10 Ways To Style and Create "Read More" Links In Blogger .:: My Blogger Trick

Creating 'After the jump' summaries using Read More Link makes your homepage load fast and keep things organized and well managed. Till now I shared many tutorials on free"Read More" Buttons and Continue Reading Links but today we will learn to create beautiful Read More buttons without using any image at all. We will use pure CSS to make this happen. I have styled a total of 10 buttons which I hope you will find interesting to further customize. Please see a demo first:

Live Demo

This link has different names. You can call it a "Full Story" Link, "Continue" Link, "Read rest of the story" link etc. If you have no idea what a read more link is or you have not added it as yet then please read this tutorial first:

How To Show only Post Summary in Blogger?

Applying the new style to the Read More Link

I have shared many CSS codes below which will change the look of the post summary link on your blogger blogs but first you must know who to add the CSS to your templates and Read More link.

Go to Blogger > Design > Edit HTML
Backup your template
Click the "Expand widget Templates" Box
Search for this,

]]></b:skin>

5. And paste your selected Read More Link style code just above it.
6. Next search for this,

<data:post.body/>

7. Just below it you will find the read more link code similar to this one,

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url'>
<div style="text-align: right;">Read More ->></div></a>
</b:if>

If you are using a read more link button then the code will look something like this,

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url'>
<div style="text-align: right;">< img src=http://xyz.com border="0"/></div></a>
</b:if>

In both the cases, simply replace the highlighted code with this,

class="MBT-readmore"

8. Save your template and you are done!

Ten "Read More" Link Styles

Now select one of these styles for step#5
Style#1:

/*-------------------------- Narrow black Orange-------------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#fff;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#EB7F17;
margin:5px 0;
border-left:400px dashed #474747;
border-right:2px solid #474747;
border-top:2px solid #474747;
border-bottom:2px solid #474747;
padding:2px;
-moz-border-radius:6px;
-webkit-border-radius:6px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
background:#EB7F17;
color:#fff;
border-left:400px dashed #474747;
border-right:2px solid #EB7F17;
border-top:2px solid #EB7F17;
border-bottom:2px solid #EB7F17;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Style#2:

/*------------Light Purple long----------------------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#fff;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#6882C7;
margin:5px 0;
border-left:400px solid #6882C7;
border-right:2px solid #6882C7;
border-top:2px solid #6882C7;
border-bottom:2px solid #6882C7;
padding:1px 5px 1px 1px;
-moz-border-radius:6px;
-webkit-border-radius:6px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
color:#000800;
border-left:50px solid #6882C7;
border-right:2px solid #6882C7;
border-top:2px solid #6882C7;
border-bottom:2px solid #6882C7;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Style#3:

/*---------------- Rectangle left border-----------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#fff;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#009999;
margin:5px 0;
float:right;
border-right:2px solid #009999;
border-left:10px solid #009999;
border-bottom:2px solid #009999;
border-top:2px solid #009999;
padding:5px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
background:#fff;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
color:#006B6B;
border-right:2px dotted #009999;
border-left:10px solid #006B6B;
border-bottom:2px dotted #009999;
border-top:2px dotted #009999;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Style#4:

/*-------------- Pink Left right -----------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#fff;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#FE80DF;
margin:5px 0;
float:right;
border-right:2px solid #FE80DF;
border-left:2px solid #FE80DF;
padding:5px;
-moz-border-radius:6px;
-webkit-border-radius:6px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
background:#fff;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
color:#CC0099;
border-right:2px solid #CC0099;
border-left:2px solid #CC0099;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Style#5:

/*------------- Brown top Bottom----------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#fff;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#B26B00;
margin:5px 0;
float:right;
border-top:2px solid #ddd;
border-bottom:2px solid #ddd;
padding:5px;
-moz-border-radius:6px;
-webkit-border-radius:6px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
background:#fff;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
color:#B26B00;
border-top:2px solid #B26B00;
border-bottom:2px solid #B26B00;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Style#6:

/*-------------- Blue Blank-----------------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#0080ff;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#Fff;
margin:5px 0;
float:right;
border:2px solid #ddd;
padding:5px;
-moz-border-radius:6px;
-webkit-border-radius:6px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
background:#FFf;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
color:#0080ff;
border:3px dotted #ddd;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Style#7:

/*------------- Red + Dark Red------------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#fffff;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#FE8080;
margin:5px 0;
float:right;
border:2px solid #FE8080;
padding:5px;
-moz-border-radius:6px;
-webkit-border-radius:6px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
background:#FFf;
font:bold 12px sans-serif;
color:#FF0000;
border:2px solid #FF0000;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Style#8:

/*------------ White + Green -----------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#fffff;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#008000;
margin:5px 0;
float:right;
border:2px solid #ddd;
padding:5px;
-moz-border-radius:6px;
-webkit-border-radius:6px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
background:#008000;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
color:#fff;
border:2px solid #ddd;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Style#9:

/*---------- Black --------------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#000800;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#fff;
margin:5px 0;
float:right;
border:2px solid #ddd;
padding:5px;
-moz-border-radius:6px;
-webkit-border-radius:6px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
background:#fff;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
color:#000800;
border:2px solid #000800;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Style#10:

/*----------Orange One 1 ----------------*/
.MBT-readmore{
background:#EB7F17;
text-align:right;
cursor:pointer;
color:#fff;
margin:5px 0;
float:right;
border:none;
padding:5px;
-moz-border-radius:6px;
-webkit-border-radius:6px;
font:bold 11px sans-serif;
}
.MBT-readmore:hover{
background:#FFB93C;
}
.MBT-readmore a {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}
.MBT-readmore a:hover {
color:#fff;
text-decoration:none;
}

Customization:

You can easily make changes to the colors and style by understanding this general guide.

Edit .MBT-readmore To Change background, border and font colors in Active mode
Edit .MBT-readmore:hover To Change background, border and font colors when a user hovers mouse cursor on the button
Edit .MBT-readmore a To change the link color
Edit .MBT-readmore a:hover To change the link color on mouse hover

You can use the Color Generator Tool For changing colors.
I hope you like it and if you faced any problems then don't feel shy to ask a brother. :>