ssssssssssss: January 2014

Thursday, 16 January 2014

How to Add an Admin Control Panel in Blogger

A while ago I've posted some tutorials on how you can remove the Blogger Navbar or add a Peek A Boo Effect so that it would show only when we mouse over on top of our page.

However, customizing or removing the Blogger Navbar also has its downside because the admin links for "New post", "Customize" and "Log Out" will be no longer visible and navigating through the blog functions could be really frustrating sometimes. When the navbar is visible, blog administrators can easily create a new post or customize their template with just one click; however, when the navbar is hidden, many more clicks are required to access the Blogger dashboard panel again.

So in this tutorial, we'll see how to add an "Admin Control Panel" menu with many cool additions such as:

- access to the Blogger's Homepage
- create a New Page or Post
- view all your posts
- read your comments
- access the Blog's layout to add or rearrange gadgets
- edit the HTML of your Template
- refresh current page or post
- open a new tab with your blog's homepage
- access the blog' settings
- view your stats
- ...and finally, log out

We will put all these options on the top of your page as a menu and we will make it visible only to the administrator of the blog, so our blog visitors will not be able to see it.

The result will be something like this:

Getting the Blog ID

The first thing we need to do is get the ID of our blog by clicking on any option from our Blog Dashboard, for example Settings. Once we have clicked there, take a look at the address bar in your browser:

Within the URL you will notice a string like this:

blogID=XXXXXXXXX

Where XXXXXXXXX is the unique identifier (ID) for your blog.

Copy the ID for the blog you wish to work with so we can add this in the links for your admin control panel.

Adding the admin control panel to Blogger template

The Admin Control Panel will only be visible when the blog author is logged in. It is invisible to blog readers, similar to the Edit post/widget pencil icons which are only visible to you while you are logged in.

To add the control panel to your Blogger template, follow the steps below:

Step 1. Go to Template and click on the Edit HTML button:

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and press the CTRL + F keys to open the Blogger' search box

Step 3. Paste this line inside the search box then hit Enter to find it:

<body expr:class='"loading" + data:blog.mobileClass'>

Note: if you can't find this line, try to find the <body> tag.

Step 4. Just below this line, add the following code:

<span class='item-control blog-admin'>
<style>
.control-panel ul{z-index: 20; position: absolute; margin: 0px auto; background-color: #F6F6F6; width: 100%; }
.control-panel ul li{display: inline-block; float: left; padding: 7px 0px;}
.control-panel ul li a {color:#686868;padding: 7px 15px;border-right: 1px solid #E3E3E3;font-weight: bold;font-size: 13px;}
.control-panel a:hover {text-decoration:none; color:#FC8F44;}
</style>
<div class='control-panel'>
<ul>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/home'>My Blogs</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=XXXXXXXXXXXXX#editor/src=sidebar'>New Post</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=XXXXXXXXXXXXX#editor/target=page'>New Page</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=XXXXXXXXXXXXX#posts'>All Posts</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=XXXXXXXXXXXXX#comments'>Comments</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=XXXXXXXXXXXXX#pageelements'>Layout</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=XXXXXXXXXXXXX#templatehtml'>Edit HTML</a></li>
<li><a href='#' onclick='location.reload(true); return false;'>Refresh</a></li>
<li><a href='/' target='_blank'>New Tab</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=XXXXXXXXXXXXX#basicsettings'>Settings</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=XXXXXXXXXXXXX#overviewstats'>Stats</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.blogger.com/logout.g'>Logout</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</span>

Change XXXXXXXXXXXXX with your unique Blog ID previously copied, and be careful not to delete anything, like quote or any other character.

Step 4. Click on the Save template button to save the changes.

Now take a look at your blog. While you are logged in to Blogger, you should notice your control panel appear on top of your blog. Enjoy!

With this admin control panel for Blogger you can easily access the functions of the blog and you will not have to always open your blog page and the Blogger homepage at the same time.

How to Add Adsense Ads In the Middle or Anywhere inside Blogger Posts

In a previous post we saw how and where we can place Adsense ads on our blog; however, these methods would only work when we place the ads on predetermined and fixed locations. For posts area, the most common places are below the title, at the beginning of the post or at the end of the post.

But what if we want to display an AdSense ad in the middle of a post?

We can manipulate the location of the ads to be displayed by adding a script inside the template and using a tag inside our post to where we want the AdSense ad to appear. Once added, we can place the ads anywhere, be it between paragraphs or in the middle of the content etc.

Manually inserting Adsense ads in the middle of posts in Blogger is pretty simple, just follow these steps below:

Before proceeding, it is recommended do backup your template (go to Template > click on the Backup/restore button)

Step 1. First thing we need to do is to "parse" the AdSense code, in other words, convert it to plain text. Then go to Template, click on the Edit HTML button, click anywhere inside the code area and look for this tag (CTRL + F):

<data:post.body/>

Note: you may find it several times, but we need to stop at the second one or if you can't see any changes, test the third one

Screenshot

Step 2. Replace the <data:post.body/> tag with this code:

<div expr:id='"adsmiddle1" + data:post.id'></div>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "static_page"'>
<div style="clear:both; margin:10px 0">

</div>
</b:if>
</b:if>
<div expr:id='"adsmiddle2" + data:post.id'>
<data:post.body/>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var obj0=document.getElementById("adsmiddle1<data:post.id/>");
var obj1=document.getElementById("adsmiddle2<data:post.id/>");
var s=obj1.innerHTML;
var r=s.search(/\x3C!-- adsense --\x3E/igm);
if(r>0) {obj0.innerHTML=s.substr(0,r);obj1.innerHTML=s.substr(r+16);}
</script>

Step 3. Put the converted Adsense code to where you see the  annotation, then save the changes by clicking on the Save template button.

Note: For centering ads, add the center tag before and after the AdSense code, like this:

<div style="clear:both; margin:10px 0">
<center>

</center>
</div>

Step 4. When you create a New Post, add this tag inside the HTML section to where you want the Google AdSense ads to appear:

For example:

<div>This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text.</div>
<div>This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text. This is a demo text.</div>

Screenshot

Note: If you don't add the label to bring up the ad, then the ad will appear below the title by default.

And you don't have to worry about violating the Google's Terms of Service because applying this method we are not changing the structure of the ad.

Monday, 13 January 2014

How to create click events using CSS

An event is something that happens when we do something. In CSS, the most common is the hover selector which helps us to select elements when we mouse over them and then an event is executed automatically. There is one way to avoid this since in modern browsers there is a property called pointer-events which allows us to disable them. For instance, if we have a link and we set the pointer-events property value to none, it would simply not work:

<a href="page-url" style="pointer-events: none;">Click here</a>

Many use :target to make it work, however, this is not always the best choice if we consider its jumping behavior - click on the link below to see what happens:

Link with target

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam eu cursus dui, ac fermentum eros. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce elementum sapien et augue fringilla aliquam. Ut a viverra libero, eget commodo nisi. Maecenas ultrices facilisis dignissim.

<style>
#linktarget {display: none;}
#linktarget:target {display: block;}
</style>
<a href="#linktarget">Link with target</a>
<div id="linktarget">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam eu cursus dui, ac fermentum eros. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce elementum sapien et augue fringilla aliquam. Ut a viverra libero, eget commodo nisi. Maecenas ultrices facilisis dignissim.
</div>

Another option is to use the :focus selector which will make the hidden content to expand on mouse click.
The advantage of this selector is that the page stays still, however, we have to click anywhere "outside" to close the expanded content and besides this, the hidden content should be immediately after, with no intermediate tags:

Demo with focus

<style>
.focuselector {display: none;}
span:focus ~ .focuselector {display: block;}
</style>
<span tabindex="0">Link with focus</span>
<div class="focuselector">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam eu cursus dui, ac fermentum eros. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce elementum sapien et augue fringilla aliquam. Ut a viverra libero, eget commodo nisi. Maecenas ultrices facilisis dignissim.
</div>

The last method is more fancy even though it requires more tags but it works the best since it allows us to create a toggle effect, i.e., expand on click and then collapse when clicking again. In this case, we'll use the :checked selector:

Demo with checked

<style>
.checked-selector {display: none;}
:checked ~ .checked-selector {display: block;}
input.hidden[type=checkbox] {position: absolute;left: -999em;}
</style>

<label for="toggle-hidden">Demo with checked</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="toggle-hidden" class="hidden" />
<div class="checked-selector">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam eu cursus dui, ac fermentum eros. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce elementum sapien et augue fringilla aliquam. Ut a viverra libero, eget commodo nisi. Maecenas ultrices facilisis dignissim.
</div>

To apply these effects on the links and content that you want to hide and expand only on mouse click is very easy: when you create a post, paste one of the codes above inside the HTML box and replace the text in blue with the name of your link and add your text instead of the green one.

Create a CSS Image Slider with Thumbnails for Blogger

Image galleries/sliders are particularly useful for photoblogs, but they could also serve those who occasionally need a gadget like this. As we saw in a previous tutorial, on the top of the block we had some small thumbnails which were enlarged at the bottom each time an image was selected. The difference is that there we had to click the thumbnail in order to show a larger version and that was acquired with JavaScript.

This time will use only hover and CSS.

DEMO

How to Add A CSS Image Slider with Thumbnails to Blogger

Step 1. Log in to your Blogger Dashboard and go to Template > Edit HTML

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and press the CTRL + F keys to open the Blogger search box

Step 3. Paste the </head> tag inside the search box and hit Enter.

Step 4. Just above the </head> tag, add this code:

<style type='text/css'>
.image-container {
position: relative;
width: 640px;
height: 530px;
margin: 0 auto;
text-align:center;
overflow: hidden;
}
.image-container a {
display: inline;
text-decoration: none;
}
/* Mini-thumbnails style */
.mini-thumbnail {
width: 18%; /* mini-thumbnails width */
margin:1px;
opacity: 1;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
-moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
box-shadow: 0px 0px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
}
/* Style for the main thumbnail */
.large-thumbnail {
position: absolute;
width: 100%;
top: 800px;
margin:0 auto;
text-align: center;
display: block;
-webkit-transition: top 1s ease;
-moz-transition: top 1s ease;
-o-transition: top 1s ease;
-ms-transition: top 1s ease;
transition: top 1s ease;
}
.feature {
top: 110px;
width: 100%;
opacity: .3;
}
/* style for the selected mini-thumbnail */
a:hover .mini-thumbnail {
opacity: .5;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
-moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
}
/* transition effects for the selected image */
a:hover .large-thumbnail {
top: 110px;
width: 100%;
z-index:3;
opacity: 1;
-webkit-transition: top 1s ease;
-moz-transition: top 1s ease;
-o-transition: top 1s ease;
-ms-transition: top 1s ease;
transition: top 1s ease;
}
</style>

Here we set a specific height (530px) and width (640px) so that we can slide an image out of the bounds of the container and have it be hidden (overflow:hidden);
The absolute positioning on the larger thumbnails (.large-thumbnail) pulls them out and places them specifically in the spot that we've chosen using a value of 800px for the top property;
The mini-thumbnails which are actually a second image remain all the time above in a static position and are altered only slightly in terms of style for distinguishing the active (a:hover .mini-thumbnail) on mouse over.
Step 5. Save the changes by clicking on the Save template button.

And finally, we need to add the HTML code.

Step 6. Paste the below HTML structure to where you want to display the gallery by going either to Layout and add a new gadget (click on the Add a gadget link and choose HTML/JavaScript), or inside a post or page within the HTML section.

<div class="image-container">
<a href="javascript:void(0);">
<img class="mini-thumbnail" src="MINI-THUMB-URL1" />
<img class="large-thumbnail" src="LARGE-THUMB-URL1" />
</a>
<a href="javascript:void(0);">
<img class="mini-thumbnail" src="MINI-THUMB-URL2" />
<img class="large-thumbnail" src="LARGE-THUMB-URL2" />
</a>
<a href="javascript:void(0);">
<img class="mini-thumbnail" src="MINI-THUMB-URL3" />
<img class="large-thumbnail" src="LARGE-THUMB-URL3" />
</a>
<a href="javascript:void(0);">
<img class="mini-thumbnail" src="MINI-THUMB-URL4" />
<img class="large-thumbnail" src="LARGE-THUMB-URL4" />
</a>
<a href="javascript:void(0);">
<img class="mini-thumbnail" src="MINI-THUMB-URL5" />
<img class="large-thumbnail" src="LARGE-THUMB-URL5" />
</a>
<a href="javascript:void(0);">
<img class="large-thumbnail feature" src="LARGE-THUMB-URL1" />
</a>
</div>

In this example we left the link empty (javascript:void(0);) but you can add one if you want - just replace javascript:void(0); with the url of your page/post.
To add pics inside the image slider just replace MINI-THUMB-URL and LARGE-THUMB-URL texts with the URL of your images. Note: The last LARGE-THUMB-URL1 should be replaced with the URL of the default image that will appear on your slider.

If you need more information on how to get the URL of images, I recommend you reading this tutorial:
How to Upload Images and Get the URL

Finally, save your widget/gadget or publish your page/post and that's it! Enjoy :)

Sunday, 12 January 2014

How to add a thumbnail image/photo gallery in Blogger

For those who would like to show pictures in an image gallery, here's a beautiful gallery made with JavaScript and CSS. This image gallery displays the available thumbnails either vertically or horizontally on top of the selected picture, thus making it easier for you to pick different images on mouse click.

With the help of CSS, we can make the <img> element to display on same position with the rest of the thumbs and style the thumbnails as small blocks with a defined height/width. The script will add a click-event for each <li> object that changes it's child's <img> visibility and will assign an "active" class name to the <li>.

Related:
Image Slider with Mouse Hover Effect using only CSS
Possibly the Most Simple jQuery Slider
Spacegallery: A Time Machine-like Slideshow/Image Gallery

How to Add Image Gallery with Thumbnails to Blogger

Step 1. Log in to your Blogger account, select your blog and go to Template > Edit HTML

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and press the CTRL + F keys to open the search box:

Step 3. Type the following tag inside the search box and hit Enter to find it:

</head>

Step 4. Now pick one of the styles below and copy the code below it:

Style 1

<style type='text/css'>
#image-gallery {display: none;}
#jquery-gallery {padding:0;margin:0;list-style: none; width: 500px;}
#jquery-gallery li {width:84px; height: 80px;background-size: 100%;-webkit-background-size: cover;-moz-background-size: cover; -o-background-size: cover;background-size: cover;margin-right: 10px; border: 3px solid #fff; outline: 1px solid #E3E3E3; margin-bottom: 10px;opacity: .5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); float: left; display: block; }
#jquery-gallery li img { position: absolute; top: 100px; left: 0px; display: none;}
#jquery-gallery li.active img { display: block; border: 3px solid #fff; outline: 1px solid #E3E3E3; width:490px; max-height: 375px;}
#jquery-gallery li.active, #jquery-gallery li:hover { outline-color: #DFDFDF; opacity: .99;filter:alpha(opacity=99);}
#gallery-caption { position: absolute;color: #000;font-weight: bold;background: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; bottom: 0px;}
</style>

Style 2

<style type='text/css'>
#image-gallery { display: none; }
#jquery-gallery {padding:0;margin:0;list-style: none; width: 200px; }
#jquery-gallery li {background-size: 100%;-webkit-background-size: cover;-moz-background-size: cover; -o-background-size: cover;background-size: cover;margin-right: 10px; width: 80px; height: 80px; border: 3px solid #fff; outline: 1px solid #ddd; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; opacity: .5;filter:alpha(opacity=50); float: left; display: block; }
#jquery-gallery li img { position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 200px; display: none; }
#jquery-gallery li.active img { display: block; width:370px; border: 3px solid #fff; outline: 1px solid #E3E3E3; }
#jquery-gallery li.active, #jquery-gallery li:hover { outline-color: #bbb; opacity: .99;filter:alpha(opacity=99);}
#gallery-caption { position: absolute; right: 50px;color: #000;background: #FFFFFF;font-weight: bold; font-size: 16px; top: 0px;}
</style>

Note: The display: none; of the first ID (#image-gallery) is to prevent images appear with their actual size before they go inside the gallery container, this is while loading the code. In #jquery-gallery we have the width of the container for the thumbnails (200px), so that they display in two rows and for this we need to count the width of the thumbnail (80px) plus the margins between them. The left declaration of #jquery-gallery li img is to move the larger thumbnail that shows on mouse click so that it won't overlap with the smaller thumbnails.
Step 5. Paste the code of the chosen style just above the </head> tag.

Step 6. Now above the same </head> tag, add this script:

<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
var gal = {
init : function() {
if (!document.getElementById || !document.createElement || !document.appendChild) return false;
if (document.getElementById('image-gallery')) document.getElementById('image-gallery').id = 'jquery-gallery';
var li = document.getElementById('jquery-gallery').getElementsByTagName('li');
li[0].className = 'active';
for (i=0; i<li.length; i++) {
li[i].style.backgroundImage = 'url(' + li[i].getElementsByTagName('img')[0].src + ')';
li[i].title = li[i].getElementsByTagName('img')[0].alt;
gal.addEvent(li[i],'click',function() {
var im = document.getElementById('jquery-gallery').getElementsByTagName('li');
for (j=0; j<im.length; j++) {
im[j].className = '';
}
this.className = 'active';
document.getElementById('gallery-caption').innerHTML = this.title;
});
}
},
addEvent : function(obj, type, fn) {
if (obj.addEventListener) {
obj.addEventListener(type, fn, false);
}
else if (obj.attachEvent) {
obj["e"+type+fn] = fn;
obj[type+fn] = function() { obj["e"+type+fn]( window.event ); }
obj.attachEvent("on"+type, obj[type+fn]);
}
}
}
gal.addEvent(window,'load', function() {
gal.init();
});
//]]>
</script>

Basically, what this script does, is to look if there is any ID named "image-gallery" and get the different list items that may exist within it. These elements will be displayed as thumbnails and a function will decide what to do when they are clicked. So, each time we click on a thumbnail, the "active" class will be assigned and the thumbnail should be visible in the larger container.

Step 7. Finally, save the changes by clicking the "Save template" button.

And here's the HTML code providing a normal list with the image-gallery ID, enclosed within a DIV with a relative position, so that it will avoid side effects of other pre-existing positions.

Step 8. Paste the below HTML to where you want to display the gallery by going either to Layout and adding a new gadget (click on the Add a gadget link and choose HTML/JavaScript), or inside a post/page in the HTML section.

<div style="position:relative;">
<ul id="image-gallery">
<li><img src="IMAGE-URL1" /></li>
<li><img src="IMAGE-URL2" /></li>
<li><img src="IMAGE-URL3" /></li>
<li><img src="IMAGE-URL4" /></li>
<li><img src="IMAGE-URL5" /></li>
</ul>
</div>

Note: if elements on your page overlap with this gallery, you might need to add the height declaration after the "position: relative;" The value of height depends on the size of your gallery.

Example:

<div style="position:relative; height: 500px;">

Change IMAGE-URL1 with the image URL. If you don't know how to get the address of an image, see this tutorial: How to Upload Images and Get the URL

In case you need to add links to your images, add this HTML structure instead:

<div style="position:relative;">
<ul id="image-gallery">
<li><a href="page-URL"><img src="IMAGE-URL1" /></a></li>
<li><a href="page-URL"><img src="IMAGE-URL2" /></a></li>
<li><a href="page-URL"><img src="IMAGE-URL3" /></a></li>
<li><a href="page-URL"><img src="IMAGE-URL4" /></a></li>
<li><a href="page-URL"><img src="IMAGE-URL5" /></a></li>
</ul>
</div>

Again, here you need to replace the page-URL text with the URL of your page/post.

Update: To add captions, please include the lines in orange and then replace the "Caption" with the text that you want to appear on each picture:

<div style="position:relative;">
<ul id="image-gallery">
<li><a href="page-URL"><img alt="Caption" src="IMAGE-URL1" /></a></li>
<li><a href="page-URL"><img alt="Caption" src="IMAGE-URL2" /></a></li>
<li><a href="page-URL"><img alt="Caption" src="IMAGE-URL3" /></a></li>
<li><a href="page-URL"><img alt="Caption" src="IMAGE-URL4" /></a></li>
<li><a href="page-URL"><img alt="Caption" src="IMAGE-URL5" /></a></li>
</ul>
<div id="gallery-caption"></div>
</div>

Save your widget or publish your page and you're done!

Thursday, 2 January 2014

How to Create Magazine Style with Post Summaries and Thumbnails on Blogger

The magazine or newspaper style templates are those that display the posts summaries in the homepage by stacking the columns on top of each other. This kind of templates is very popular nowadays, and whether it is a news or technology blog, everyone needs a fresh magazine style layout for their blogs.

blogger tricks, blogger widgets, blogger templates

There are several ways to make posts appear this way. An option would be to use the Read more script to display a summary of the posts and add a conditional tag and a different style to the first post so that it will have a larger width than the older posts. So, this tutorial will show you how to create a magazine style for a Blogger Template. By following this tutorial, you can transform your boring and simple Blogger template to have an attractive and stylish magazine style layout.

To see how it looks like, please visit this demo blog.

Adding the Magazine/Newspaper style to a Blogger Template

Step 1. Before anything please make a backup of your current template to make sure that you won't lose anything important - just log in on your Blogger Dashboard and go to Template, then click on the Backup/Restore button. After you've got a copy of the xml template, click on the Edit HTML button:

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and search by using CTRL + F keys for this line:

<data:post.body/>

Note: You'll find it more than once, but stop to the second one in order to see the changes.

Step 3. Remove that line and instead it add this code:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "static_page"'>
<span class='post-comment-link'><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'><b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'><a class='comment-link' expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:post.numComments/></a></b:if></b:if></span>
<div expr:id='"summary" + data:post.id'><data:post.body/></div>
<script type='text/javascript'>createSummaryAndThumb("summary<data:post.id/>");</script>
<span class='readmorebutton' style='float:right'><a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read More »</a></span></b:if></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'><data:post.body/></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "static_page"'><data:post.body/></b:if>

Note: you can replace the Read More text, by changing the code in red

Step 4. Now find (CTRL + F) this line:

<b:include data='post' name='post'/>

Step 5. Remove this as well and instead of it add this:

<b:if cond='data:post.isFirstPost'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.homepageUrl == data:blog.url'>
<div id='first'>
<b:if cond='data:post.title'>
<h3 class='post-title entry-title'>
<b:if cond='data:post.link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.link'><data:post.title/></a>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:post.url'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url'><data:post.title/></a>
<b:else/>
<data:post.title/>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</h3>
</b:if>
<div class='first-body'>

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "static_page"'>
<div expr:id='"summary1" + data:post.id'><data:post.body/></div>
<script type='text/javascript'>createSummaryAndThumb1("summary1<data:post.id/>");</script>
<span class='post-comment-link'><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'><b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'><a class='comment-link' expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:post.numComments/></a></b:if></b:if></span>
<span class='readmorebutton' style='float:right'><a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read More »</a></span>
</b:if></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'><data:post.body/></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "static_page"'><data:post.body/></b:if>

</div>
</div>
<b:else/>
<b:include data='post' name='post'/>
</b:if>
<b:else/>
<b:include data='post' name='post'/>
</b:if>

Note: you can change the Read More text here also, just replace the code in red with the text that you want to show.

Step 6. Now find the </head> tag and paste the following script before/above it:

<script type='text/javascript'>
posts_no_thumb_sum = 290;
posts_thumb_sum = 240;
img_thumb_height = 80;
img_thumb_width = 80;
first_no_thumb_sum = 580;
first_thumb_sum = 450;
img_thumb_height1 = 145;
img_thumb_width1 = 165;
</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 = posts_no_thumb_sum;
if(img.length>=1) {
imgtag = '<span class="posts-thumb" style="float:left;"><img src="'+img[0].src+'" width="'+img_thumb_width+'px" height="'+img_thumb_height+'px"/></span>';
summ = posts_thumb_sum;
}

var summary = imgtag + '<div class="summary">' + removeHtmlTag(div.innerHTML,summ) + '</div>';
div.innerHTML = summary;
}

function createSummaryAndThumb1(pID){
var div = document.getElementById(pID);
var imgtag = "";
var img = div.getElementsByTagName("img");
var summ = first_no_thumb_sum;
if(img.length>=1) {
imgtag = '<span class="first-post-thumb" style="float:left;"><img src="'+img[0].src+'" width="'+img_thumb_width1+'px" height="'+img_thumb_height1+'px"/></span>';
summ = first_thumb_sum;
}

var summary1 = imgtag + '<div class="summary">' + removeHtmlTag(div.innerHTML,summ) + '</div>';
div.innerHTML = summary1;
}

//]]>
</script>

Step 7. And below the script above add these CSS styles:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "static_page"'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<style type='text/css'>
.first-post-thumb {
    margin-right: 10px;
}

.summary {
    height: 100%;
}

#first { /* Styles for the First Post Container */
    width: auto;
    height: 250px;
    float: left;
    margin-bottom: 10px;
    background-color: #F4F4F4; /* background color for the first post */
    border: 1px solid #E5E5E5; /* border for the first post */}

.first-body { /* Style for the First Post summary */
    color: #545454;
    font-size: 13px;
    text-align: justify;
    padding: 5px 10px;
    line-height: 1.5em;
}

#first h3 a, #first h3 a:visited { /* Style for the First Post Title*/
    border-bottom: 2px solid #DFDFDF;
    color: #515151;
    font-size: 20px;
    display: block;
    margin: 10px auto;
    width: 95%;
    font-size: 20px;
    padding: 0px 0px 4px 0px;
    font-weight: bold;
    text-align: left;
    line-height: 1.4em;
    background: none;
}

#first h3 a:hover { /* Color on mouseover for the First Post Title */
    color: #1061A1;
}

.post { /* Styles for the small posts container */
    float: left;
    margin: 0px 6px 2% 5px;
    width: 46%;
    height: 230px;
    padding: 0px 5px 5px 5px;
    background: #FCFCFC; /* background color for the small posts */
    border: 1px solid #E5E5E5; /* border for the small posts */
    overflow: hidden;
}

.posts-thumb { /* Style for the small posts thumbnails */
    margin-right: 10px;
}

.post-body img, .post-body .tr-caption-container, .Profile img, .Image img, .BlogList .item-thumbnail img {
    background: none;
    border: none;
    box-shadow: none;
    padding: 0;
}

h3.post-title a{ /* Style for the small posts titles */
    font-size: 14px;
    color: #747474;
    text-transform: uppercase;
}

h2.date-header { /* Hide the post date */
    display: none;
}

.post-footer {
    display: none;
}

h3.post-title {
    margin: 0px;
}

.readmorebutton {
    margin-top: 5px;
}

.readmorebutton a { /* Styles for the Read More link */
    color: #767676;
    border: 1px solid #E1E1E1;
    background: #EAEAEA; /* Background color for the Read More link */
    text-decoration: none;
    padding: 3px 5px;
    font-weight: bold;
    font-size: 11px;
    float: right;
    position: relative;
}

.post-comment-link { /* Style for the comment bubble of posts below */
    position: absolute;
    top: -35px;
    right: -10px;
    display: block;
    border: 1px solid #E1E1E1; /* border for the comment bubble */
    background: #EAEAEA; /* background color for the comment bubble */
    font-size: 11px;
    position: absolute;
}

#first .post-comment-link { /* Style for the comment bubble of first post */
    position: absolute;
    top: 10px;
    right: 0px;
}

.post-comment-link a { /* Link color for the comments bubble*/
    padding: 10px;
    color: #6A6A6A;
    text-decoration: none;
    font-weight: bold;
}

#blog-pager {
    clear: both;
}
</style>
</b:if>
</b:if>

Customization:

1) At the beginning of the script from step 6, we have this section:

posts_no_thumb_sum = 290;
posts_thumb_sum = 240;
img_thumb_height = 80;
img_thumb_width = 80;
first_no_thumb_sum = 580;
first_thumb_sum = 450;
img_thumb_height1 = 145;
img_thumb_width1 = 165;

- the first number is the number of characters that will show for the small posts when there will be no image available
- the 2nd number is the number of characters that will show when the small posts will have an image
- the 3rd and the 4th line is for the height and width of the small posts thumbnails (images).
- the same goes for what is in blue, but this configuration affects only the first post. Since the first post is wider, it may contain a larger number of characters and we'll be able to make the thumbnail size larger.

2) And finally, we have the CSS styles. That last thing we added is a code that determines how the posts are going to look on the homepage (and archive pages as well, except for the first post).

To change the width an height, respectively the size for the first post container, look for these lines:

width: auto;
height: 250px;

Underneath the first post are the values for the other posts, just look for this part:

width: 46%;
height: 230px;

The width will ocuppy 46% of the main column width and height is set to 230px. Here you may need to experiment a bit with the sizes in order to make them appear correctly.

Finally, set the number of posts to show on the homepage, so that there won't be any empty space. Go to Settings >> Posts and comments >> Show at most and select the number of posts that you want to appear.