Collapsible Posts (Dropdown Posts)

If you like your blog posts to be truncated without actually eliminating a single word, then the "collapsible post" option is the best option for you. This option allows your blog post to be partially displayed on the main page of your blogsite. In this manner, only the first paragraph or selected paragraphs will be displayed. Some blog readers do not have the patience to scroll down on your blog posts to find the articles that are interesting to them. The collapsible option allows your readers to conveniently scan your main blog posts. Your readers will be able to read the rest of the post by simply clicking the "Read More..." link at the bottom of each article post. In my Much Ado About Nothing blogsite, I have used the "More Blasphemy..." link. You can actually customize this link by editing the corresponding texts in the HTML codes.

However, the collapsible option is not readily available in Blogger/Blogspot. You first need to implement some CSS and HTML codes in the template of your blogsite. Here are the steps that you should follow to include the collapsible option in your Blogger/Blogspot template:

Step1: Backup your template. Just in case something goes wrong, you can always go back to your original template.

Step2: Open the HTML editor of your template and locate the closing </head> tag. Just before this tag, add these codes:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<script type="text/javascript">

var fade = false;
function showFull(id) {
var post = document.getElementById(id);
var spans = post.getElementsByTagName('span');
for (var i = 0; i < spans.length; i++) {
if (spans[i].id == "fullpost") {
if (fade) {
spans[i].style.background = peekaboo_bgcolor;
Effect.Appear(spans[i]);
} else spans[i].style.display = 'inline';
}
if (spans[i].id == "showlink")
spans[i].style.display = 'none';
if (spans[i].id == "hidelink")
spans[i].style.display = 'inline';
}
}


function hideFull(id) {
var post = document.getElementById(id);
var spans = post.getElementsByTagName('span');
for (var i = 0; i < spans.length; i++) {
if (spans[i].id == "fullpost") {
if (fade) {
spans[i].style.background = peekaboo_bgcolor;
Effect.Fade(spans[i]);
} else spans[i].style.display = 'none';
}
if (spans[i].id == "showlink")
spans[i].style.display = 'inline';
if (spans[i].id == "hidelink")
spans[i].style.display = 'none';
}
post.scrollIntoView(true);
}

function checkFull(id) {
var post = document.getElementById(id);
var spans = post.getElementsByTagName('span');
var found = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < spans.length; i++) {
if (spans[i].id == "fullpost") {
spans[i].style.display = 'none';
found = 1;
}
if ((spans[i].id == "showlink") && (found == 0))
spans[i].style.display = 'none';
}
}

</script>
</b:if>

If the codes above do not work, go to this link and copy all the codes: Codes.

Step3: Save your template and locate this section in the HTML document:

<b:includable id='post' var='post'>
<div class='post uncustomized-post-template' expr:id='"post-" + data:post.id'>
<a expr:name='data:post.id'/>
<b:if cond='data:post.title'>
<h3 class='post-title'>
<b:if cond='data:post.url'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url'><data:post.title/></a>
<b:else/>
<data:post.title/>
</b:if>
</h3>
</b:if>

<div class='post-header-line-1'/>

<div class='post-body'>

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>

<p><data:post.body/></p>

<b:else/>
<style>#fullpost {display:none;}</style>
<p><data:post.body/></p>
<span id='showlink'>
<p><a href='javascript:void(0);' expr:onclick='"javascript:showFull(\"post-" + data:post.id + "\");"'>Read More...</a></p>
</span>
<span id='hidelink' style='display:none'>
<p><a href='javascript:void(0);' expr:onclick='"javascript:hideFull(\"post-" + data:post.id + "\");"'>Summary only...</a></p>
</span>
<script type='text/javascript'>
checkFull("post-" + "<data:post.id/>");
</script>
</b:if>

<div style='clear: both;'/> <!-- clear for photos floats -->
</div>

Add the red-highlighted codes as shown above. If the codes above do not work properly, visit this link: Codes2.


Step4: Save your template and go to the Settings-Formatting tab.



Step5: Locate the Post Template box and paste these codes as shown in the illustration:

Type your summary here
<span id="fullpost">
Type rest of the post here
</span>



Now you are done. Save your template and view your blog. You will notice that there are actually no changes in your blog posts. You must first edit the old blog posts and include the post template codes to implement the "collapsible post" option. However, every time you make a new post, the template codes that you have added will appear in the "Edit HTML" tab of the post editor. Hence, it is better to first type your blog post using the Edit HTML tab of the post editor to assure that the texts are properly coded. Simply inlcude the texts or portion of your post that you want to be hidden within the <span> codes.

NOTE: If you find it difficult to directly edit your HTML template, refer to this post: Editing Templates.