Custom Loop

Hi,

I am trying to create a custom loop so that it shows the latest 4 posts in a special formating.

I have created the following formatting with HTML and CSS and I can’t get it to work properly when I fill in the php:

<div class="panel" id="entry1"><h2>Title 2</h2><p>Content here.</p></div> 

                <div class="panel" id="entry2"><h2>Title 2</h2><p>Content here.</p></div> 

                <div class="panel" id="entry3"><h2>Title 3</h2><p>Content here.</p></div> 

                <div class="panel" id="entry4"><h2>Title 4</h2><p>Content here.</p></div> 

                </div>
            </div>
             <ul class="navigation">
                <li><a href="#entry1">Title 1</a></li>
                <li><a href="#entry2">Title 2</a></li>
                <li><a href="#entry3">Title 3</a></li>
                <li><a href="#entry4">Title 4</a></li>
            </ul>

I can use different loops to show up in different panels but that increases the load time by a lot and I can’t manage to show any of the titles in the navigation. Any ideas?