This post was updated and revised on March 9, 2010.
There are so many special occasions in our lives and they are all cause for a countdown to celebration. ~ wedding, shower, anniversary, birthday, weight loss, birthday, holidays, special events, the arrival of a new baby, adoption, vacation, cruise, reunion …
Introduction
Adding a countdown ticker to a static Page in your wordpress.com blog is an easy copy and paste job, provided that you get one that does not contain restricted code (no javascript, embeds, no flash).
* If you have a wordpress.com theme that provides an “Alert Box” or an “Information Box” on the front page of your blog like Vigilance does, the codes can also be used in these, rather than on a static Page. However, none appear to be sized small enough to fit into a text widgets.
Third Party Providers of Free Countdown Tickers/ Banners
(1) The following free countdown tickers/banners which can be used on wordpress.com blogs available at Ult-Tex All Occasion Countdown Banners.
(2) When it comes to choosing from a wide variety of free countdown tickers for any occasion check out the The Ticker Factory.
(3) Ticker Central also has attractive countdown tickers for many occasions. Countdown your favorite holiday, when someone is coming home, pregnancy, birthdays, special occasions and more.
(4) Caribeanmag.com has a nice array of attractive signature images and the generator set up for you to personalize your own cruise or vacation countdown tickers.
(5) Lilypie baby ticker is a free baby due-date countdown for use on your website or in forum posts. Lilypie also offers a ticker for your child’s birthday, choose your graphics, add some text and the tool will build the code you need to enter into your Web page.
(6) You can get free countdown tickers for weddings, anniversaries and vacations at DaisyPath.
Adding a Countdown Ticker/Banner to a Static Page on a wordpress.com blog
- Dashboard -> Pages > Add New
- Type a title for your special event into the title box. Enter some text to describe what this event is all about and upload some images too, if you wish. Click “Save as a draft“. You have the choice of leaving this tab or window open or returning to this Page and editing it after you have created your ticker/banner and secured the code for it.
- Go to one of the ticker sites and create your countdown ticker and copy the code supplied.
- Dashboard -> Pages > Edit
- Locate the draft Special Event Page in question and click either the Title or Edit.
- Click to switch the visual rich text editor over from Visual to Code.
- Paste in the code and click Publish.
- View your blog. Your countdown ticker ought to begin to operate a few minutes.
3liteAssassin
March 12, 2008
Thank you for the info :)
HHHS-Fredrik
May 12, 2008
Hello there, i tried another of these similar HTML-tickers but it did’nt fit very well in my sidebar. Does any of these do that? I’m kinda searching for a customizable one leading up(Or down) to a sportevent of mine. th eon ei had before had a “small mode” but in that visitors had to click on it to see the numbers. :/
timethief
May 12, 2008
I’m sorry to say that these are the best choices that I could find for wordpress.com blogs. I’m afraid that the only way to make them smaller is to alter the code yourself.
HHHS-Fredrik
May 17, 2008
Hi, on the Ticker Factory, how do i make these sizechanges?
HHHS-Fredrik
May 17, 2008
I need one that fits in our sidebars, counting down to a customizable event (HHHS 2008). Any tips or that one would be greatly appreciated.
timethief
May 17, 2008
I’m sorry to say that these are the best choices that I could find for wordpress.com blogs. There are none that I am aware of that fit into sidebars. The only way to make them smaller is to alter the code yourself and when you do that it’s not likely that they will still be readable.
Trisna
July 8, 2008
I was looking for this kind of ticker countdown a month ago, i need it badly cuz’ i was out of town and will be missing home pretty bad… surely will use this application one day…
imww
October 10, 2008
thanks…. like it so much.
timethief
October 10, 2008
You’re welcome. :)
tiffanyburrows
January 22, 2010
I am confused. 1. I think the layout has changed because nothing you said to do is there the way you said to get there. 2. My page is NEVER getting approved, you said in minutes it should be there!. 3. With a new page and I making a new blog or something? Now do I have to go to a new website to see my countdown, so I can’t just have it on the side bar of my page, or just the top of it, so it is always there? Seems silly if there is no way to have ANY ticker (which I tried both ticker factory and daisy path, both html), on my original blog. It shouldn’t be that hard to add
timethief
January 22, 2010
Hello,
I published this in 2008 and since that time I have installed countdown tickers (plain HTML) on my blogs on several occasions.
You have said:
“1. I think the layout has changed because nothing you said to do is there the way you said to get there. ”
All things are subject to changes made over time. I have no idea which “layout” you are referring to. Are you referring to my blog’s layout? The layout of your own blog? The layout of the sites offering countdown tickers? The layout of a particular countdown ticker?
“2. My page is NEVER getting approved, you said in minutes it should be there!”
Once again I don’t have a clue what you are talking about and see not connection between your page getting approved – approved by whom and for what? If the code you are using for a countdown ticker doesn’t appear on your blog then that may be because you aren’t entering it correctly.
“3. With a new page and I making a new blog or something?”
Once again I don’t know what you are trying to communicate in this paragraph. These tickers are too large to place in a text widget in a sidebar of a blog. They must be placed on a static Page or in a post.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/post-vs-page/
raven
January 29, 2010
thank you:)
A Star
February 16, 2010
nice
timethief
February 16, 2010
Aside form the Christmas ones, none of these countdown tickers are exactly what most bloggers want. They are simply the only choices we can make that we can use on wordpress.com blogs. If you become aware of any others please share that news with me and my readers.
Gary
September 14, 2010
Some people sure leave some weird comments ….
Anyway, thanks Timethief for this article. As you commented and alluded to in February of this year, the choice of countdown timers is very limited for wordpress.com users.
timethief
September 15, 2010
I don’t find that I have a need for them but I do acknowledge that other bloggers do.
melonieisaprincess
December 7, 2010
Thank you! :)
thermalsprings
January 3, 2011
thank you !!!
Laila Shares
June 5, 2011
Thank you so much for the links :)
timethief
June 5, 2011
You’re welcome and best wishes with your blog. :)
pritingpinay
June 19, 2011
Thank you so much, Timethief! Now I have my countdown timer up and running.
REDFOX MEDIA
October 5, 2011
Looking for a simple plain and professional countdown for my film’s release on 11.11.11
Does anyone have some code I could use for that?
timethief
October 5, 2011
Yes. Look here > Widgets for wp.com blogs: 8 – generic countdown timers > http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/widgets-for-wpcom-8-countdown-timers/
zimdev
October 27, 2011
Thank you for the timer. Have been searching all day for a timer that works and has a simple and easy to follow tutorial.
timethief
October 27, 2011
You’re welcome.