:if></a>

</b:if>


</span>

you can customize the text in red to display as many results you want.

Now add the below CSS code above ]]></b:skin>

.meta{float:left;width:480px;padding:3px; color:#111; font-size:12px; margin-bottom:8px; line-height:20px;border-bottom:1px dotted #cccccc;}
.meta a{color:#cc0000;}
.meta a:hover{color:#000000;}

Please edit the text in red to suit your template.

After this you need to add the CSS code and javascript i provided in this post " Related Posts Widget with custom CSS ".

Now add the script below this line <p><data:post.body/></p>

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<div id="related-posts">
<h2>Other Recommended Posts</h2>

<script type='text/javascript'> removeRelatedDuplicates(); printRelatedLabels(); </script><div style="display:none;"><a href="http://www.techieblogger.com">Techie Blogger</a></div>
</div></b:if>


Thats it , now you will have related posts widget in your blog.

Method 2 :

If you follow step one then you will have two meta lines in your Blog. One below post title and one below post content. If you are happy with first method then stop or else do these steps to add related posts hack. ( don't do both)

step 1 : First of all add the below code above </head>

<style>

#related-posts {
float : left;
width : 540px;
margin-top:20px;
margin-left : 5px;
margin-bottom:20px;
font : 11px Verdana;
margin-bottom:10px;
}
#related-posts .widget {
list-style-type : none;
margin : 5px 0 5px 0;
padding : 0;
}
#related-posts .widget h2, #related-posts h2 {
color : #940f04;
font-size : 20px;
font-weight : normal;
margin : 5px 7px 0;
padding : 0 0 5px;
}
#related-posts a {
color : #054474;
font-size : 11px;
text-decoration : none;
}
#related-posts a:hover {
color : #054474;
text-decoration : none;
}
#related-posts ul {
border : medium none;
margin : 10px;
padding : 0;
}
#related-posts ul li {
display : block;
background : url("http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii150/mohamedrias/newconcept_bullet.png") no-repeat 0 0;
margin : 0;
padding-top : 0;
padding-right : 0;
padding-bottom : 1px;
padding-left : 16px;
margin-bottom : 5px;
line-height : 2em;
border-bottom:1px dotted #cccccc;
}

</style>

<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
var relatedTitles = new Array();
var relatedTitlesNum = 0;
var relatedUrls = new Array();
function related_results_labels(json) {
for (var i = 0; i < json.feed.entry.length; i++) {
var entry = json.feed.entry[i];
relatedTitles[relatedTitlesNum] = entry.title.$t;
for (var k = 0; k < entry.link.length; k++) {
if (entry.link[k].rel == 'alternate') {
relatedUrls[relatedTitlesNum] = entry.link[k].href;
relatedTitlesNum++;
break;
}
}
}
}
function removeRelatedDuplicates() {
var tmp = new Array(0);
var tmp2 = new Array(0);
for(var i = 0; i < relatedUrls.length; i++) {
if(!contains(tmp, relatedUrls[i])) {
tmp.length += 1;
tmp[tmp.length - 1] = relatedUrls[i];
tmp2.length += 1;
tmp2[tmp2.length - 1] = relatedTitles[i];
}
}
relatedTitles = tmp2;
relatedUrls = tmp;
}
function contains(a, e) {
for(var j = 0; j < a.length; j++) if (a[j]==e) return true;
return false;
}
function printRelatedLabels() {
var r = Math.floor((relatedTitles.length - 1) * Math.random());
var i = 0;
document.write('<ul>');
while (i < relatedTitles.length && i < 20) {
document.write('<li><a href="' + relatedUrls[r] + '">' + relatedTitles[r] + '</a></li>');
if (r < relatedTitles.length - 1) {
r++;
} else {
r = 0;
}
i++;
}
document.write('</ul>');
}
//]]>
</script>

step 2 :
Now search this text

<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<a expr:href='data:label.url' rel='tag'><data:label.name/></a><b:if cond='data:label.isLast != &quot;true&quot;'>,</b:if>
</b:loop>

Now replace the above text with this code

<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<a expr:href='data:label.url' rel='tag'><data:label.name/></a><b:if cond='data:label.isLast != &quot;true&quot;'>,</b:if><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'> <script expr:src='&quot;/feeds/posts/default/-/&quot; + data:label.name + &quot;?alt=json-in-script&amp;callback=related_results_labels&amp;max-results=5&quot;' type='text/javascript'/> </b:if> </b:loop>

Now scroll down still you can find ending tag for either </div> or </span> . Now paste the following script below the ending div / span tag.


<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<div id="related-posts">
<h2>Other Recommended Posts</h2>

<script type='text/javascript'> removeRelatedDuplicates(); printRelatedLabels(); </script>

</div></b:if>

That's it now you will have related Posts hack in your blog.

Third Method :

In my Blog I am using this method . It's very simple. First do the step 1 from method 2 . ( adding script above </head> ) .

Now add the following tag below <p><data:post.body/></p> .

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<div id="related-posts">
<h2>Other Recommended Posts on<div style="display:none;"> <b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'><data:label.name/><b:if cond='data:label.isLast != &quot;true&quot;'>,</b:if><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<script expr:src='&quot;/feeds/posts/default/-/&quot; + data:label.name + &quot;?alt=json-in-script&amp;callback=related_results_labels&amp;max-results=5&quot;' type='text/javascript'/></b:if></b:loop></div> </h2>

<script type='text/javascript'> removeRelatedDuplicates(); printRelatedLabels(); </script>

</div></b:if>

Now you will have related posts widget of my style.

I hope one of the above method will help you to add related posts widget to your Blog. Still if you have problem then please contact me through contact form.