What is: Slider?

A slider (sometimes known as a carousel) is one of the most innovative ways to display content, particularly on a WordPress site. It is a popular design element that comes in quite a few forms, and allows users to scroll through a selection of items horizontally. They are commonly used for images, but not always.

They can be used for anything from images, text, videos, or a combination of mixed media. Sliders are most commonly used on the homepage or landing pages of a website where you want to catch the audiences eye. They can however be used on any page.

What Do Sliders Do?

Just as the name suggests, sliders display content and then “slide” or move horizontally to present new content. Most of the time, sliders automatically “slide” to the next piece of content after a preset period of time, but sliders can also be set up to be triggered manually with a mouse click or a finger tap.

Sliders are usually implemented to display visual content such as still images or videos. Most WordPress site users place their sliders near the top of the front page in order to serve as a way to highlight content. For example, you may have your five most recent articles appear in a slider or your five most popular articles.

Here are a few examples of how sliders can be used:

Image Gallery: A slider can showcase multiple images in a limited space, making it a popular choice for online portfolios or e-commerce sites to display product images.

Featured Content: News sites or blogs might use a slider to highlight their latest or most popular articles. Each slide could contain a headline, a short excerpt from the article, and a “read more” link.

Testimonials: A business site might use a slider to display customer testimonials. Each slide would include a quote from a customer, their name, and possibly their photo.

Before-and-After Comparison: A slider can also be used to compare two images, such as ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos in a renovation website or a dental clinic website.

Slider Functionality

It’s important to remember that just about every slider runs on JavaScript, executing a bit of separate code, so this can slow down how fast your website loads. In addition, sliders may display and function differently depending on whether a visitor is browsing your site from a desktop computer or a mobile device. Therefore, it’s essential that you verify that the slider is functioning equally well on both kinds of devices and that your site is loading promptly. Alternatively, ensure that you are using a responsive theme that can hide sliders on mobile devices.

The option to use a slider comes built-in with certain themes. But if your theme doesn’t offer a slider as an option, there are also lots of plugins available. Adjusting the settings on your slider depends on the plugin or theme that you’re using.

I like sliders because they can be an effective way to engage your visitors and present multiple pieces of information in a visually appealing way. Sliders can add motion and interactivity to a page, which can catch the eye and encourage users to explore more.

Keep in mind that a slider that “slides” too fast may be visually distracting. Also, sliders make it hard to concentrate on reading a text, so make sure that the positioning and use of your slider doesn’t interfere with your visitors’ ability to read through the written content on your site. It’s also good practice to give users control over the slider, such as the ability to pause the motion, and to navigate back and forth.

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Jamie Spencer

My name is Jamie Spencer and I have spent the past 10 years building money making blogs. After growing tired of the 9-5, commuting and never seeing my family I decided that I wanted to make some changes and launched my first blog. Since then I have launched lots of successful niche blogs and after selling my survivalist blog I decided to teach other people how to do the same.