Show the first 4 items in a different format
You can use views attachment to have a different styles for the first few item in list. By default, the attachment will be displayed in every pages of list.

If you want to limit the attachment works on the first page only, please implement hook_views_pre_build() in your custom module.

Assuming views name is stories, main display ID is block_1 and attachment display ID is attachment_1.

/**
 * Implements hook_views_pre_build().
 */
function mymodule_views_pre_build(&amp;$views) {
  if($views-&gt;name == 'stories' &amp;&amp; $views-&gt;current_display == 'block_1') {

    // if 'page' is not defined, we assume it is the first page.
    if (empty($_GET['page'])) {

      // The offset number y should be equal to the number of items on
      // attachment. If we want to keep the total n items on list, the
      // number of items on main display should be (n - y).
      // Note: get_items_per_page() and get_offset() is not working here.
      $views-&gt;set_items_per_page(6);
    }
    else {

      // Remove attachment for other pages.
      $views-&gt;is_attachment = TRUE;

      // We don't need to handle the offset anymore.
      $views-&gt;set_offset(0);
    }
  }

  // We set the item number again because the it seems
  // be overrided by previous call of set_items_per_page().
  if($views-&gt;name == 'stories' &amp;&amp; $views-&gt;current_display == 'attachment_1') {
    $views-&gt;set_items_per_page(4);
  }
}




Below is the steps of using views attachment


Add attachment display


In the attachment display, you need to specify how many items you want to have.


Then you need to attach the attachment display to the main display.


Remember to set the  offset in main display for preventing repeating the item in list.