HashOut: 2007/03/07

How to create expandable post summaries with the new Blogger?

Dexter wants to know how I created the "» Continue reading" links on the non-post pages to make the length of my posts shorter on the index and archive pages so that the readers can have a quick glance at the posts and click "» Continue reading" if they decide to read the complete post. With this trick, you can choose to display an arbitrary amount of text from any part of the post you desire to display. It is quite useful, especially on archive pages, where you have lots of long articles all on one page. This feature requires you to have post pages enabled.

Blogger's original instructions for expandable post summaries to the old Blogger template and Beta (now new Blogger / Blogger v.2) template is available here. However, that page is not without any faults and omissions like the other google.com pages, which are published in haste.

In Step 1: Conditional CSS (for layouts)

New Blogger templates or Layouts do not have a style-sheet by default. The styles are enclosed within the <b:skin></b:skin> tags. It is not possible to add the conditional <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'><b:else/></b:if> tags within the skin tags. You have to add the conditional CSS within <style></style> tags outside the skin tags. Simply insert the following lines anywhere between the <head></head> tags.


<style>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
span.fullpost {display:inline;}
<b:else/>
span.fullpost {display:none;}
</b:if>
</style>


Please note that using this hack will just reduce the amount of information that is displayed on the screen. The full content of the posts is still downloaded to the Web browser and available behind the screens (view page source) which means that there won't be any improvement in the download speed of the page. If you know of a hack that can help reduce the download speed of the index and archive pages by omitting the unwanted part of the posts from the page source, then please do hashout!
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Adsense Status Google Gadget for Google Desktop Sidebar

Adsense Status Google Gadget add-on for Google Desktop SidebarDo you know that there exists a Google Gadget for Google Desktop software that displays your latest AdSense earnings status?

Adsense Status is a plug-in for the Google Desktop sidebar. With Adsense Status, you can view your Google Adsense earnings for Today, Yesterday, Last 7 Days, This Month, Last Month, Since Last Payment and All Time. It displays informaiton like page impressions, clicks, page CTR, page eCPM and your earnings from Adsense for Content, Search and Referrals.

You can download Adsense Status here.

Note: To use Adsense Status, Google Desktop is required.
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How does a Google Adsense payment check look like?

Yet to receive your first Google Adsense cheque? Wondering how it would look like when you receive your cheque! Don't worry, you have to wait no more. Here, take a look at one.

Google Adsense cheque
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