We had released Recent Comments Widget sometime back that turned out to be an instant hit. We were overwhelmed with the responses we received. There were a lot of requests for a similar Recent Posts widget. So, today, we are releasing Recent Posts widget for BlogSpot users.

How is it different from the other Recent Posts widget?

1. The problem with other widgets is that the source code for them lies with the widget author and the authors often integrate it in within their own site. If because of some problem their site is down, the recent posts widget will not work.Here, I am releasing the source code so that the logic would reside within your blog itself and hence you can do away with dependency on 3rd party site not under your control.
2. You have a number of control and customizations options available. With this widget you have the option to show:
   1. Posts Title only.
   2. Posts Title with Date.
   3. Posts Title with excerpt.
   4. Posts Title with Date and excerpt.

Why should we use this widget when we can use you the feed option provided by blogger itself?

Well, for a number of reasons.

1. Blogger limits the recent posts to 5.
2. There are a number of customization options I have provided which you might not find with the internal blogger system.
3. [Trivia] The URL that appears in your Firefox bar (below) when you hover the mouse over the link, contains your feed URL and not the actual URL.

How to install Recent Posts widget for blogger?

1. Login to the blogger dashboard.
2. Go to ‘Page Elements’ tab
3. Click on Add a Gadget. Select HTML/JavaScript widget type.
4. Now this is the most important step. Download the corresponding code given below and paste it in the widget box you have just opened above.
   1. Right click on the button below to download code for Posts Title only.
      
   2. Right click on the button below to download code for Posts Title with Date.
      
   3. Right click on the button below to download code for Posts Title with excerpt.
      
   4. Right click on the button below to download code for Posts Title with Date and excerpt.
      
5. Scroll down to src=http://xyz.blogspot.com and replace xyz with your blog’s name. For example if your blog’s URL is http://abc.blogspot.com then the code should become src=http://abc.blogspot.com DO NOT TOUCH any other part of the code or else it might create problems.
6. You have the option to increase/decrease the number of posts displayed in your widget. Go to var numposts = 5; (3rd line from the top, in the code you have downloaded). Increase/Decrease the number of posts. By default 5 posts would be displayed.
7. If you choose to show excerpt for your posts, you have the option to increase/decrease length of the excerpt. Go to var numchars = 100; (6th line from the top, in the code you have downloaded). Increase/Decrease the number of characters. By default length is set to show 100 characters.
8. You are done! Lastly please do not remove the footer credits*.

Please let me know if you face any problem implementing the code above.

If you like the above widget. Consider donating and encourage us to come up with more such widgets.

*The code is released under the condition that footer credits should remain intact.

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Here I assume that you are using the blogger beta and not on the classic one. It’s been a long time now that blogger has moved to beta. There is no reason for you to remain on classic version now.

You want to show adsense ads on sidebar of the home page of your blogger blog and not on the other pages OR you want to show adsense ads on all pages except the homepage of your blogspot blog. Here is what you can do-

1. LogIn to the blogger dashboard. Go to Layout. Say you want to show ad on the left sidebar top. Click on “Add a Gadget” on LHS of layout and enter your adsense code. 
2. Now go to Edit HTML. Scroll down and locate left sidebar. You will find something like this-
3. Copy the name of the first widget. In my case it is HTML6.
4. Now click on Expand Widget Templates (given on top right) and search the name you have copied in the above step.   
5. You will find a similar code except what is in the red box above. Copy and paste  <b:if cond=’data:blog.pageType == &quot;index&quot;’> and </b:if>, EXACTLY at the same place as shown in the image above.
6. If you want to show ads on all pages except on the home page then copy and paste this <b:if cond=’data:blog.pageType != &quot;index&quot;’>

Save Template’ and you’re done.

Gozar!

If you work on a shared computer, you might want to password-protect your excel or word documents. How would you do it?  There are a number of commercial tools available for this, but Microsoft provides a free, nice and elegant way.
The first time that I needed this feature, it took me a lot of time researching, so thought of sharing this tip with you all.

If you are using MS Office 2000:

1. Open the document.
2. Go to File > Save As. Click on Tools on top right side as shown.
   
3. Click on General Options.
4. The next screen will ask you for the password. Fill in your desired password.
5. The next time onwards, whenever you open that file, the system will prompt for password.

If you are using higher versions of MS office:

Microsoft has made this process a bit simpler for higher versions. Simply go to Tools > Options > Security tab and fill in the desired password.