Slider Revolution vs. Smart Slider

Before you start working with a new plugin, maybe you are curious about what the difference is between Slider Revolution and Smart Slider.

Slide Editing

Each plugin has a visual slide editor, so you can instantly see the result, and you can customize your slider. I think Smart Slider’s interface is more user-friendly, but each plugin has its own logic, where you can find the options.

Layers

Both plugins come with the standard layers – heading, text, button, and image. And you can use them freely. There isn’t a limit on how many layers you can use, you can create your own design with both plugins.

Available Building Options

While in Slider Revolution you can put layers on your slider to the position where you want, Smart Slider offers 2 options for positioning: a default and an absolute position. The Absolute position is similar to what Slider Revolution offers: you can drop your layers everywhere on the canvas.

In addition, the Default positioning works like a page builder: you can put your layers in rows and columns, and align them vertically or horizontally. To make space between the layers, you can use padding and margins. Why is it good? Because of that, you can create a responsive slider with minimal effort, and it will look great on every device. Also, you have the option to combine these 2 modes by which you can achieve every design as you imagined.

Animations

Slider Revolution has more options where you can animate your slider or your layers. You can put animation on your layers, on your background, you can use Ken Burns or parallax effect, so there are many options. However, in the free version of Smart Slider, you can use only background animations. Layer animations and a lot of other effects are available only in the Smart Slider Pro.

Speed

I have created a Smart Slider free demo with Slider Revolution to test the speed of each plugin. I published both sliders into a new empty page.

• In each slider, I used the same images, sizes, and fonts
• I tested them with other plugins deactivated
• Cleared the cache before the speed test
• I used Gutenberg to publish the sliders.

Let’s see the results.

	Smart Slider Free	Slider Revolution
Requests	20	21
Page size	709 kB	1 MB
Load time	199 ms	316 ms

As you can see, Smart Slider was faster than the Slider Revolution, and also the page size is less than the other plugin’s page. I didn’t use any optimization settings, which can speed up the results – so the speed test was made with the basic settings of each plugin. As we can see from the results, we can say that Smart Slider is faster, which isn’t bad for a free plugin, right?

Free Slider Revolution Alternatives with Smart Slider

Smart Slider can be a great free Slider Revolution alternative because you can create more kinds of sliders with this plugin. Let’s see some examples of what kind of sliders you can create with Smart Slider as with Slider Revolution.

Hero Image Block

Live PreviewIf you want to create a hero image block for your site, Smart Slider can be a great free Slider Revolution alternative. With Smart Slider, you can put Heading, text, image, and button on your slide, and you can position it where you want.

Hero image blocks can be used as the header of your page, and with Smart Slider, you can easily create it. Just select the layers you want to use, and then publish them on your site. There are more templates that you can start with, but you can build your own design, too.

Video Slider

Live PreviewRevolution Slider offers the opportunity to create video galleries. Smart Slider Free has the option to create video sliders, too. There are 2 video layers available: YouTube and Vimeo. There aren’t any other free slider plugins that I’m aware of that offer that kind of functionality.

A lot of people use YouTube or Vimeo videos on their websites because these media elements can call the visitors’ attention. These layers are simple, because YouTube and Vimeo host the videos, so you don’t need to download any video on your site. All you need is to copy the video’s link or ID, and you can create a free responsive video gallery.

Full-Width Slider Alternative

Live PreviewFree Slider Revolution slider alternative can be the full-width type slider of Smart Slider. A full-width slider fills the 100% width of your screen, and it looks good on any page. Using this kind of slider is a great way to highlight your product or content on your page, and it also looks good.

You have the option to design the controls like bullets or arrows, use a background color or image, and you can put layers on your slider. It’s up to you what kind of slider you want to create.

Post Slider

Live PreviewPost Sliders can be very useful parts of your website. They show all the recent or featured posts to catch the visitors’ attention, and they encourage your visitors to spend more time on your blog. Smart Slider offers variables that you can use, and these variables change dynamically depending on the content of your posts.

Can you Create the Same-Looking Slider in Slider Revolution and Smart Slider Free?

Maybe you have questions about a free slider plugin that can be a premium slider alternative. Let’s check a Slider Revolution example from their library, and see how we can create a similar layout with Smart Slider free.

I choose a hero image from the Slider Revolution’s templates. This block has a grey background image, a heading, 2 texts, and a CTA with a hover effect on the left side, and 3 images that overlap each other on the right.

This layout can easily be created with Smart Slider free. I have created a 1-row – 2-column structure. I’ve put two heading layers, a text layer, and a button into the first column. In the second I’ve put an image from a laptop. The mobiles are in the column but in absolute position, so this image is above the laptop image. Between the texts, I’ve set some padding which makes space between them.

With Smart Slider, you can easily create a responsive slider. In most cases, it is enough to make the font size smaller on different devices with the text scale. If you use a row, then it can be a great solution to wrap the columns below each other. Also, you can change the order of these columns, so you can put the images on the top.

You can use animation and effects in the Pro version of Smart Slider.

Reasons to Choose Smart Slider as a Free Slider Revolution Alternative

• • Free: Smart Slider is a free plugin with premium features. If you don’t want to pay for a plugin, it can be a great alternative.
  • Layers: Heading, text, buttons, images or videos. Create the slider that you’ve imagined.
  • Create the layout you want: You can create a complicated layout thanks to the rows, columns, and positioning options.
  • Customizable controls: You have the option to customize the arrows, bullets, and thumbnails. Position them, change their colors, or hide them on devices.
  • Ready to use templates: Smart Slider has a template library as Slider Revolution. Just choose one, change the content, and publish it.

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• Responsive sliders: You can create a slider that looks good on any device.
• Free support: It’s also important to mention that Smart Slider offers free support to every user. Also, you don’t need to wait weeks for a response.

What More Can Smart Slider Pro Offer?

You may think that Smart Slider free doesn’t have a lot of features like Slider Revolution, however, the Pro version of Smart Slider has a lot. You can consider choosing the Pro version. Why? The Standard package costs $49 and you will get lifetime support and updates while Slider Revolution’s one-time payment package costs $79 only with 6-month support.

	Slider Revolution		Smart Slider Pro		Smart Slider Free
	Price	Support	Price	Support	Price	Support
1 domain	$95	6 months	$49	lifetime	free	lifetime
3 domains	$250	6 months	$99	lifetime	free	lifetime
5 domains	$415	6 months	$149	lifetime	free	lifetime
10 domains	$765	6 months	$249	lifetime	free	lifetime

Smart Slider and its 24 layer types give you much more creative freedom. If you do choose Smart Slider as your new slider tool, then layers for icons, progress bars, counters, and even mp4 videos can be used to add content-rich slideshows to your website.

Live PreviewThe pro version offers lots of effects that you can set, like Parallax, Ken Burns, Particle, and Shape Divider. All of them are customizable and can cheer up a single slider, too. You can add layer animations on the individual layers of your slides. They can come in, loop, go out, repeat, so you can create even more complex animations if you want.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that Smart Slider is a free plugin, it offers solid features that are on par with Slider Revolution. The Default and Absolute positions, drag-and-drop slider building, rich layers, and stunning templates, let you build impressive sliders that leave basic scrolling sliders in the dust.

Not convinced? Check out Smart Slider’s example sliders and see for yourself. It’s easy to put a slider together in just a few minutes. It’s totally free, what can you lose?

The post Are You Looking for a Free Slider Revolution Alternative? appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> https://smartslider3.com/blog/full-width-slider/ Wed, 17 Jan 2024 07:00:24 +0000 https://smartslider3.com/?post_type=blog&p=19001 A full width slider is a great way of using sliders on any type of page, it looks good on blogs, webshops, or company websites as well. A full width slider fills the horizontal area of the browser, and they are popular to be used as headers in web design. Using a slider is a […]

The post 10 Beautiful Full Width Slider Examples appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> A full width slider is a great way of using sliders on any type of page, it looks good on blogs, webshops, or company websites as well. A full width slider fills the horizontal area of the browser, and they are popular to be used as headers in web design. Using a slider is a great way to highlight your content on the top of your page, like a hero header.

Let’s take a look at some beautiful examples of full width sliders which can be inspiring when building your website.

1. Advertising Agency

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Advertising Agency

The Advertising Agency slider looks like a super simple full width slider. What makes it special is its clever use of layer animations and events. First, there’s continuously rotating text in the top left corner. Second, hovering on the big texts brings up a video or another text block on the right. The combination of these effects makes the Advertising Agency slider look one of a kind.

2. Animal Shelter

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Animal Shelter

The Animal Shelter template is an awesome combination of creativity and eye-catching visuals. It uses impressive effects and animations to provide an exceptional experience. With its sleek design, it emphasizes captivating images and impactful messages, guaranteeing a user-friendly browsing journey. Whether you’re sharing information or displaying adorable animals, this template makes your animal shelter slider truly remarkable.

3. Winery

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Winery

The Winery template combines a smart design with subtle animations to highlight wines. Using the Showcase slider type, it beautifully showcases multiple products, making a strong impact on sales. The full-width slider allows for customization, and the carefully placed layers of text, buttons, and captivating images create visually stunning slides. The rotating bottle animations add a touch of elegance, ensuring that your winery stands out with its own unique style.

4. Tattoo Studio

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Tattoo Studio

The Tattoo Studio template is perfect for showcasing your creative work online. This template is designed to display one slide at a time, so it provides users with a visually captivating experience. With customizable navigation, eye-catching call-to-action layers, and animations, Tattoo Studio offers an interactive way to present your artwork.

5. Construction

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Construction

The Construction slider is the perfect display for your projects, that effortlessly combines style and functionality. With user-friendly navigation, cool hover effects on arrows, and smooth slide transitions, exploring your projects becomes a breeze. It has unique options like Image Area and List layers. With captivating animations and a well-organized two-column layout, this slider is designed to captivate and engage. The Construction slider is your ultimate tool for converting visitors into satisfied clients.

6. Christmas Postcards

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Christmas Postcards

Add a touch of holiday cheer to your website using the Christmas Postcards template. This template is perfect for highlighting your favorite content in a stunning holiday-themed layout. With its user-friendly navigation, captivating animations, and a hint of parallax, your Christmas greetings will truly shine. Plus, the template is responsive, guaranteeing a seamless experience on any device.

7. Monolith Boxed Slider

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Monolith Boxed Slider

The Monolith Boxed Slider’s modern design will leave your audience wanting more. The Showcase slider type showcases multiple slides with a central focus on one of them, catching attention. Navigation is a breeze, allowing users to effortlessly swipe, click bullet points, or select side slides. The subtle yet elegant animations add to the overall visual experience, making the Monolith Boxed Slider the perfect choice for an impressive website.

8. Blur

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Blur

Explore endless creativity using the Blur slider template. This template provides breathtaking visuals on any device. Add cool layers such as the Area and Countdown layers, which offer interactive and visually stunning content. With smooth animations like Crossfade and Distortion-Shard, along with easy-to-use navigation options, the Blur slider template turns your website into an eye-catching element of your website.

9. Showcase Portfolio

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Showcase Portfolio

The Showcase Portfolio is a stylish and interactive slider created to beautifully showcase your portfolio. This slider highlights the main portfolio item at the center, with additional pieces on each side for a visually captivating experience. The smooth design and minimalistic layers bring your work to the forefront, inviting visitors to explore your portfolio further. It has seamless slide transitions with a subtle dark overlay effect, adding a touch of elegance.

10. Full Width Product Carousel

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Full Width Product Carousel

This template takes product displays to a whole new level by combining captivating slides with intriguing product features. It’s ideal for showcasing discounts or highlighting your brands. The full-width layout and Carousel slider type make the most of large screens, providing an engaging experience. Visitors can easily navigate through slides using arrows, bullet points, or touch-screen swiping. With consistent image sizes, dynamic layouts, and responsive design, your online store will be elevated effortlessly.

11. Real Estate

🎓 Available in Smart Slider 3 Pro – Real Estate

You can upgrade your real estate or portfolio website using the elegant Real Estate slider template. This template is specifically designed for a modern hero section that stretches across the entire width of your page, highlighting one slide at a time. With its user-friendly navigation options such as bullets, swiping, or a customizable image-based feature, it provides a smooth experience. The template also includes captivating animations, like reveal effects and a unique shape divider, guaranteeing that your content leaves a lasting impact. Moreover, its responsive design and effortless customization options make it suitable for any device.

How to Create a Full Width Slider in WordPress?

1. Install Smart Slider 3

Smart Slider 3 is the best-rated free full width slider plugin in WordPress, and you can easily install it on your website. First, you should click on the Add New at the Plugins in your WordPress menu, search for Smart Slider 3, and click on the Install Now button.

Another option is that you can directly download the free version from the Smart Slider 3 website – or if you purchased the Pro, from the Download area – and then you can upload it through FTP.

2. Activate the plugin

After you have installed Smart Slider 3, you should activate it by clicking on the Activate button.

3. Create your slider

To create a new full width slider all you need is to click on the green New Project icon, then select the “Create a New Project” option, and after that choose the Full width layout in the drop-down list.

Or you can import a full width slider template from the Slider library, where you can find a lot of free and premium sliders.

In Smart Slider 3 you can customize every slider, you can set a background color, change the font size or family, use layers, and you can create an image slider, a thumbnail slider, or a WordPress carousel as well. It’s only up to you what you build. You should just drag & drop your layers, use a simple animation, and your slider is ready.

4. Publish your slider

With Smart Slider 3, you can publish your slider in more ways to your WordPress website.

• You can use Shortcode
• Or use the Smart Slider 3 Gutenberg block
• You can use the slider widget
• And you can publish the slider with PHP code as well.

Are you using a page builder? This isn’t a problem either, Smart Slider 3 works well with Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, and Page Builder by SiteOrigin, too.

Why use a full width slider on your page?

• It can be a good header which attracts the eye
• Makes any website look modern and trendy
• It is SEO-friendly, and search engines work well with the sliders’ text
• You can make it dynamically changing, it is easy to create a post or product slider
• You can customize it after publishing as well
• With a CTA button, you can navigate the visitor to another place on your website

Useful tips for full width slider settings

• Limit your slides’ width! Set a max width, and don’t let your slides go too wide. This will only restrain the width of the layers, but the background image will still stretch out to 100% width.
• Pay attention to the slider height. If you want to create a tall section, create rather a full page slider, where your slider will have 100% width and the height of your screen.
• Don’t use too much text. In Smart Slider your slide’s height is based on the layers and all the slides’ height are based on your highest slide. If you are using the Text layer, you can set up different texts for different devices which can be useful to show less text on mobile.
• Don’t work with too big sizes. 1200px width and 500-600px height is an optimal size for every device. We are working with these numbers at the templates, too.

Final Thoughts

Creating a full width slider can be a good choice for every website. Use it as a header or a section, and customize it as you imagined. Smart Slider 3 gives you a lot of opportunities in slider creation, build up your slider by using layers and create your own responsive WordPress slider.

The post 10 Beautiful Full Width Slider Examples appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> https://smartslider3.com/blog/biggest-wordpress-design-trends/ Wed, 03 Jan 2024 06:00:02 +0000 https://smartslider3.com/?post_type=blog&p=51811 Staying current with the latest trends is critical for website owners and designers in the ever-evolving world of web design. Keeping your website fresh and modern can help attract new visitors and keep existing ones engaged. It is essential to keep ahead of the competition by recognizing and adopting the current design trends in your […]

The post 2024’s Biggest WordPress Design Trends to Follow appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> Staying current with the latest trends is critical for website owners and designers in the ever-evolving world of web design. Keeping your website fresh and modern can help attract new visitors and keep existing ones engaged. It is essential to keep ahead of the competition by recognizing and adopting the current design trends in your website.

In this post, we’ll cover some of the major WordPress design trends to follow in 2024 and how you can execute them using Smart Slider 3. We’ll talk about the trends that are defining the digital landscape this year, ranging from responsive design to minimalist layouts and typography.

Additionally, we’ll introduce you to Smart Slider 3’s templates and interface, a handy tool that can aid you to construct attractive and trendy sliders that are guaranteed to make an impact. So, whether you’re a website owner or a designer, keep reading to learn more about the current design trends for 2024!

📚 Table of contents

1.📱Responsive Design
2.✏️Minimalism
3.🎓Typography
4.⚡Animation
5.💻Call-to-Action (CTA)
6.💡Conclusion

Responsive Design

As more and more people are accessing the internet on their mobile phones and the number is continuously growing, responsive design has become a necessity rather than a trend. This year it is more important than ever to create websites that are optimized for different screen sizes. Responsive design allows pages to adapt to different devices, making it easy for users to navigate and interact with the content.

Some of the primary benefits of responsive design are improved user experience, larger mobile traffic, and higher search engine results. Visitors are more likely to engage with content and stay on a website that is optimized for mobile devices. Also, Google and other search engines favor mobile-friendly websites in their search rankings, so integrating responsive design can aid in increasing your website’s visibility and attracting more traffic.

WordPress’s unique plugin, Smart Slider, makes it easy and simple to create a website that looks great on any screen size. Our huge template library aids you with pre-designed templates that you can choose from offering one of the best resources for responsive design. These templates are also fully customizable allowing you to adjust the slider design to your specific requirements. But that’s not all, to make it even more affordable for website owners and designers, we offer several free versions of our unique templates.

Therefore, creating a website with responsive design is not even hard, you just need to be provided with the right tools to do it. Just like with Smart Slider, you can simply use a template or you can fully customize your own. With the pre-made templates and responsive design tools Smart Slider’s interface lets you create a website that looks great on any device. In addition, there’s no need to worry because it doesn’t require any extensive coding skills.

Check out the template library and decide for yourself. Start creating your own mobile-friendly website now.

Minimalism

For some years, minimalism has been a trendy design style, and it shows no signs of disappearing in 2024. The use of simple, clean elements to produce a sleek and modern aesthetic is the main point of minimalist design. This approach is particularly beneficial for websites that wish to exude sophistication and professionalism.

Focusing only on the essentials is the secret to great minimalist design. Therefore, it’s critical to apply a limited color palette, basic patterns, and clear typography. White space is also an important part of minimalist design since it contributes to a sense of serenity and spaciousness.

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One advantage of minimalist design is that it makes your website more user-friendly. Users can focus on the information and browse the site more quickly if the distractions are removed. Minimalist design can also help your website load faster improving user experience and SEO.

Smart Slider’s templates come in a variety of minimalist designs. From simple text and image sliders to more advanced designs, you can create a clean and modern website. Furthermore, with our customizable templates, you can truly make it your own by adding your personal touches to the design.

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Make it easy for your visitors to navigate your site by creating a sleek and modern page. Head over to Smart Slider’s template library to find numerous unique templates.

Typography

Typography plays an increasingly large part in website design in 2024. Many designers experiment with a larger selection of typefaces and styles thanks to the rise of high-resolution screens and improved font rendering technologies. As a result, typography may now be employed as a powerful design element as well as a practical one.

The usage of a huge, strong font is one design element we can see more of in 2024. This is a powerful tool for drawing attention to key headlines or messages. Serif typefaces are also gaining popularity because they provide a sense of sophistication and beauty.

Furthermore, custom fonts are becoming more accessible allowing designers to build their own distinctive typefaces that reflect the character of their company. However, it’s important to keep in mind that by implementing these unique fonts into your slides, there’s a possibility that their appearances will vary from the original.

I will show you an example of an outstanding hand-drawn font which is an emerging trend among designers as well. Its artistic look and resemblance to natural handwriting, allow you to add a personal touch to your design. These types of fonts are best used for headings or as decorative elements.

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It is critical to take readability and accessibility into consideration when selecting typefaces for your website. Strong fonts may be eye-catching but they don’t seem to be the best choice for body text. Sans-serif fonts are neater and should be used for longer pieces of text. Also, it can’t be dismissed to make certain that your font choices are accessible to users with visual impairments. Therefore it’s essential to test your designs using tools like color contrast checkers and screen readers.

The typographic possibilities in Smart Slider’s designs range from slick and futuristic to more classic and neat. You can experiment with different font choices and styles with our customizable templates to discover the right match for your website.

It’s also worth mentioning that highlighting a text or putting an animation on it is turning out to be a great new trend as well. These typewriter effects or highlighted headings are very useful in case you want to emphasize an important part of your content. In addition, animations are great tools for bringing your website to life.

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Animation

In web design, animation is a great, effective technique, and we see even more implementations of it in 2024. Animations can add depth and variety to your website, from subtle animations that improve the user experience to fearless, attention-grabbing effects.

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Micro-animations are very popular this year. These tiny animations can be used to signify interactions, such as when a button is hovered over or clicked. They can also be used to add aesthetics to a page, such as a moving or changing background.

Another emerging trend is the usage of 3D and immersive animations. With the emergence of virtual and augmented reality, designers can now build more immersive user experiences. This type of animation can seem more complex to carry out, however, Smart Slider’s clear interface helps you through each step. So you can easily achieve your desired result without it being overwhelming.

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Whether you want to apply subtle animations or provoke a mesmerizing feeling, Smart Slider provides you with a variety of different options, from simple text and background animations to more complex layer animations, you have every tool to bring your vision to life.

Call-to-Action (CTA)

A call-to-action (CTA) urges visitors to take a certain action, so it’s an important component of any website design. CTAs are even more important in 2024, as companies and website owners seek to boost their conversions and engagement.

The use of tailored CTAs is one thing we see more of in 2024. Personalized CTAs, as opposed to a generic “Sign Up” or “Subscribe” button, can be designed to match the user’s behavior or interests. For example, a visitor who has spent a significant amount of time on a given page may get a CTA that is relevant to the content of that page.

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Another emerging trend is interactive CTAs. Interactive CTAs, as opposed to a static button or link, can be more engaging and inspire visitors to take action. It is more eye-catching than a standard button when the CTA changes its color or shape when it’s hovered over.

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The possibilities of CTAs in Smart Slider 3 range from simple buttons to interactive and customizable CTAs. You can experiment with different layouts and styles to discover the best match for your website with the use of our customizable templates.

Ready to put Smart Slider 3 to the test and improve your call-to-action game? Visit the template library for some inspiration and start building a website with effective CTAs today!

Conclusion

In conclusion, the main concepts of WordPress’s design trends in 2024 are based on accessibility, unique design, and increased engagement. Smart Slider 3 is a WordPress plugin that enables website owners and designers to make gorgeous and mobile-friendly websites by giving access to a large template library and an easy-to-use interface that offers a variety of customizable opportunities.

We all know that applying trends to develop a modern website can be a fantastic idea, but keep in mind that they change all the time. You should also be paying attention to your content and SEO to stay relevant. Users will stay on your page if it is fascinating to them, but search engines will only find you if you have great content to offer. Utilizing animations and effects might catch the attention of your visitors, but no one should overdo it.

All in all, you can create without any doubt a better user experience, engage more visitors and stay ahead of your competition in the ever-changing digital world by leveraging these trends, ideas, and tools.

The post 2024’s Biggest WordPress Design Trends to Follow appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> https://smartslider3.com/blog/how-to-use-background-color-and-images-in-smart-slider-3/ Tue, 08 Aug 2023 06:00:33 +0000 https://smartslider3.com/?post_type=blog&p=53103 Welcome to the fascinating world of sliders! You’ve come to the right place if you are a WordPress lover wanting to add life to your website. This in-depth blog post will explore the captivating world of background colors and images in Smart Slider 3, a slider plugin that will advance your design skills. We all […]

The post How to Use Background Color and Images in Smart Slider 3 appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> Welcome to the fascinating world of sliders! You’ve come to the right place if you are a WordPress lover wanting to add life to your website. This in-depth blog post will explore the captivating world of background colors and images in Smart Slider 3, a slider plugin that will advance your design skills.

We all know that visuals are everything in this digital world. Additionally, when it comes to sliders the background color and images are crucial to designing captivating interfaces. Not to mention that with Smart Slider 3, you have the resources at your fingertips, so you can easily turn your sliders into engaging displays.

This article will guide you through your slider building process with useful tips and tricks on background color and images. What’s more, we’ll address your burning questions, including how to apply background images, change background colors, and even consider the best background color options for your images. So prepare to unleash your imagination and bring out the best in your sliders!

📚 Table of contents

✏️ Changing Background Color
🎓 Working with Background Images
⚡ Choosing the Right Background Color for Images
💻 Setting Custom Background Images
💡 Conclusion

Changing Background Color

Are you prepared to add a splash of color to your sliders? You can easily modify the background color in Smart Slider 3 by following the instructions in this section. In addition, you can create the ideal settings for your slides thanks to its simple user-friendly interface.

How to Change Background Color

Let’s go through each step of changing the background color in Smart Slider 3:

• Log in to your dashboard and find the Smart Slider 3 plugin. Then, open an existing slider or make a new one to edit.
• Now there are two ways to accomplish it. You can either set the background color of your whole slider. Or simply change the color of each slide separately to your preferred one.

First, let’s look at how to set it for all of your slides in one setting:

1. Find the “General” settings of your slide.
2. Scroll to the bottom of it and there look through the “Slider Design” section.
3. The “Background Color” option allows you to set a background color for the slider, which will be behind all slides. However, note that this option is only visible if there’s a background image set.

Now let’s move on to how to set a background color for individual slides:

1. Select the slide you would like to edit, once you are in the slide editor. Then, on the right side, look for the slide settings panel.
2. In the Style tab find the “Background” section. There are 3 options to choose from, but as we want to set the background color of the slide, we’ll choose the color option, which is shown as the brush icon.
3. There are several ways to choose a color in Smart Slider 3. To get the ideal shade you can use the color picker tool, enter your HEX code, or select a color from the color palette.
4. And finally, you just need to click on your selected color and voilá! Your slide’s background color will be instantly updated.
5. In addition, you can add a gradient to your slider background, and choose its direction to make the color pop.

Applying Background Color

Now that you got the basics of changing the background color covered, let’s take a closer look at how you can use it effectively to make your sliders stand out:

• Maintain consistency: Stick to the same color throughout your slides to ensure that your visitors have a consistent and visually appealing experience.
• Contrast between your background color and your content: Make sure that the text on your slides and other layers can be easily read against the background color.

  
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• Experiment with different background colors: Don’t be afraid to try different background colors on your slides to get the look and feel you are looking for. With Smart Slider 3, you can preview your changes in real time. Remember that your background color defines the tone and mood of your slider, it’s important to take your time and experiment with them.

In the next part, we’ll explore background images and how they can take your sliders to the next level.

Working with Background Images

Not only do you have background colors, but background images also have the power to turn your sliders into amazing visual experiences. Let’s take a closer look at how you can set up custom background images, make them transparent, and take advantage of Smart Slider 3’s unique features.

Setting a Custom Background Image

Here’s how you can set up your own custom background images with Smart Slider 3:

1. Just like it was mentioned above, there are also two ways to add a background image to your slider.
2. First, let’s look at how to set the whole slider’s background. You just need to navigate to the General Settings tab, and right next to the Background Color, there’s a section for the Slider Background Image. Here you can upload your chosen image.
3. The second option is to set different images for each slide. To accomplish it you need to select the slide you would like to modify. Then, just like you did it before, find the Background section in the Style settings tab. After, clicking on the image icon you can upload your image file. Play around with the additional image settings to see what works for you best.
4. Finally, when you are done with setting up your background image, don’t forget to preview the changes, then if you are satisfied with the result, save them.

Using Images as Backgrounds

If you want to make your sliders look amazing, you can use background images to add depth and interest. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of them:

• Relevant images: Select images that match your content and message. Think about the color scheme, subject matter, and mood.

  
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• Stick to the same style throughout your slider. This will help create a consistent visual experience.

  
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• Text readability: Make sure that the text (and other slide elements) are easy to read against the background image.

  
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Experiment with Smart Slider 3’s editing features, like opacity and blur effect, to get the best results. By applying these tips, you can make your background images look amazing and captivating.

Choosing the Right Background Color for Images

The color of the background of your sliders can have a big impact on how people perceive your images. Let’s take a look at some things you need to know and some tips on how to choose the background color for your sliders.

Exploring Color Psychology

What is color psychology? Color psychology is the study of how emotions and perceptions are influenced by the color of the environment.

Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing the background color for your images:

• Warm Colors: Warm colors, such as red, orange, and yellow, evoke feelings of excitement, energy, and passion. These colors work well for images that are dynamic and vibrant, such as adventures and celebrations.
• Cool Colors: Cool colors, such as blue, green, and purple, evoke feelings of calm and serenity. These colors are great for images that show serenity, and nature.

  
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• Neutral Colors: Neutral colors, such as white, gray, and beige, provide a clean, minimalist background. These colors can be used for a variety of images. They are timeless and versatile.

  
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It’s important to note that everyone’s perception of color is different, so take into account the context and your target audience when selecting background colors for your images.

White or Black Background: Which is Better?

What’s the difference between a white background and a black background? It’s a never-ending discussion. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but ultimately, it comes down to your content and what you want it to look like.

Here’s what you need to know about them:

• White Background: A white background looks clean and classic. It adds brightness and contrast to your images, making them look lively and interesting. It’s often used for product photography to highlight details.

  
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• Black Background: A black background adds depth and a dramatic effect to your images, especially for high-contrast or moody photos. They are commonly used in artistic and fashion photography.

  
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At the end of the day, it all comes down to the style and intent of your sliders and the images you want to emphasize.

Setting Custom Background Images

Smart Slider 3 has one of the most amazing features: the ability to customize your slider’s background images. This means that you can add your own unique style and branding to the sliders!

How to Set a Custom Background Image

Let’s look at how you can make it happen in Smart Slider 3:

1. Upload an image in either of the two ways we mentioned above (you can set the background for the whole slide, or individually). You can choose the image from your media library or upload a new one.
2. Once you upload the image, you have several options to adjust the display of the image. You can change the size, position, etc.
3. Always make sure to preview your changes, then if needed, make necessary adjustments. If you are done, save your design.

Making the Background Image Transparent

Sometimes you might want to make your background images transparent, allowing the content and other elements to seamlessly blend with the webpage. Smart Slider 3 makes this possible with a few simple steps:

1. Open the slide you want to edit, then in the Style tab find the “Background” section.
2. If you’ve already uploaded an image then you will easily find the Opacity option. On the other hand, if you haven’t yet, then that should be your next step.
3. You can either toggle the Opacity bar or write the value you would like to receive. This will make the background image transparent. To add an overlay, use a color with the opacity setting.
4. The same happens if you turn on “Overlay” and select a partially transparent background color.
5. Experiment with it and adjust it to your preferences, to find the perfect balance between readability and engaging visual effect.
6. Then finally, take a moment to preview your slide to make sure the transparent background looks exactly how you want it. Once you are happy with the effect, save your changes.

To create a one-of-a-kind experience for your viewers, customize your background images and experiment with the different effects Smart Slider 3 offers its users.

Conclusion

It’s time to take your sliders to the next level! And Smart Slider 3 is here to give you all the flexibility and creativity you need to make your background color and images stand out from the crowd.

Whether you are looking for a vibrant and colorful display, a clean and minimalistic look, or anything in between. You will find everything you need to take your vision to the next level. What’s more, it’s a powerful tool that can help you turn your ordinary sliders into extraordinary ones.

Why not download or try it out and see what it’s all about?

The post How to Use Background Color and Images in Smart Slider 3 appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> https://smartslider3.com/blog/how-to-animate-text-images-like-a-pro/ Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:04:55 +0000 https://smartslider3.com/?post_type=blog&p=53228 If you ever wondered how to give your website some life and make an impression on your visitors, you’ve come to the right place. Nowadays most websites have changed from static pages to interactive platforms that engage users and create their own stories. Sliders stand out as a strong tool among many, to achieve this. […]

The post How to Animate Text & Images Like a Pro appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> If you ever wondered how to give your website some life and make an impression on your visitors, you’ve come to the right place.

Nowadays most websites have changed from static pages to interactive platforms that engage users and create their own stories. Sliders stand out as a strong tool among many, to achieve this. They effortlessly improve the user experience, while also delivering information and showcasing items.

This brings us to Smart Slider 3. It’s more than a simple slider plugin, as it offers a variety of animation and effects, that can make your website stand out. We’ll guide you through the process of creating these interactive effects step-by-step, from slide animations to learning how to animate text on them.

Now, without any further ado, let’s jump into the world of animations in Smart Slider 3.

📚 Table of contents

🎓 Getting Started with Smart Slider 3
⚙️ Understanding Slide Animations
⚡ Dynamic Text Effects: How to Animate Text
🔎 Bringing Depth with Zoom Effect
🌊 Making Waves: Using Wave Animation
💻 Storytelling with Timeline Animations
🎨 Customization
✏️ Best Practices for Animation Usage
💡 Conclusion

Getting Started with Smart Slider 3

Okay, let’s get things going by introducing you to the amazing world of Smart Slider 3. You can install the plugin now if you haven’t yet done it on your WordPress website. You’ll be stunned by its user-friendly interface and cool features, I promise.

Making your first slider is simple once Smart Slider 3 is up and running. Just follow these easy steps:

1. Making a New Slider:

• Go to your WordPress dashboard and select “Smart Slider 3” from the menu on the left.
• Select the “New Project” button, and voilá a new slider was born.

2. Selecting a Template (Optional):

• Smart Slider has got you covered even if you are not a design guru, so don’t worry. To spark your imagination, you might choose a pre-made template.
• There’s a huge selection of eye-catching templates to pick from, and they can all be customized to match the feel of your website.

3. Adding Slides and Content:

• Now comes the more enjoyable part. Slides should be added to your slider and it should be filled with interesting text, eye-catching images, and anything else you want to highlight.
• You are not restricted to a single layout with Smart Slider 3. Allow your creativity to soar!

4. Customize Your Slider:

• To customize the behavior and appearance of your slider, take a look at the slider settings. You can change the slider transition, the autoplay, the navigation, and much more.
• Pay attention to the responsive settings to make sure your slider looks good on desktop and mobile devices.

Now that you are familiar with the basics of setting up your slider, let’s get into the world of animations and effects that will make your slider stand out. Let’s get started!

Understanding Slide Animations

Alright, here’s where the real magic begins! Slide animations are like the secret ingredient that adds that wow factor to your sliders. These transitions between slides can be subtle and smooth or bold and eye-catching, depending on the vibe you want to create.

How to Apply Slide Animations

1. Select Your Slide:

• Open up your Smart Slider 3 editor and choose the slide you want to add animations to. Remember, each slide can have its own unique animation.

2. Explore Animation Options:

• Once you’ve selected the slide, head to the “Animations” tab in the slide settings. Here, you’ll find a treasure trove of animation effects waiting for you.

3. Pick Your Animation:

• From classic fade-ins to dynamic move-ins and captivating zoom effects, Smart Slider 3 offers an impressive range of animations to choose from.
• Go ahead and experiment with different animations to see which one complements your content and brand the best.

Top Tip: Less is often more when it comes to slide animations. Subtle and elegant transitions can have a more significant impact on your audience than an overload of flashy effects. Keep your focus on enhancing the content and user experience.

Example Animations

Not sure which animation to go with? Let’s explore a couple of scenarios where specific animations shine:

• Fade-In:  Ideal for a clean and professional look, the fade-in animation smoothly transitions between slides without stealing the show. It’s perfect for minimalistic designs and when you want to keep the focus on your content.
• Move from Left or Right: Want to make a bold statement? The move-in effect from either side can add that extra punch to your slider. Use it to introduce new sections or showcase striking visuals.
• Zoom Effect: Ah, the beloved zoom effect! If you have stunning images or products to flaunt, this animation can make them pop on the screen. Your audience won’t be able to take their eyes off your slider.

 

Remember, Smart Slider 3 gives you the flexibility to set the animation speed and even add delays if you want to create a well-choreographed presentation.

Now it’s time to let your creativity run wild and make your slides come alive with animations that leave your visitors wanting more.

Dynamic Text Effects: How to Animate Text

Okay, now we’ve got the hang of slide animations, but let’s take it to the next level! Your text elements are your slider’s storytellers. In addition, they add a whole new level of interactivity and engagement.

Ready? Let’s get started and see how we can animate text and engage your audience!

How to Animate Text

1. Add Your Text Element:

• To animate text, start by adding the text that you want to animate using either the Heading layer or the Animated Heading Layer. This could be a headline or any text you want to emphasize.

2. Add Text Animation:

• Once you’ve added your Heading Layer, navigate to the “Text Animation” sections of your layer’s Content settings. Here you’ll find a variety of text animation options to choose from.

3. Explore Styles:

• Check out Smart Slider 3’s selection they offer you to animate your text in different styles.
• On each heading, you can set both an Incoming and Outgoing animation. Whatever you are looking for you’ll be spoiled for choice.
• In addition, you can change other aspects of the animation to fine-tune it to your unique preferences.

4. Animated Heading Layer:

• On the other hand, you can also go for the Animated Heading Layer, which is perfect if you want to change a specific part of the text to another one from a list. However, this effect only works if you have at least two lines of text in the Animated Text field.

 

Pro Tip: Ensure that the way you animate your text matches your brand’s personality and your website’s theme. It’s important to stay consistent to create a polished and professional look.

When Should You Animate Text?

There are many ways to animate your text and add value to your content. Let’s look at some cases.

1. Catchy Headlines:

• • For your headline, you can use the Typewriter effect to reveal your headline letter by letter. This will create anticipation and intrigue in your visitors’ minds.
  • Play around with different text animations for your Headings, they can add a nice touch to your content, in a subtle way.

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2. Portfolio:

• • However, there are other ways it can be used to create interest, like sharing information about yourself. Adding a slow and elegant animation is the best way to make your portfolio impressive.

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3. Quotes:

• If you have great quotes and testimonials that you want people to read, you can choose from all the different incoming animations Smart Slider 3 offers, to focus on those impactful words.

Don’t overdo it: While text animations are a great way to grab the reader’s attention, don’t go overboard. Stick to what’s important and use animations to highlight those elements. Remember, a tiny bit of animation can make a difference in keeping your audience interested. Let your text speak for itself.

You are now in control of how your text looks and feels, so let’s create a slider that’s full of dynamic text effects.

Bringing Depth with Zoom Effect

The zoom effect is a great way to add depth and dynamics to your slide. It’s an effect that instantly draws attention to certain parts of the slide. Besides, it makes them look bigger and more alive.

How to Use the Zoom Effect

1. Select the Layer to Zoom:

• To use the zoom effect, select the layer you want to use a zoom effect on. You can use any slide element, such as an image, text, or even a heading.

2. Add a Zoom Effect:

• Once you’ve selected the element you want to add a zoom effect to, go to the layer settings and click on the “Animation” tab. You’ll see a list of options however, we’ll only need the scale animation.
• Under it choose the one that suits your slide. Decide if you want to bring your content closer to your audience or create a subtle downscaling effect. Then, adjust its settings to your preferences. There are many different ways to use this zoom effect in Smart Slider 3.

3. Use the Ken Burn Effect:

• Another way to add a unique zooming effect to your content, specifically to your background images, is to use the popular Ken Burns effect.
• Head to your slider’s Animations settings and under the Background Animation section enable the Ken Burn Effect. It’s extremely simple and elegant.

 

Pro Tip: Strategically use the zoom effect to highlight important content or product details. You can also use it as a soft hover effect to captivate users when they are interacting with your slider.

Creative Ways to Use the Zoom Effect

1. Product Showcase:

• If you are running an e-commerce site, highlight your product images with the zoom effect. Showing off your best offers will make your customers feel more confident in their purchase decision.

2. Interactive Image Gallery:

• Create an interactive image gallery with the zoom effect. When your visitors hover over your images, they will get a much closer look, creating an interactive and immersive experience for your visitors.

3. Elevate Your Background:

• • Move your background a bit, by adding the Ken Burn Effect. This zoom effect is simple and elegant and works on any kind of image.

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Zoom effects are a great way to add depth to your slides. However, it’s important that you remember that you don’t want to use too many zoom effects on your slider. Instead, focus on one or two essential elements to zoom in or out on and let them take the spotlight.

Making Waves: Using Wave Animation

Wave animations are the perfect way to add vibrancy to your sliders. So, let’s dive deep into the world of wave animations and learn how to bring your content to life.

How to Use the Wave Animation

1. Add Wave Animation to Your Background:

• You can add it to your background in Smart Slider 3, so think about what slider’s background can benefit from a bit of motion.
• Once you’ve chosen your slider, go to your Slider Settings page and choose the Animations tab. Inside the Background Animations section, you are provided with two different options to add a wave animation to your slider’s background. (Morph – Wave, Distortion – Wave) This type of animation will be only noticed when your visitors switch between slides.

Check out these templates to see them in action:

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2. Add a Wave Animation as a Divider:

• You can also add a wave animation as a Shape Divider. Just below the Background Animation section, you can spot the Shape Divider option. They are perfect for creating smooth and interesting transitions between the sections of your website.

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• What’s even more, is that each shape has its own unique animation, which you can fully customize. In addition, many of them are designed as animated wave-like shapes, and setting them to continuously move creates a simply marvelous result.

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3. Wave Animation Settings:

• Plus, Smart Slider 3 lets you customize the wave effect, giving you complete control over the intensity of the wave animation. Keep in mind that the goal is to add a thoughtful touch to your content, not overshadow it.

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All in all, adding a wave animation can be a great way to give your sliders a magical touch that will keep your visitors engaged and interested in your content, so let your creativity flow.

Storytelling with Timeline Animations

In Smart Slider 3 each layer animation is shown on a timeline, where you can change its delay and duration. If you click on an animation, it will open the layer window’s animation tab, where you can edit the animation you’ve chosen.

When you press the space key, animations will start up, giving you a preview of what they’ll look like.

Another awesome thing about timeline animations is that you can copy and paste the animation from layer to layer. So if you’ve made a really complex animation, all you have to do is copy it to different layers and you can save yourself time and effort.

Tips on Creating Timeline Animations

• Top Tip: Keep your timeline animation short and to the point. Focus on what matters the most to keep your audience engaged and avoid overloading them with too much information.
• Use timeline animations to create a seamless narrative that grabs your audience’s attention.
• Combine engaging content with smooth animations and you’ll have a mesmerizing storytelling experience that’s unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Use the timeline animations to bring life to your slider and create an unforgettable story.

Customization

Now, that you’ve learned about the different animations and effects, your slider is more interesting than ever before. But don’t worry, we’re not finished yet. In this part, we’ll customize and personalize your designs until they are absolutely perfect. So, let’s get started.

Additional Animation Settings

1. Duration and Delay:

• Change the duration of your animations to control how fast or slow a layer animates, and you can also add delays to create a timed animation sequence.

2. Layer Alignment:

• Ensure the correct positioning of your animated layers with alignment settings. It’s the small details that matter!

3. Mix and Match:

• The fun part starts when you start mixing different animations and effects together. All of the above-mentioned animations and more are here at your disposal to create hypnotic effects that grab your audience’s attention and keep them glued to your content. So don’t be afraid to mix and match!

So now that you mastered the basics of animation, you’re ready to take your website sliders to the next level. Show off your creativity and let your website sliders steal the show.

Best Practices for Animation Usage

You’ve learned how to use Smart Slider 3’s animations and effects with ease. Now, let’s look at some important best practices to make the most of these dynamic tools while keeping your website fresh and professional.

Tips for Using Animations Tastefully

• Keep It Simple: Animations can be a great way to grab your audience’s attention but don’t overload your slider with a ton of effects. Too many effects can be distracting and overwhelming.
• Keep It Inline with Your Brand: Make sure your animations match your brand’s identity and design. Stick to a consistent style and color scheme to reinforce your message and create a unified experience for your audience.

User-Friendly Experience

• Navigation: Make sure your slider’s navigation is easy to understand and use. Give a clear overview of how the slider should be navigated.
• Attention Span: Attract your audience’s attention in the first few seconds. Avoid animations that are too long, as visitors may lose interest and move on.
• Testing: Make sure to test and preview the slider on different devices and browsers to ensure it works properly and looks the way you want it to.

By following these tips, you can make your sliders look amazing and not only let your audience see what you have to offer but also make their experience on your website better. Keep in mind that the key is to find the perfect balance between creativity and usability.

Conclusion

To sum up, your sliders will be full of life and imagination. From slide animation and zoom effect to how to animate text and create wave animation, we’ve even touched upon the captivating timeline animation and more. You’ve come a long way on this animation journey and Smart Slider 3 has been the perfect partner along the way.

Keep in mind that the best way to use animations is to keep them tasteful, relevant, and in line with your brand’s identity. Less is more when it comes to animations, a cohesive and visually appealing slider will leave your visitors with a lasting impression.

Thank you for joining us in this journey of animations and effects! Your commitment to improving the visual appeal of your website and engaging your audience is truly admirable.

The post How to Animate Text & Images Like a Pro appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> https://smartslider3.com/blog/10-faqs-on-wordpress-sliders-everything-you-need-to-know/ Thu, 06 Jul 2023 09:17:20 +0000 https://smartslider3.com/?post_type=blog&p=52919 We’re thrilled to delve into the world of WordPress sliders! They can be a game-changer if you want to boost your website with dynamic content. Additionally, we’ll address the most frequently asked questions regarding WordPress sliders giving you the information you need to make wise choices. However, there’s still more! We have you covered whether […]

The post 10+ FAQs on WordPress Sliders: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> We’re thrilled to delve into the world of WordPress sliders! They can be a game-changer if you want to boost your website with dynamic content. Additionally, we’ll address the most frequently asked questions regarding WordPress sliders giving you the information you need to make wise choices.

However, there’s still more! We have you covered whether you are an inexperienced or a seasoned user. This article will support you with the necessary information to get the most out of WordPress sliders, from understanding the basics of sliders to improving their performance and customization. So let’s get started and look at the solutions to your most pressing questions concerning WordPress sliders.

📚 Table of contents

What is a WordPress Slider?
Should I Use Sliders On My Website?
Do Sliders Negatively Affect SEO?
Do Sliders Make Websites Slow?
What is the Easiest WordPress Slider?
What is the Best Free Slider for WordPress?
How Do I Create a Slider in WordPress?
What Size Should Slider Images Be in WordPress?
How Do I Make a Full-Width Slider in WordPress?
How Do I Make a Slider Autoplay in WordPress?
How Do I Make a Responsive Slider in WordPress?
How Do I Create a Post Slider?
How Do I Make a Slider in Elementor?
How Do I Create a Product Slider in WordPress?
Conclusion

What is a WordPress Slider?

Are you brand new to the WordPress slider community? We’ve got you, so don’t worry!

WordPress sliders, sometimes referred to as carousels or slideshows, are dynamic elements of a website that can present a variety of content, including media content in a slideshow format. It often takes up a primary spot on the homepage, drawing the users’ attention, while exhibiting its content in a visually appealing and engaging way.

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What is the Purpose of a Slider?

A WordPress slider’s main goal is to captivate visitors and offer them an alluring experience. Sliders are frequently used to:

1. • Showcase portfolio items

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1. • Make significant announcements

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1. • Highlight featured products

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1. • Display client testimonials

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They provide a dynamic and interactive feature that can improve the aesthetics and usability of your website. You can efficiently share information, pique your visitor’s interest, and advertise certain content or services by using a slider. Visitors can navigate among all types of content without overcrowding the page with material thanks to sliders. They help you display many bits of content in a limited space.

Should I Use Sliders On My Website?

You could be weighing whether you should add a WordPress slider to your website, now that we have a better understanding of what they are. Sliders can be intriguing, but it’s important to take into consideration the benefits and drawbacks before choosing one.

What are the Benefits of Using a Slider?

• Visual Appeal: Slider’s eye-catching content can quickly capture users’ attention and help establish a lasting first impression.
• Highlight Multiple Content: Sliders make it simple for visitors to browse through a variety of options by allowing you to display different pieces of content or products in a small space.
• Promotional Opportunities: Sliders are a great way to draw attention to special deals, brand-new items, or significant announcements.
• Enchanted User Experience: Including interactive sliders in your website, adds a visually appealing and dynamic outlook, additionally enhancing the overall user experience.

What are the Disadvantages of Using a Slider?

• User Distraction: Sliders that change slides automatically can divert users’ attention away from the primary message or call-to-action, which might have an impact on their focus and engagement. So in this case make sure to always allow the visitor to stop the autoplay on demand.
• Page Load: Sliders with huge image files can slow down page loads and degrade the user experience. We’ll explore this concept more later on and give you tips on how to avoid it.
• Accessibility Problems: Many users choose not to follow the useful recommendations given to make their sliders accessible. This causes it to have accessibility problems. So they either choose to drop the slider or just simply not make their website accessible.

Think of your website’s unique goals, target audience, and content before employing sliders. Sliders are a very useful tool if you have eye-catching visuals or a variety of products to highlight. However, firstly you should always consider the needs and goals of it for a moment.

Do Sliders Negatively Affect SEO?

It makes sense that you are wondering whether WordPress sliders are affecting SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Let’s answer some typical concerns and clarify the connection between sliders and SEO.

• Content Accessibility: A possible risk is search engines’ ability to correctly index and comprehend the content within sliders. It’s crucial to make sure the text content within a slider is crawlable. For improved accessibility, use a slider plugin that enables you to add alt text to your images, and lets you structure your content with different H tags. However, a good slider plugin also offers the opportunity to add text as paragraphs as well. In addition, your slider should have a good HTML structure.

 

• Page Load Times: A key element of SEO is how quickly your page loads. You must optimize your slider to prevent them from negatively affecting the speed of the entire website. Use effective image compression methods, reduce the picture sizes, and if your slider plugin supports it, activate lazy loading. Additionally, pick a performance-focused slider plugin, like Smart Slider 3, that’s lightweight and well-coded.
• Mobile Responsiveness: Search engines prioritize mobile-friendly websites because they offer a better user experience. So make sure the slider plugin you use has choices for responsive design, and test your sliders on a variety of devices to make sure they appear correctly.
• User Engagement: Although not directly associated with sliders, user engagement metrics, like click-through rates, time on page, and bounce rates can nonetheless have an indirect influence on the SEO of your website. These can be positively impacted by engaging sliders that grab users’ attention and promote interaction. They can even inform search engines that your content is important and relevant.

Don’t let SEO concerns stop you from including sliders on your website. You can have a positive effect on your SEO efforts by implementing the best practices for accessibility, performance optimization, mobile friendliness, and unique content. Additionally, make sure to choose a slider plugin that has all the above-mentioned options for better accessibility.

Do Sliders Make Websites Slow?

The possible impact on website performance while utilizing WordPress sliders is a common concern. Let’s explore this and learn more about how to include sliders into your website with the best performance possible.

• Image Optimization: Images in sliders are commonly the main cause of longer page loads. To avoid this issue, optimize your slider images by resizing them and compressing them.

 

• Lazy Loading: Implementing lazy loading for your slider can greatly enhance the functionality of your website. It allows for faster initial page loads by only loading images within the slider when they enter the users’ viewport. Lazy loading features are included in several slider plugins, including Smart Slider 3.
• Reduce Animations and Effects: Although animations and transition effects can improve the aesthetic attractiveness of your sliders, too many or complex animations can have an adverse effect on the speed of your website. To ensure seamless and quick transitions on and between the slides choose animations that are lighter and simpler.
• Performance-Optimized Slider Plugin: Select a slider plugin that has been optimized for performance, because not all slider plugins are made equally in terms of speed. Choose a performance-optimized, lightweight, and well-coded plugin, like Smart Slider 3. Such plugins are created with the intention of prioritizing speed and reducing resource usage without sacrificing functionality.

Remember, optimizing numerous features, including sliders, contributes to the overall performance of your website. Utilize tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to continuously evaluate the performance of your website and spot areas for development.

Don’t let your fear of website slowdown stop you from utilizing sliders to their full potential. You can profit from sliders without losing website speed by adopting optimization strategies like image optimization, lazy loading, and starting to use a performance-focused plugin, like Smart Slider 3.

What is the Easiest WordPress Slider?

Finding the easiest WordPress slider plugin will save you time and trouble, whether you’re new to WordPress or just searching for a user-friendly slider solution. Fortunately, there are some out there that put emphasis on simplicity without sacrificing functionality.

Smart Sldier 3 stands out as a superb option in terms of usability. It has a very user-friendly and straightforward interface, making it available to users of all skill levels. Without coding experience or other technical skills, you can easily design and edit sliders using its drag-and-drop builder.

With real-time previews, Smart Slider 3 offers a fluid editing process so you can see your changes right away. The user-friendly interface makes it easy to add and arrange slides, edit animations, include multimedia elements, and choose transition effects. To kickstart your slider-making process, you can also use the side library and the pre-designed templates.

Additionally, you can easily include sliders in your current website design, thanks to Smart Slider 3’s compatibility with well-known page builders like Elementor, Divi, Brizy, WPBAkery, and Avada Builder.

What is the Best Free Slider for WordPress?

You’ll be happy to know that there are several impressive solutions if you are looking for a free slider plugin for your WordPress website. However, Smart Sldier 3 stands out as a strong free slider plugin among them. It provides an astonishing amount of functions and customization options without charging you a thing.

Here’s why it’s on the top of the free slider plugins for WordPress:

1. Feature-rich: Smart Slider 3 offers a wide range of features equivalent to those found in premium slider plugins. You can get access to:
   • 5 different layers types and default and absolute position them
   • Image optimization
   • Page builder support
   • Dynamic content
   • Adjustable controls of your slider
   • 9 smooth background animations with customization options
2. Intuitive Interface: Smart Slider 3’s design makes it simple for both beginner and experienced users to build sliders with ease. You can easily organize slides and other layers using the drag-and-drop builder, and the real-time preview lets you watch the changes take effect as you edit your sliders.
3. Responsiveness: A slider must be responsive and mobile-friendly in order to function properly, given the growing popularity of mobile usage. Your sliders will be entirely responsive and mobile-friendly thanks to Smart Slider 3. It ensures the best viewing experience on a variety of screen sizes.
4. Template Library: Smart Slider 3 offers a variety of pre-designed templates to get you started with creating sliders. You can save time and work by using one of these templates, which provides a number of aesthetics for different sectors.
5. Compatibility: As it was already mentioned above, Smart Slider 3 works in perfect harmony with well-known page builders. Because of this, you can build your website using sliders without worrying about compatibility difficulties or conflicts.

Create engaging sliders without going overboard with your money to improve your website’s aesthetics and user engagement.

How Do I Create a Slider in WordPress?

With the help of the Smart Slider 3 plugin, WordPress makes it simple to create siders. Let’s go through the detailed instructions to get you started creating your own slider:

• Step 1: Install and Activate Smart Slider 3
  Go to “Plugins” in your WordPress dashboard and select “Add New”.
  Find “Smart Slider 3 “ by searching for it, then click “Install Now” next to the plugin.
  Once the plugin has been installed, click “Activate”.

 

• Step 2: Access Smart Slider 3
  Now, the WordPress sidebar has added the Smart Sldier 3 menu. To access the plugin’s dashboard click on it.

 

• Step 3: Create a New Slider
  Click the “New Project” button on the Smart Slider 3 dashboard.
  Choose whether you want to start from scratch or use a template.
  If you choose to build your own, then select the slider type you would like to use (block, simple slider, carousel, or showcase).

 

• Step 4: Customize your Slider
  You can add and arrange your slides. To add slides select the “Add Slide” button. Add content on each slide, change the settings, and add animations and effects as desired.
• Step 5: Configure Slider Settings
  On the Slider settings page, you can adjust and customize your slider wholly like, autoplay, animation, and controls. In addition, based on the layout of your website, modify the slider.
• Step 6: Publish the Slider
  Click the “Save” button when you are done with customizing the slider.
  There are different publishing possibilities available in Smart Slider 3. You can choose to embed the slider using a shortcode or a widget, or directly insert it into a page or post using the Gutenberg editor or page builder.
• Step 7: Check and Verify
  To make sure that your slider displays and operates as intended, preview it.
  To guarantee responsiveness and the best possible user experience, test your slider on a variety of screen sizes.

What Size Should Slider Images Be in WordPress?

Choosing the right size for your WordPress sliders’ images is essential, to ensure that they blend smoothly into the style of your website and offer the best viewing experience to your visitors.

Let’s look at some recommendations that can help you in choosing the right size for your sliders:

• Aspect Ratio: It is advised to match the slider’s aspect ratio to your website’s general layout and appearance. Choose an aspect ratio that works with the dimensions of your website’s content space.
• Proper Images: The size of the images should match the slider they are placed in. So don’t attempt to fit a 3000 px wide image within a 1200 px wide slider. The same goes for putting smaller images in bigger sliders.
• Full Width, Boxed, and Full Page: Choose whether you want your slider to be contained within a certain content area (boxed), cover the entire width of the browser window (full width), or fill in the browser’s width and height (full page). While the boxed layout can provide a more focused and under-control display, the other two can produce an experience that is more visually striking.
• Responsive Desing: Your slider must be capable of adjusting to various screen sizes. Therefore, select a slider plugin with responsive design choices, such as Smart Slider 3.
• Page Load Times: Even though they are aesthetically pleasing, sliders that require huge image files can considerably slow down page loads. Maintaining the balance between aesthetic appeal and performance is important. If you can, use jpg photos rather than png ones since they load more quickly. A nice slider image should not exceed 500 kb in size.
• Testing and Previewing: To make sure that your sliders are displayed as intended across various devices, it’s crucial to preview them. It’s important to ensure that your sliders adapt properly and maintain their aesthetic appeal.

How Do I Get an Image to Fit a Screen?

You can select how an image will fit the screen when you set it as a background image. You can choose one of five fill modes in Smart Slider 3, for each of your slides. Let’s check out how they work!

• Fill: This is the default option. If necessary, it crops the images so that it fits the whole slider.
• Fit: The entire image is seen, without cropping. The areas where the image can’t reach the slider are left unfilled.
• Blur fit: It doesn’t crop the image. However, it also doesn’t leave any blank areas in the slider. Actually, it fills them with the original image’s blurred form.
• Stretch: Here the image is stretched to fill the slider without being cropped. The visuals frequently become distorted as a result. Use with caution!
• Center: Contrary to popular perception, this setting won’t center the slider. It only places the background image there in its original size. As a result, this mode loses its responsive behavior.

Check out this video for an example of each mode in action:

How Do I Make a Full-Width Slider in WordPress?

A full-width slider in WordPress enables you to make a visually striking effect by leveraging the complete width of the browser window. Creating a full-width slider is simple with the help of Smart Slider 3. So let’s begin:

• Step 1: Install and Activate Smart Slider 3
  Follow the instructions mentioned previously in this post to install and activate the Smart Slider 3 plugin, if you haven’t yet.
• Step 2: Create a New Project
  From the WordPress dashboard select Smart Slider 3. Click on the “New Project” button, then choose the “Full width” layout.

 

• Step 3: Slider Settings
  In the Slider Editor select the Size tab. To make sure the slider fills the complete width of the browser window turn on the “Force Full Width” option. This option forces the slider to go outside of its container and makes it as wide as your screen. However, it has limitations, so it won’t work in every case.
• Step 4: Customize Your Slides
  Use the “Add Slide” button to add slides to your slider. Then add layers and animations to make it your own. Use the drag-and-drop editor to organize it in a manner you like.
• Step 5: Additional Settings
  Explore the wide range of settings Smart Slider 3 offers.
• Step 6: Preview and Test
  Always previous and test before moving on to the publishing process. Ensure your slider looks how you intended it to look. Test its responsiveness, and make adjustments to achieve the best results.
• Step 7: Publish Your Slider
  After you saved all the changes on your slider, you can publish it in your preferred way by choosing one of the publishing options Smart Slider 3 offers.

How Do I Make a Slider Autoplay in WordPress?

Even in the free version of Smart Slider 3, you can make autoplaying sliders, but the Pro version gives you additional features. Let’s go through each step:

• Step 1: Choose a Slider
  On the WordPress dashboard locate Smart Slider 3 and select it. To edit the slider, click on the one you would like to add autoplay to.
• Step 2: Enable Autoplay
  Go to the “Autoplay” tab inside the sider editor, then toggle the “Autoplay” option to enable it.

 

• Step 3: Adjust Autoplay Preferences
  Additional options will show up after you enable autoplay. In accordance with your preferences, you can adjust the configuration options.
• Step 4: Customize Autoplay (Optional)
  Advanced settings are available in Smart Sldier 3 to customize the autoplay further. Explore them, and additionally, you can change the options for controls, pause/play buttons, and indicators.
• Step 5: Preview and Test
  To check that the slider begins autoplaying in accordance with the selected parameters, preview your slider. In addition, test on various devices and screens.
• Step 6: Save and Publish
  When you are happy with the autoplay settings, click the “Save” button to keep your modifications. After this, you can publish it in your preferred way.

How Do I Make a Responsive Slider in WordPress?

A responsive slider makes sure that it adapts nicely to all screen sizes and devices, giving your visitors the best possible viewing experience. Luckily, making a responsive slider in WordPress is simple with Smart Slider 3, which is fully responsive. Besides, there are some features you can easily customize before proceeding.

• Font Sizes: To change the font size of your content just use the Text Scale option. The fact that this is a device-specific setting means that you don’t need to worry about changing the font size on other devices, which is one of the numerous advantages of using it.
• Hide Layers On Devices: Anybody can experience having their desktop layers look bad on mobile view. With Smart Slider, you can hide whatever layer you want on any device, so there’s no need to worry. Use the “Hide On” feature in the layer window to get to this option. It can be quite beneficial to be able to hide your layers individually.
• Hide Slides On Devices: If you are using the Pro version, hiding your slides on different devices can be another great option to improve the responsiveness of your sliders.
• Hide Sliders On Devices: Or just simply disable the slider, which will hide everything on the selected device.
• Controls: Your controls can also be hidden since some of them are simpler to use on desktops but on smaller devices, they seem to be more challenging.

How Do I Create a Post Slider?

Making thumbnail sliders for simple navigation is one of Smart Slider 3’s outstanding capabilities. If you want to highlight a number of pages or posts, you can even go one step further and build a WordPress carousel with the help of it.

Although there are many great slider plugins available, let me explain why Smart Slider 3 is unique. You have complete control over the design and can easily make a free full-width slider that looks good on all screens. Additionally, it has more functionality than many other groundbreaking slider plugins.

However, there’s still more! The Dynamic Slider feature is a great tool in Smart Slider 3. You can use this tool to build slides from your WordPress posts that update anytime you make changes to the original post itself. So the maintenance will be simple.

You can make as many dynamic slides as you wish. On top of that, you can create a custom post type slider using Smart Slider 3. This offers full access to the featured image, textual content, URL, post title, categories, and tags of your posts. What’s more, you can add custom layers to design and represent these slides as you wish.

Therefore, Smart Slider 3 is the way to go without any doubt, if you are looking for a user-friendly plugin with advanced customization options, that goes above and beyond the essentials. Give it a try and see how beautiful sliders and carousels can make your website come to life.

How Do You Make a Dynamic Slider?

Now we can move on to the actual process of creating a dynamically changing slider. So follow along for this 5-step guide to create your own:

1. Create a Dynamic Slide

You can add a dynamic slide either to an already-created slider or a new one. When you add new content to your source, the slide will automatically update. You should configure the generator and decide how many dynamic slides you want to have in the slider.

2. Set Up the Generator

There are several sources to pick from. If you have the Pro version of Smart Slider 3, then you can select from 20 sources in WordPress and 27 sources in Joomla to build a post slider from your Joomla articles and WordPress posts.

3. Create Your Own Slider

You can design your own slider if you want to make one that’s distinctive. Additionally, you can import predefined-slider examples in Smart Slider 3 to use as dynamic slides. Simply copy the layout and paste it into your dynamic slide to complete the task.
You can learn more about how to utilize the demo slider in your generator by reading our documentation.

4. Insert Variable

Set variables if you want your content to change dynamically. Where variables are not used, a static layer will be present.

5. Publish the Slider

Your slider can now be published, such as a shortcode, or turned into a Gutenberg block. Your slider will also show up on the frontend and automatically refresh.

How Do I Make a Slider in Elementor?

As you may know in Elemnetor you can create simple sliders. However, there are only 3 layers you can add to it: a heading, text, and a button layer. In addition, they have fixed places, so there’s not much room for creativity. This might be the right choice for some websites. But, if you would like to create a more advanced slider where you would like to add additional content, you need to look for a slider plugin that works well with Elementor.

Let’s look at how you can make it happen with Smart Slider 3:

1. Install and Activate Smart Slider 3
2. Create a new slider and add slides
3. Customize each slide to match your own preferences
4. Create a new page or edit an existing one with Elementor
5. Drag and drop the Smart Slider 3 widget wherever you would like it to be
6. Select your slider
7. Save and Publish

You don’t need to start from scratch, browse the template library to find the most suitable slider for your project.

 

As you can see using Smart Slider 3 with Elementor couldn’t be easier. Just create your preferred slider, add the Smart Slider 3 widget to Elementor, and select the one you’ve created. It’s effortless, time-saving, and fun.

How Do I Create a Product Slider in WordPress?

Smart Slider 3 is a great tool for building special and functional product sliders for your online store in WordPress. In addition, you don’t have to worry about losing mobile visitors, since Smart Slider will take care of it for you.

With this plugin, you are offered a wide range of options for how to effectively display your products. To show your items from various perspectives or highlight their unique features you can add additional image layers. It also helps you with adding specific information about each product using the heading and text layers. Besides, you can design call-to-action buttons that send your visitors to the category or product pages for additional information.

Live Preview

The fact that you can select from the pre-made templates or create your own slider without any coding experience is pretty fantastic. There are no restrictions on how many sliders you can make.

You can draw attention to your top-selling items, or special deals. Moreover, it’s very simple to add a call-to-action button that will persuade visitors to take action. Both the Carousel and Showcase slider types offer beautiful layouts and perfect responsiveness, depending on what your preferences are. In contrast to the Showcase type, the Carousel type maintains the same number of visible slides regardless of the screen size.

In short, if you would like to create captivating product sliders that easily catch the attention of your audience and help you achieve your goals, then give Smart Slider 3 a go.

Engaging Product Slider Examples

Now, let’s look at some stunning examples of different product sliders, to help you get started with your next project.

Product Carousel

Live Preview

To present your products in an engaging and responsive manner, you can utilize the WooCommerce carousel slider. The amazing thing about it is that it shows numerous products slides together, rather than just one slide at a time, which creates an aesthetically pleasing arrangement. The slider and the slide widths are completely adjustable, and you can even decide how many products you would like to show at once. With this fantastic tool, making a responsive carousel is quite simple.

Full-Width Product Carousel

Live Preview

A really cool slider that’s ideal for presenting your products is the Full-Width Product Carousel. What’s so eye-catching about this is that it introduces some pretty creative concepts, like creating a background with a complementary color to further highlight your items. Additionally, it has space for special slides, including those that advertise offers or encourages your visitors to sign up to your newsletter. They can view several slides at once with this carousel type, allowing them to see more of what you have to offer. It’s an excellent strategy for getting their attention.

Full Page Product Slider

Live Preview

You don’t see the Full-page product slider every day, do you? It’s a wonderful idea to create a full-page product slider to make yourself stand out from the competition. With its cool animations and smooth navigation. The Top 5 Product template takes it to the next level. And the best thing, though? You have plenty of room to include product descriptions and give your buyers all the information they need. This strategy is fantastic for getting their attention and leaving a positive impact.

Showcase Product Slider

Live Preview

The Showcase slider type stands out because it shows several slides at once, giving your visitors more to look at. Bet here’s the cool part: by making the main slide larger than the others, it always focuses all the attention on it. The centered slide gets all the attention thanks to this innovative design, while also showcasing the remaining slides. It’s a great technique to draw attention to your content and keep people interested. Try it out to see for yourself!

Conclusion

Congrats! Now you have a firm understanding of WordPress sliders and how they can advance your website. Throughout this post, we’ve answered the most frequently asked questions regarding sliders, including their advantages and effect on SEO as well as their functionality and customizability possibilities.

By utilizing sliders, you can attract users to your WordPress site, highlight key content, and significantly impact your visitors. Sliders offer an effective approach to engaging your audience and successfully delivering your message, regardless of whether you are a blogger, designer, developer, or business owner.

And Smart Slider 3 is the real deal when it comes to selecting the best slider plugin. It’s the most outstanding option for building gorgeous sliders that blend with your website flawlessly. All thanks to its user-friendly interface, rich customization options, and compatibility with well-known page builders.

Why wait then? Utilize Smart Slider 3, and discover the full potential sliders can bring to your website when you make the right choices. Get ready to engage your visitors with aesthetically pleasing sliders.

We hope this post has given you insightful information and useful advice for your adventure with sliders. Feel free to get in touch with us through our support system if you have any additional questions or need assistance. We are here to help you make your sliders shine!

Thank you for joining us on this slider adventure. Stay tuned for more exciting content and helpful tips on WordPress and web design. Happy sliding!

The post 10+ FAQs on WordPress Sliders: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> https://smartslider3.com/blog/alt-backgrounds-why-alt-text-matters/ Tue, 27 Jun 2023 05:00:01 +0000 https://smartslider3.com/?post_type=blog&p=52575 Creating visually appealing and captivating web designs is just one aspect of this huge field. An equally crucial part is ensuring that everyone, especially those with vision impairments or other disabilities, can access our digital products. In these situations, we use the powerful alt tag. We’ll go through alt tag characteristics and their essential functions […]

The post Alt Backgrounds: Why Alt Text Matters appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> Creating visually appealing and captivating web designs is just one aspect of this huge field. An equally crucial part is ensuring that everyone, especially those with vision impairments or other disabilities, can access our digital products. In these situations, we use the powerful alt tag.

We’ll go through alt tag characteristics and their essential functions in web design accessibility. This guide provides practical information for everyone in the ever-changing world of web design. This post will give you the useful tips you need to make the most of alt tags. And we’ve got you covered if you’re specifically interested in using Smart Slider 3.

It will cover writing alt text that improves accessibility, the process of checking and validating alt text for images, the significance of alt tags for background images, and even setting alt tags for various Smart Slider 3 elements. Once we get to the conclusion, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to design user-friendly and inclusive websites that leave an impact.

So let’s get started and see how alt tag attributes can improve your website’s design and guarantee a more inclusive online experience for everyone.

📚 Table of contents

📱 Writing Alt Text for Accessibility
🎓 Checking the Alt Text of an Image
⚡ Adding Alt Tag to Images in Smart Slider 3
💻 Do Background Images Need Alt Tag
🏗️ How to Add Alt Tags to Background Images in Smart Slider 3
✏️ How to Add Alt Tag to Images in WordPress
💡 Conclusion

Writing Alt Text for Accessibility

Providing descriptive information about images using alt text is essential for ensuring web design accessibility. When an image can’t be displayed or is not accessible to the user, “alt text”, which stands for “alternative text”, is a to-the-point and meaningful description that takes its place.

For those who use assistive technologies, like screen readers to browse the web, creating good alt text is crucial. Their ability to comprehend the information and context that images give ensures a thorough browsing experience. Alt text is also helpful for search engine optimization (SEO) since it gives search engines useful information, improving the visibility and discoverability of the website.

Take into account the following recommendations for creating meaningful alt text:

• Be descriptive: Thoroughly describe the image’s motive and content. Give relevant information that demonstrates the image’s important message.
• Keep it brief: Strive for short alt text that effectively communicates the required information without being unnecessarily lengthy. Aim for a balance between curtness and descriptive precision.
• Contextualize the image: Take into account the surrounding text and make sure that the text ties in naturally with the story or goal of the image.
• Avoid repetition: Use empty alt text (“”) to show that the image is merely decorative or inessential if it is already accompanied by neighboring text that sufficiently describes it.
• Keep in mind the purpose of the image: Make a difference between decorative and instructive visuals. While decorative ones can have empty alt text, informative images must contain descriptive alt text.

Now we can move on to how to check and verify alt text for images to ensure its accuracy and effectiveness, as we have already covered the basics of writing alt text.

Checking the Alt Text of an Image

To keep up web accessibility it’s necessary to guarantee the accuracy and the existence of alt text. Luckily, various ways are offered to us to check and verify the alt text of any image. Let’s get to the bottom of some of these useful techniques.

Manually inspect:

• To open your browser’s developer tools right-click on the image and select “Inspect” or “Inspect Element”.
• Find the image tag (<img>) in the HTML code and examine its alt attribute. You can locate the alt text inside the quotation marks after the “alt=” part.
• If it doesn’t have an alt attribute or it’s empty, then you should add it or correct the current one.

Extensions for your browser:

• There are many ways browsers can help you out with looking into alt texts.
• Explore the extension store of your browser to explore supplementary tools that fully support your purpose. You should search for extensions related to accessibility.

Online checkers:

• You can find various tools specifically designed to verify the alt text of your images among the many other tools they offer to check web accessibility. These tools are fully equipped to inspect a website and offer you different ideas for improvement of the alt text.
• Take utilizing these accessibility checkers into consideration.

Keep in mind that the purpose of this is to make sure that the alt text correctly describes the goal and content of the given image. Therefore, users with assistive technologies can fully comprehend the meaning of it. To achieve a high level of accessibility for your website check and verify your alt text frequently.

The following section will show you how to easily add alt tags to several elements in Smart Slider 3. Which is in fact a very useful plugin that helps you to create engaging and dynamic sliders for your website. So hold on, there’s more to come.

Adding Alt Tag to Images in Smart Slider 3

It’s essential to add alt tags to separate elements in Smart Slider 3 to make certain of accessibility and convenience. This slider plugin provides you with everything you need for creating fascinating sliders, from its user-friendly interface to its wide range of tools. Let’s look into some of them a little more!

Image Layer:

• Keep an eye out for the SEO section of the Content settings when you add an Image Layer to your slider. In the “SEO – Alt tag” field you can write the alt text of your image.

• Create a brief, precise description of the given image so it’s fully comprehensive.
• Users with visual impairments should fully obtain the meaning of the image through the alt text you provide.

Image Box Layer:

• This layer can display an image or an icon and text in different ways.

• It also allows you to add alt text to your image, which you can do in almost the same way as it was mentioned before.
• Find the Content settings and inside its General settings, there’s the same “SEO – Alt tag” field, where you can add your unique alt text.
• Create it in a way that correctly describes your image inside the Image Box Layer.

Caption Layer:

• This layer can show an image, however, when the mouse enters a text overlay appears.

• It’s important once again to add alt text to the image. Just find the Content settings and add the alt text to the same field as before.

• Then, provide a textual representation of your image, so it perfectly portrays the image.

Image Area, Transition Layer, Before-After Layer:

• All these layers provide a way for the users to apply alt text to its images.
• Simply find each of their particular settings and add their individual, descriptive alt texts for better accessibility.

Don’t forget to apply all the useful techniques we’ve already discussed to make the most of your alt text. These are the essential steps you need to follow in order to guarantee a more accessible and inclusive user experience. Simply incorporate these tips into your building process in Smart Slider 3.

The following part will focus on the most frequently asked questions regarding alt text. Such as whether background images need an alt tag, and actually how crucial it is to provide alt text for such images. Let’s explore this captivating part of web design accessibility.

Do Background Images Need Alt Tag

Do background images require alt tags? This is a common question when it comes to web design accessibility. Understanding the significance and motive of alt tags for various types of images, including background images will help you find the solution.

Decorative Background Images

Alt tags are not necessary for background images that are solely aesthetic, such as patterns or design elements. This enables screen readers to pass over the image and concentrate on the content that is important.

Live Preview

Informative Background Images

It’s crucial to provide alt text for accessibility if a background image assists in understanding the page’s content or conveys crucial information.

Live Preview

Live Preview

Make sure that the image’s alt text appropriately describes it so that users with visual impairments can understand its content. Depending on the information it provides and its goal, background images may or may not need alt text. Maintaining the balance between ensuring accessibility and reducing unneeded distractions for screen reader users is crucial.

We will look at how to add alt tags specifically to background images in Smart Slider 3 in the following section to make sure that even these images contribute to an inclusive user experience. Follow along for some detailed instructions.

How to Add Alt Tags to Background Images in Smart Slider 3

Smart Slider makes the process of adding alt tags to your background images easy and convenient. This helps you improve the accessibility of your content for each user. Now, we’ll look at the necessary steps we need to take in order to make sure the background images we present have proper alt text.

Slide Editor

After you have entered the Dashboard of Smart Slider 3, find the slider, then the specific slide with the background image that you would like to add alt text to. Navigate to the Slide Editor which is the interface where changes to the slide itself and its elements can be made. Then locate the Style setting where you can edit the Slide’s background image.

Add Alt Text

Now, as you have already located the background image settings, further down look for the section where you can specifically set the alt text for the background image. Keeping in mind the main concepts when writing the alt text, add an appropriate description that shows the meaning and goals of the background image.

Review and Save

Finally, make sure the text you provided fully contributes to the purpose of the image and leaves no doubt in the users’ minds. To ensure your work wasn’t for nothing don’t forget to save all your changes.

Look at that! It was really this simple to complete the process of adding alt text to your slides’ background images in Smart Slider 3. Users with visual impairments or those who utilize assistive technologies can now be a part of the browsing experience if you just follow these easy but appreciable steps.

Follow along if you would like to learn more about how to set alt text for backgrounds. Let’s find out about its implementations as well, as we dive deeper into the world of accessible web design.

How to Add Alt Tag to Images in WordPress

Adding alt text to your images in WordPress is a very simple process. WordPress offers an easy procedure to guarantee that your website is accessible and inclusive. To add alt text to photos in WordPress just follow the steps below.

Add an image:

• Firstly, when you are creating or modifying a page or post in WordPress, simply click on the “Add Media” button.
• Then, choose an image from the media library or upload it from your computer.
• Select the image once it has been added to your page or post.

Image details:

• Look for the “Alt Text” field in the image options on the editor’s right-hand side.

• Accurately represent your content with an alt text by providing a precise description of the image.
• Think back to the helpful tips we already covered about writing powerful alt text.

Take advantage of this useful tool that WordPress provides and make the browsing experience more accessible by contributing to these factors. Embrace alt text with your WordPress website and show your devotion to an inclusive and accessible interface for all users.

In the next section, we will conclude all the things we discussed throughout this post about alt text for background images. Read on for a summary of the whole journey toward creating more accessible websites.

Conclusion

In web design, not everything is about making the website visually appealing and engaging. It’s equally crucial to ensure accessibility, which enables users of all abilities to interact with your digital products.

We covered the vital functions of alt tag characteristics in web design accessibility, especially in relation to Smart Slider 3. This post showed you how necessary it is to write alt text for accessibility, and recommended practices for creating informative descriptions. When we use alternative text (alt text) in the place of images, it helps people with disabilities to understand the meaning and context of visuals. If you follow these steps, you will give users with visual impairment the ability to access and engage in the browsing experience of your website.

It was highlighted how important it actually is to frequently check alt text as we explored techniques that could help us in examining and confirming it. In addition, we covered all the necessary tools that can be of service.

Furthermore, we looked into how to add alt tags to various layers in Smart Slider 3. This slider plugin is known for its user-friendly interface and how smoothly it integrates alt text into its sliders. Additionally, you can improve your website’s accessibility which helps you with opening it up to a larger audience.

Making a difference between background images that are only aesthetic and those that have a purpose, we also discussed if alt tags are necessary for background images. Now we can conclude that while decorative background images don’t need alt tags, informative background images should have one. Besides, we went through methods for balancing accessibility and design.

Moreover, we looked into the step-by-step guide for precisely adding alt tags to background images in Smart Slider 3. By following the instructions, you can now make sure that background images also contribute to an inclusive user experience.

All things considered, you can make websites that are accessible to all users by implementing Smart Slider’s alt tags efficiently and following the best practices for writing alt text. It’s important to ensure that everyone has access to knowledge and experiences, keep in mind that web design accessibility is not an afterthought but a crucial element of the design process.

It’s time to put your newfound knowledge and useful insights from this post to use. Start including alt tags in all your web design projects, including those using Smart Slider 3. Let’s work together to build websites that embrace diversity and celebrate it, enabling everyone to navigate our digital world.

The post Alt Backgrounds: Why Alt Text Matters appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> https://smartslider3.com/blog/digital-product-design-made-easy-with-smart-slider/ Fri, 23 Jun 2023 06:55:38 +0000 https://smartslider3.com/?post_type=blog&p=52784 Today, user experience is indispensable, and creating visually captivating products is essential to grab the attention of your target audience. According to current data, 89% of consumers switch to a competitor’s website as a result of a bad user experience. Since you have the ability to influence how users engage with your platforms as a […]

The post Digital Product Design: Made Easy with Smart Slider appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> Today, user experience is indispensable, and creating visually captivating products is essential to grab the attention of your target audience. According to current data, 89% of consumers switch to a competitor’s website as a result of a bad user experience. Since you have the ability to influence how users engage with your platforms as a digital product designer, why wouldn’t you take the most advantage of what it offers?

📚 Table of contents

💻 What is Digital Product Design?
⚡ The Role of Smart Slider 3 in Digital Product Design
🎓 How to Design a Digital Product with Smart Slider 3
💡 Conclusion

What is Digital Product Design?

Digital product design, to put it simply, is the art and science of creating digital products that both satisfy the consumers’ needs and expectations. It entails a strategy that takes a product’s aesthetics and functionality into account aiming to offer a seamless user experience.

There are many different types of digital products, including all types of platforms. Each of these products is made to add value and address the specific needs of users.

It is your responsibility as a digital product designer to ensure that the final product is in line with the users’ expectations and goals and to close the gap between technology and user demands. You are in charge of doing user research, getting to know the target audience, and incorporating your findings into considerate design choices.

The user-centered design philosophy is the main aspect of digital product design. This means that the significance of user involvement is emphasized throughout the whole design process. Even from the early research to prototyping and testing. You develop products that meet users’ demands and offer useful solutions, as you are studying their motives, habits, and pain points.

What Steps Does a Good Digital Product Require?

• Research and User Analysis: Perform in-depth analysis to learn more about your target audience’s habits, likes, and objectives. User interviews, surveys, and competitor analysis fall under this category.
• Goals and Objectives: Clearly establish the goals and objectives of your digital product while designing. It aids in directing the design procedure and guarantees that the design choices are in line with the anticipated results.
• Create User Personas and User Journeys: To better understand the needs, motives, and pain points of your target audience, create user personas for them. Moreover, user journeys show the steps your consumers take to get in contact with your product. This helps you spot areas that may need improvement.
• Use Prototypes: To visualize the functionality and structure of your digital product. Before moving on to the visual design stage reassess and improve the overall design.
• Integrate Visual Components: This includes typography, color schemes, and images to produce a visually appealing and combined design. Pay close attention to the small details that improve visual hierarchy, legibility, and usability.
• User Flows and Interaction Design: Create simple and smooth interactions that lead users through the product. Put your efforts into developing intuitive navigation, engaging interactions, and a responsive UI that adjusts to various devices.

Long story short, you can produce digital products that exceed user expectations by following these steps, which will lead to improved user satisfaction and higher engagement.

The Role of Smart Slider 3 in Digital Product Design

As we are done with establishing the significance of digital product design, let’s turn our attention to Smart Slider 3. It’s an impressive WordPress slider plugin that can seriously improve your efforts in this area. So get ready for the adventure that will transform the way you think about designing digital products.

Smart Slider 3 and Its Features

With the help of this flexible and user-friendly WordPress plugin, designers and developers can make eye-catching and engaging sliders for their websites. All the tools you need to captivate your audience and improve user experience are available with Smart Slider 3. All thanks to its user-friendly UI and its variety of capabilities.

Smart Slider’s primary features include:

• Drag-and-Drop Editor and Layers: Smart Slider 3 provides a drag-and-drop editor that makes it easier to create and customize sliders. You can add and organize many unique layers, such as text, images, videos, and others with ease to create the layout that you want.
• Responsive Design: Smart Slider 3 helps you ensure that your sliders look amazing on all platforms by changing the layout and design to fit various screen sizes. In today’s mobile-centric world, when visitors access your website from a variety of devices, responsiveness is essential.
• Animations and Effects: Add some eye-catching effects to your sliders to make them more engaging. With the numerous pre-built animations Smart Slider 3 offers, you can add motion to each layer to create a better interface.

• Template Library: There’s no need to worry if you are just starting out with Smart Slider 3 as they provide their users with an extensive library full of skillfully designed templates. So you can get a headstart and some guidance in your design process, they offer various templates in different styles, targeting different purposes.

Benefits of Using Smart Slider 3 for Digital Product Design

Let’s look at some of the main benefits Smart Slider 3 offers to make your digital product design easier and more fun.

• Increases Visual Appeal: You can design visually appealing sliders with Smart Slider 3 that capture the users’ attention and make a lasting impression. You can improve the aesthetics of your products by including interesting images, layers, animations, and effects.

• Better User Engagement: Sliders made with Smart Slider can interact with users and effectively make them engage. You can direct customers’ attention and entice them to explore further by strategically placing call-to-action buttons, emphasizing essential features, or displaying products.

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• Seamlessly Works with WordPress: WordPress is the most widely used content management system (CMS) in the world, and Smart Slider 3 works with it without a hitch. You can quickly build and manage sliders on your WordPress-powered websites, saving you time and effort.
• Efficiency in Terms of Time and Money: By using the drag-and-drop editor and the pre-made templates in Smart Slider 3, you can lower development costs and advance the design process. Without much coding and design expertise, you can easily create eye-catching sliders thanks to the user-friendly interface and ready-to-use layers.

Examples of Successful Digital Product Design in Smart Slider 3

Let’s look at some actual cases of successful digital products that were using this WordPress plugin to fully demonstrate the influence of Smart Slider 3 on digital product design.

Full-Width Product Carousel

A Full-Width Product Carousel’s main objective is to present the products in an appealing way to the eye. However, by utilizing Smart Slider 3 to improve its appearance, it goes beyond a simple product display. Additional capabilities offered by Smart Slider 3 enhance the carousel’s appearance, not to mention that other product-related material can be highlighted. So, emphasizing product names, promoting discounts, and offering other product-related materials are easily included.

With Smart Slider 3, the Full-Width Product Carousel delivers a dynamic and engaging experience, while additionally providing an effective way to present items. This makes it a beneficial tool for online product promotion.

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Post Slider Carousel

This digital product is a Post Slider Carousel, which uses a dynamic slider structure to display the most recent or primary content. This product’s design has been perfected with Smart Slider 3. This way it acquires more features with stunning design options. The content can be presented with the carousel slider type, which leads to an engaging user experience.

With the help of this plugin, the digital product can efficiently and aesthetically present the most important or recent posts, grabbing the users’ attention and encouraging them to explore and interact with the material.

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Real Estate Slider

The Real Estate slider mixes outstanding visual effects with a minimalistic appearance. It is intended mostly for portfolio or real estate websites. Its design has been significantly based on the unique design capabilities of Smart Slider 3. This slider provides an aesthetically pleasing layout, grabbing users’ attention.

Moreover, Smart Slider makes it possible to incorporate stunning effects that give the slider a feeling of energy and beauty.

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Logo Carousel

The Logo Carousel is used to highlight sponsors, partners, or clients. Its goal is to present logos in a fun and interesting way. The layout, transitions, and animation options are flexible, enabling you to shape it to your liking with Smart Slider 3.

It’s a very powerful tool for highlighting or promoting the brands connected to a company or organization, increasing their visibility, and establishing collaborations.

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Instagram Carousel

Users can make stunning carousels out of their Instagram photos with the Instagram Carousel. They can easily present their posts from Instagram and make eye-catching carousels, all thanks to Smart Slider 3’s flawless functionalities. The various design options enable them to create captivating carousels that display their Instagram material in an enticing way. It’s an effective tool for social media marketing and content promotion.

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Showcase Portfolio

With the Showcase Portfolio slider, users can present their portfolio pieces in an interactive way. Its design provides a visually captivating approach to highlight projects and creative work. They can take advantage of Smart Slider’s versatility to create alluring portfolio sliders. It offers a variety of design options to exhibit portfolio items in an engaging way. Artists, designers, and professionals can use this slider to display their projects and make an impact on visitors.

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Politician Slider

The Politician slider introduces visitors to the company and its objectives. Regardless of one’s political background, it offers an appealing and professional look. Besides, it integrates powerful design elements and popular effects to make sure that the objectives or the company are presented in a memorable way. This slider is a useful tool for people or companies who are trying to successfully deliver their message and make an impact on visitors.

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Testimonial Thumbnail

The Testimonial Thumbnail slider uses visuals, particularly brand logos, to increase credibility and trust with visitors. These are efficiently displayed using thumbnails. Just like all the other products, this one as well is perfected by Smart Slider 3’s features.

Users can make an interactive and eye-catching slider that displays the logos of businesses they have collaborated with. Potential customers feel more confident in the company or individual as a result of this demonstration of reliable partnerships.

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These examples show the adaptability and influence of the plugin in producing interesting and beautiful sliders by integrating it into the digital product design workflows.

We’ll go into detail about utilizing Smart Slider 3 to develop a digital product in the following part. From the installation and customization to the optimization of your slider, we’ll provide you with some additional tips to support you on this journey. So let’s dive in!

How to Design a Digital Product with Smart Slider 3

As we have already covered the benefits of using Smart Slider 3 for digital product design, let’s go through the actual steps we have to take in order to leverage its power in designing stunning and effective sliders for your own digital products. Let’s take a closer look at the process, from installation to optimization.

Installing and Setting Up Smart Slider in WordPress

1. Firstly, log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Then, in the “Plugins” section, you can find the “Add New” option, click on it.
3. Find Smart Slider 3 in the search.
4. Then, select the “Install Now” option.
5. And lastly, when it’s done with the installation click on “Activate”.

As soon as it has been activated you can find Smart Slider in the sidebar menu of your WordPress dashboard.

Exploring Customization Possibilities

• Create a New Slider: From the Smart Slider 3 menu, select “New Project” to start creating your slider.
• Select a Template: Smart Slider 3 provides a large selection of unique templates to help you get started on your design. Then choose one from the library that fits the objectives and style of your digital product.
• Add Layers: After selecting a template, you can take advantage of Smart Slider 3’s layer capabilities. You can easily add images, buttons, and other interactive features.
• Customize the Layers: Then, you can start customizing the slide elements. Simply click on a layer and edit it, apply animations, adjust styling, or add new layers as needed.
• Setup Slider Settings: Smart Slider 3 offers a number of possibilities for setting up your slider’s behavior and appearance. To fine-tune your design, consider choices like navigation controls, effects, timing, autoplay, and responsiveness.

Pre-designed Templates for Quick and Effective Design

A variety of pre-designed templates that are serving various industries and design aesthetics are available in the template library of Smart Slider 3. These templates are professionally designed and are fully engagement-focused.

Look through the template library and choose the one that most closely matches the goal and target audience of your digital product. You can edit a template after you’ve imported it so that it complements your branding and content. Create a customized and one-of-a-kind slider by changing the text, swapping out the images, and playing around with the design elements.

Optimizing the Slider for Responsiveness and Performance

• Make Sure Your Slider is Responsive: With the growing use of mobile devices, this is essential. The layout and sizing can be easily changed in Smart Slider 3 to fit different screen sizes. To make sure your slider looks amazing on all devices, preview it.

• Reduce Image Sizes: The performance of your digital product can suffer from large image file sizes. To guarantee that your sliders load quickly without compromising image quality, use Smart Slider’s image optimization techniques.

• Test and Improve: Thoroughly test your sliders on a variety of browsers and devices before publishing your digital product. Look for any performance, responsiveness, or functionality issues with the slider. Make the necessary changes to ensure a seamless user experience.

Conclusion

To sum it up, Smart Slider 3 is a game-changer for digital product design. You can undoubtedly elevate your designs to new heights and create appealing and engaging sliders. In addition, using this WordPress plugin in your workflow improves the overall user experience.

Without the need for in-depth coding or design knowledge, Smart Slider’s user-friendly drag-and-drop editor, responsive design features, animation effects, and template collection enable you to create aesthetically pleasing and engaging sliders. It works smoothly, making it simple to manage and optimize your website’s sliders.

While you are using Smart Slider 3 to make your digital product come to life, keep in mind to focus on a user-centered approach. So perform research, establish clear goals, and don’t leave out the wireframing and prototype stages.

All in all, by implementing Smart Slider 3, you can enhance your digital products’ design, increase user engagement, and provide unique experiences across various devices. So why wait?

The post Digital Product Design: Made Easy with Smart Slider appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> https://smartslider3.com/blog/step-by-step-guide-create-an-image-carousel-in-wordpress/ Fri, 19 May 2023 08:50:42 +0000 https://smartslider3.com/?post_type=blog&p=52395 One of the easiest ways to engage your audience is providing them with dynamic and visually appealing content. Image carousels have become popular as a result of their captivating nature. It allows WordPress websites to showcase their content and message effectively. Are you curious about how to add image carousels to your website? Then keep […]

The post Step-by-Step Guide: Create an Image Carousel in WordPress appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> One of the easiest ways to engage your audience is providing them with dynamic and visually appealing content. Image carousels have become popular as a result of their captivating nature. It allows WordPress websites to showcase their content and message effectively. Are you curious about how to add image carousels to your website? Then keep reading.

It doesn’t matter if you are just starting your journey in the WordPress design world or if you have years of experience behind you. This post will aid you with useful tools and the knowledge you’ll need to create your own unique image carousels that without any doubt will boost your website’s popularity. Here’s a step-by-step guide for building an image carousel in WordPress.

However, before we go any further with the technical stuff, we need to understand the importance of image carousels in WordPress. Now, the reason why we have to get a better understanding of its advantages and objectives is because this way there will be no doubt about why they are today a crucial part of many websites.

To answer all the questions you may have regarding this topic, we’ll dive into the most common FAQs like:

• How to make image carousels in WordPress?
• How to customize the appearance, control, speed, and transitions?
• How to add descriptions and captions?
• Which plugin is best suited for creating image carousels?

and so much more.

That’s not even all of it, we’ll also explore how Smart Slider 3 can assist you in building sliders that are guaranteed to leave your audience filled with surprise and wonder.
So let’s dive in and learn how to make the most out of image carousels in WordPress.

📚 Table of contents

🎓 Understanding Image Carousels in WordPress
⚡ Getting Started with Smart Slider
✏️ Creating Image Carousels with Smart Slider
💻 Advanced Features and Customization
💡 Conclusion

Understanding Image Carousels in WordPress

Slider carousels or image carousels, which are also occasionally referred to as slideshows due to their behavior, represent content in a fascinating way. They introduce their details or images in a rotating style.

Their way of offering visually engaging content in an interactive method gained them increasing popularity among web designers and developers.
In addition, their ability to represent captivating content in a limited space also didn’t lessen the appeal.

Why Use Image Carousels?

Purpose:

• Presenting customer testimonials or reviews:

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• Highlighting products and services:

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• Showcasing image galleries:

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• Displaying logos:

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• Introducing your team:

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• Presenting your latest posts:

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• Flaunting your social media posts:

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Benefits:

• Increase Engagement: They motivate interaction with your slider, which results in longer visit times.
• Effective Space Utilization: Carousels solve your space issues by letting you display numerous bits of material in a small space even when your screen space is limited.

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• Visual Appeal: Dynamic and eye-catching carousels improve your website’s looks and make a lasting impact.
• Better Storytelling: Carousels have a narrative flow that makes it possible to convey stories or lead visitors on particular journeys.
• Very Adaptable: You can implement them into a variety of websites, including blogs, e-commerce, portfolios, and business websites.

What is the Best Plugin for Creating Image Carousels in WordPress?

If you search for plugins that allow you to create image carousels for WordPress, you will find various options at your fingertips. However, Smart Slider is an outstanding alternative.

There are various plugins available for WordPress that allow you to create image carousels. Nevertheless, Smart Slider 3 is a highly suggested alternative. To speed up the production of carousels, this robust and feature-rich plugin provides a user-friendly interface, several customization possibilities, and a selection of pre-designed templates. Smart Slider makes it easy to make professional and highly engaging image carousels for your site. It helps you with improving your website’s visual appeal.

Now, we fully understand image carousels and the benefits that come with them. Let’s move on to the actual actions we have to take to create them in WordPress with Smart Slider.

Getting Started with Smart Slider

The first step in the building process of image carousels is to install and set up the Smart Slider plugin on your WordPress site.

With Smart Slider creating carousels is simply the best. It provides a number of customization options to achieve your desired look without sacrificing the user experience or technical necessities for SEO. Let’s take off on this journey together.

Installing and Setting Up Smart Slider 3

This can be achieved in a few simple steps:

• Navigate to the left column of your WordPress dashboard to the “Plugins” section and click on the “Add new” option.
• Write “Smart Slider 3” into your search bar, then click on the “Install Now” button.

 

• As soon as it’s ready, you can activate the plugin for your website.

Once you are done with the activation process, Smart Slider will offer you all the visual and textual guides you will need through documents and tutorial videos.

Smart Slider 3’s Dashboard

When you are ready, you can move on to the next step of navigating to the Smart Slider Dashboard where the actual magic happens. Here you can start creating your image carousels, but first:

• You need to get comfortable with the various possibilities the Dashboard offers.

 

• Then you can move on to check out the wide range of pre-designed and stunning templates the template library provides. Make sure to check out all of the unique slider types as well.

Create your First Image Carousel

You can either choose to start from scratch or you could try out a template that matches your idea:

• Press the “New Project” button, so you can start creating your slider with the carousel slider type.
• It’s up to you if you would like to start with a completely blank slider or add a template from the library.

Managing your Slides

Now as your slider is created, let’s dive into how you can make it your own unique image carousel slider:

• Firstly, to add new slides to your design, simply click on the “Add Slide” option, this way you can make it into an actual carousel.

• Boost your slider’s content by uploading your images. You can add it to your slide’s background or just as a design element.
• Not to mention, you can tailor your content to your own preferences, by including headings, buttons, transition effects, or any type of design. Smart Slider offers a wide range of features that you can play around with until you find the most suitable ones.

Now that we’ve answered the “How do I add an image carousel in WordPress?” question, we can gather that if you follow these easy steps, adding an image carousel to your WordPress website doesn’t have to take a genius. Smart Slider’s clean interface and extensive settings help you out and take the burden off your chest.

Let’s move on to the next section, which will help us discover the possibilities of customization in Smart Slider 3.

Creating Image Carousels with Smart Slider

Smart Slider stands out from other sliders with its broad options for design. Therefore, if you are looking for a plugin that allows you to conveniently edit the effects and look of your image carousel and tone it to your page’s individual design, then you should try out Smart Slider.

Let’s find out how to make the most of Smart Slider’s various features for image carousel customization.

Styling and Design

You can find a wide range of tools to edit your carousel:

• Important layout elements: You can adjust the slider and slide size, maximum pane width, and the minimum slide distance of your carousel for your own preferences.

 

• Slide Editor: Here you can configure all of your design elements in your slide to match your brand. This includes backgrounds, colors, fonts, and many more unique settings.

Animations

There are some unique ways to elevate your project with fascinating effects in Smart Slider. Let’s look at some of them that can improve the visual impact of your image carousel:

• Animation Types: To create dynamic and seamless slide changes, choose from a variety of transitions and animations, you can set your slide to a single switch and more.
• Duration: Tailor transition time to manage the rate at which slides change delivering the best possible user experience.

Removing or Adding Captions

Smart Slider 3 lets you add captions or descriptions to give your photographs more context or information:

• Text and Heading Layer: Easily add text layers to your slides to add informative text or draw attention to particular elements. Don’t forget that the clearer the images and shorter the text, the more likely users are to engage with your content.
• Formatting Options: Change your captions’ font family, size, color, alignment, and animation effects. Moreover, pay special attention to the buttons and links, they should be large enough so that they can be easily clicked, even on mobile devices.

Responsive Design

It is essential to make sure your image carousel appears fantastic on all devices in today’s mobile-driven environment. Making responsive carousels is easier with Smart Slider 3:

• Basic responsive behavior: The responsive behavior of the carousel slider is one that it displays as many slides as it can fit within the current size, without resizing the slides until the last one can no longer fit.

• Responsive controls: The slider is touch-friendly for mobile users, and it includes both arrows and bullets for navigation and quick access to the slides, which you can hide if you want to save space.
• Full-width product carousel: This image carousel has equal spacing between each slide as a result of the side spacing option.
• Single Switch: To eliminate empty space you can enable this setting while also setting the Main Animation to Horizontal.

 

• Utilize the mobile-friendly features: Optimize the font sizes with the Font-Resizer, adjust the layout, and everything that may come up in order to offer an effortlessly convenient sliding for your audience.

FAQs

 

You have the ability to make your WordPress site’s image carousel into a visually appealing and compelling slider by using Smart Slider 3. We’ll look at even more advanced options that can elevate your carousel in the following section.

Advanced Features and Customization

It can be gathered that Smart Slider offers a wide range of options to take your image carousel to the next level in WordPress.

Now, let’s look at some of the more advanced features that we hardly mentioned above, so they need more explanation to do. These are the ultimate solutions for effective performance and interactivity with your carousel.

How do I Add Navigation Arrows or Dots to the Image Carousel in WordPress?

With Smart Slider you can, without any difficulty, insert arrows and bullets into your slider. This makes it easy to enhance the user experience, giving them control over your image carousel.

In the Controls tab add arrows or bullets or even both to your image carousel to improve the user experience:

• Arrows: Give users the option of manually navigating the slides using the designable arrow icons.

 

• Include Bullets: At the bottom of the carousel, you can show a series of dots that represent the current slide and allow for easy navigation. Design them to match your preferences.

Dynamic Content

You have control over what particular post or page your image carousel displays thanks to Smart Slider 3:

• To ensure that just the chosen pages or posts are displayed and that they appear exactly how you want them to, use the variable option in Smart Slider. They allow you to pull data from a dynamic source to your slide.
• With them, you can pull the post titles, descriptions, or URLs to your slides.
• To use them, add a layer to your slide and find the Data button above the input field.

 

• Then, clicking on the button will open the Insert variable popup, where you can find the list of available variables and the result they’ll display.

Are There Any SEO Considerations for Image Carousels in WordPress?

Without any doubt! Smart Slider takes into consideration every aspect of your image carousel to optimize for SEO.

Additionally, here are some awesome tips to improve it and make it even more noticeable:

• Add alt text to your images: They make it easier for search engines to index your images, especially when the slider mostly represents images with a small amount or no text at all.

 

• Set proper H tags: Well-structured content is crucial for SEO, adding the correct headings can make or break your visibility.

 

• Write text without H tags: Not everything needs to be a heading.

With these cutting-edge options, Smart Slider 3 gives you the freedom to design image carousels that are customized to your unique preferences. Hop on to the final section for a summary of the main ideas we discussed.

Conclusion

All things considered, image carousels can be used as the perfect tool for mesmerizing and enlightening your audience. As we all know, visual engagement can be essential in today’s digital environment.

We learned that you can design gorgeous image carousels in WordPress that not only draw attention but also improve user experience. All this is thanks to the flexibility and powerful features of Smart Slider 3.

In addition, we looked at how to use Smart Slider 3 for this purpose following a step-by-step process. From setup and installation to customization we covered everything.
By reading through these recommendations, you now have all the information and resources you will need.

Therefore, now you can design interactive carousels that are both visually appealing and match the goals of your website.

Smart Slider is here to take the burden off your chest and help you implement and take advantage of these benefits. So in case you still haven’t checked out these features, you should make sure to don’t miss out. These characteristics include an easy-to-use interface with various settings for customization so you can create your own ideal image carousel in WordPress.

Regret is often born from missed opportunities. So why wait and regret? Get started and elevate your website with stunning image carousels that catch the eye and leave your visitors in a daze. Keep in mind, that every step you take has an impact on your online presence.

Are you ready? Install Smart Slider 3, if you haven’t yet, and unlock a world of possibilities for your image carousel in the WordPress world. It’s time to engage and captivate all of the users.

The post Step-by-Step Guide: Create an Image Carousel in WordPress appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> https://smartslider3.com/blog/how-to-use-shape-backgrounds-in-web-design/ Thu, 04 May 2023 05:53:11 +0000 https://smartslider3.com/?post_type=blog&p=52109 It’s more essential than ever to create a website that stands out from the competition in this fast-paced digital world that we live in. Making use of unique shape backgrounds in your website design is one way to stand out. Your website’s background can be made aesthetically engaging and dynamic by implementing geometric and abstract […]

The post How to Use Shape Backgrounds in Web Design? appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

]]> It’s more essential than ever to create a website that stands out from the competition in this fast-paced digital world that we live in. Making use of unique shape backgrounds in your website design is one way to stand out. Your website’s background can be made aesthetically engaging and dynamic by implementing geometric and abstract shapes, which will draw in more visitors.

Do not worry if you are unfamiliar with shape backgrounds and are unsure of how to begin. With the help of Smart Slider’s unique features, you can design beautiful shape backgrounds for your website without knowing how to code.

We’ll go over the fundamentals of using Smart Slider to make a shape background in this article, including ideas for picking the best shapes, detailed guides for adding and modifying shapes and backgrounds in Smart Slider, and recommendations for positioning and layering them to produce a pleasing design.

We’ll assist you through the progress of your shape and background design, we’ll also look at some of Smart Slider’s unique features, such as icon layers, shape dividers, and absolute layers.

Therefore, it doesn’t matter where you stand currently in your journey, you can be an experienced web designer or you can be completely new to all this, this article is for everyone who is interested in how to create beautiful shape backgrounds.

📚 Table of contents

⚡ Understanding Background Shapes
✏️ Getting Started with Smart Slider
🎓 Smart Slider for Advanced Shape Background Design
💻 Tips and Best Practices for Using Shapes in Web Design
🏗️ Enhancing Your Shape Background Design
💡 Conclusion

Understanding Background Shapes

Firstly, let’s define shape backgrounds and why graphic designers use them, before getting into the actual steps on how to create them in Smart Slider.

The phrase shape background in web design is a design feature that gives the background of a website more physic and texture. A range of shapes, including geometric shapes and abstract shapes, can be used creatively to create stunning patterns. They can be layered and organized in various ways to produce a visually appealing and dynamic design that grabs the audience’s attention.

So why do graphic designers use shapes in their web design? Well, there are several motives:

• Shapes increase visual appeal. A background made entirely white might be dull and uninspiring. Your design can benefit from adding shapes to the background to help break up the monotony and create visual appeal.
• Shapes can also add dimensions and depth. Your design can appear more dynamic and interesting if you layer shapes on top of each other to give it a sense of volume.
• Shapes are perfect for supporting the identity of your brand. You may as well strengthen your brand’s messaging and make your entire design more united by making use of shapes that are consistent with your brand’s visual identity.

With these, we already covered the basics of shape backgrounds and their importance in web design, let’s go on to discuss how to create them using Smart Slider.

Getting Started with Smart Slider

Without any coding experience, you can simply design beautiful background shapes for your website with Smart Slider. Start by following these actions:

Set Up and Run Smart Slider

You must install and activate Smart Slider on your WordPress website if you haven’t previously. This can be done by finding Smart Slider in the Plugins section in your WordPress dashboard, then clicking the Install and Activate buttons.

 

Create a New Slider

After it has been activated, go to the Smart Slider section of your WordPress dashboard and select New Project. You can either use a template or start from scratch.

Find Templates for Your Projects

Browsing the template library you can find many pre-made templates. Most of them make use of different shape backgrounds that you can add as a starting point for your own background design. Look through them and choose the ones that you like.

Add Layers

After this, you can start adding the preferred shapes to your slider’s background. It’s simple, just click on the green “+” button, and from the layers tab select the layers you want to add then drag and drop it into your slide. So if you want to create shape backgrounds using different layers, you can do so with an Image layer, Icon layer, or even with a Highlighted Heading layer.

Set an Optimal Size and Position for Your Shapes

To do so, click on the layer, and in its settings panel you can find each setting under its content and style tab that you can use to make changes. You can also rotate, skew, flip, and so on to animate them.

Add Extra Layers to Your Layout

Select the Layer tab and choose as many suitable layers as you want for your design, including Text layers, Video layers, and Button layers, the list goes on.

This is it, now you can create a minimal shape background in Smart Slider by simply following the actions above. For a more advanced background design follow along, and we’ll explore how Smart Slider’s unique features can take your game to the next level.

Smart Slider for Advanced Shape Background Design

Although it’s fairly simple to create a simple shape background in Smart Slider, there are a number of advanced features that can help you make even more striking designs.

Let’s check them out!

Shape Divider

Your website’s different parts can be divided using the Shape Divider feature of Smart Slider in an appealing shape design. This gives you the opportunity to hand your website a unique flow that helps you capture your visitors’ attention.

How to use shape dividers in Smart Slider?

1. Install Smart Slider 3 Pro
2. Go to the Slider settings → Animations tab
3. Effects → Click on the Shape Divider
4. Choose a top or bottom shape
5. Customize it
6. Publish your slider

What are some different types of shape dividers in web design?

• Broken Grid Layout

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• Slider Blocks

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• Animated Divider

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• A Separator Between Sections

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• Design Element

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Icon Layer

The Icon layer is yet another sophisticated element of Smart Slider. You can add an icon to your background design using this layer to give it more visual appeal with different shapes. Applying icons in your design is a great way to give it more context and increase user engagement.

Click the Layers button at the top of the Smart Slider editor and choose the Icon layer type to add an Icon layer to your design. There, you can select from a variety of icons, including 5 different libraries. Further settings allow you to change your icon’s size, location, and normal and hover color.

Absolute Layers

You can add layers that are not restricted to the bounds of the slide, this is made easy by using Smart Slider’s Absolute Layers. Click the Layers button at the top of the Slide editor and choose the Absolute layer type to add an Absolute layer to your layout. Images, texts, and videos can all be added as different layers from that point on. In addition, Smart Slider also allows you to change the orientation, size, and position of your Absolute layers.

As a result, you may build patterns that seem to float above your background or layers by either moving on top of each other or overlapping them.

This gives your website a distinctive and lively appearance with rare background shapes that can even be geometric or abstract.

Besides, they are also useful if you want to create depth for your layers. One way to do this is by adding a color gradient to your shape background for a subtle effect.

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Particle effect

Finally, you can make your website more memorable for your visitors by setting up a Particle Effect in Smart Slider. It is a unique technique not so commonly used in web design. It adds a big amount of tiny shapes to your background, which are continuously moving. What’s more, they can interact with each other when they get close enough, it can happen, for example, with a line that connects them.

 

Here’s a quick video guide on where to find it in Smart Slider:

 

In Smart Slider 3 you can choose from 9 different types of Particle Effects.

Here are some examples:

• Banking App

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• Christmas Ornament Shop

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• Crypto Block

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These effects are pre-made by us, but they have minor configuration options. For instance, you can change the color or line color, even the speed, but you can’t change the shape of them.

However, if you need to use custom shapes, you can build your own effect and paste its code into the slider.

You can develop your shape background design and make a totally distinctive and captivating website by utilizing these sophisticated capabilities with your slider. We’ll look at some examples and best practices for how to use shapes in web design in the section that follows.

Tips and Best Practices for Using Shapes in Web Design

Let’s dive into some advice and best practices for using shapes in web design now that we’ve covered the fundamentals of making shape backgrounds and looked at some of Smart Slider’s more complex features.

Simple is Best

Keeping it basic is one of the most crucial things to have in mind while using shapes in web design. While advanced shapes can be visually stunning, they can also be intimidating to website visitors. Instead, concentrate on selecting shapes that are easy on the eyes so they can go well with the overall design and content of your website.

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Use Shapes to Guide the User’s Eye

Shapes can also be used to direct the user’s eye in web design. It is a fantastic advantage that comes with implementing them. You can utilize these benefits by creating an easy-to-navigate visual hierarchy, which shows your users the importance of each element on your website. Furthermore, placing each shape strategically draws the visitors’ eyes to the main content that you would like to primarily introduce.

Abstract Shapes Background

Don’t limit your design to the most basic shapes. While geometric shapes can be useful in many cases for your web design, there are a huge amount of unique shapes that are worth experimenting with. Exhibit your brand’s creativity with more aesthetic and original designs. Try implementing more abstract shapes into your background.

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Have a Look at the Color and Contrast

It is important to take a look at the color and contrast of our background shapes. We should always keep in mind that our shape background design is always clear and readable to the user. To achieve this ensure that your shapes have enough contrast and only use those colors that suit the color strategy of the website.

 

• Undiscovered Universe

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• Agency

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Consistent Brand Image with Shapes

Last but not least, unify the image of your brand by presenting your company with the same background shapes and colors through all your marketing channels. Stay consistent with it and in the long run, it will help your brand catch the eye of potential users simply with its recognizable visuals.

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Now, you can also design abstract, geometric, and all kinds of shape backgrounds if you employ these steps in your design. Follow along for a few more tips in the next section.

Enhancing Your Shape Background Design

Animation

You can add as many animations to your shape backgrounds as you want. One way to achieve this result is to simply add it to the layers, which you can do in the Slide settings’ Animation tab. This offers a wide range of animation types, including fade, reveal, and move effects.

The Timeline lets you modify the delay and duration of each animation, which can help you with achieving your goal.

In addition to layer animations, you can also add different effects directly to your shape backgrounds. You can find each one under the Slider settings’ Animations tab.

Besides animation, there are other design elements that you can implement into your overall look, like images and text.

Highlighted Heading

A stunning way to integrate text into your shape background design is to add Highlighted Heading layers in Smart Slider. It’s important to note that if you make your background too stuffed, then balancing the hierarchy between the background and the foreground is essential.

Therefore, there shouldn’t be too many drowning overlays. But don’t worry these issues can be easily solved by Smart Slider’s Highlighted Heading layer. Placing highlights around and behind your headings will help with readability for your visitors.

Moreover, it offers many unique background shapes for your text as well. It gives you more freedom in your design, as this way you can easily add any text that is placed on top of your shape background.

Check out some of Smart Slider’s outstanding examples of this technique:

• Organic Food

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• Renovation

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• Cooking Slider

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Try experimenting with different types of shapes, colors, and animations to create your own unique slider for your website. Build your own shape background design that gives your website more visibility with its unmatched shape design. As you can see, Smart Slider offers you endless possibilities to make this happen.

Conclusion

In this post, we looked at the various types of shape backgrounds used in web design and demonstrated how to make each one with Smart Slider. Moreover, we have discussed the fundamentals of making shape backgrounds as well as some of the more complex tools of Smart Slider that can help you create them.

Furthermore, we’ve also talked about various ideas and the best ways for using shapes in web design, such as keeping things straightforward, adding shapes to direct the user’s eye, and developing a unified brand identity.

It’s time to start exploring and making your own designs now that you have a firm understanding of shape backgrounds and how to make them with Smart Slider. Besides, using shapes in your design will help you produce a visually appealing and engaging website that stands out from the competition, whether you’re developing a new website or updating an old one.

All in all, why not start making your own shape backgrounds right away by using Smart Slider? It’s the ideal tool for anyone wishing to advance their web design thanks to its easy-to-use interface and impressive functionality.

It’s also worth your time to check our tutorial videos by which you can learn a lot.

Happy designing, and thanks for reading!

The post How to Use Shape Backgrounds in Web Design? appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

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