Lately, people have been falling in love with image sliders. They are everywhere. And nowhere else are they more pervasive than they are in WordPress. In fact, WordPress has as many as 690 image sliders to choose from!
Now, testing this overwhelming number of image sliders one-by-one would be quite a daunting task. And being the busy person that I’m sure you are, you probably don’t have the time to do all of this yourself. So, in order to help you out, we decided to put together a roundup of some of the most popular and powerful WordPress image slider plugins…so you can deck out your WordPress site in a whole new way!
1. Smooth Slider
This is a powerful image slider that comes loaded with a number of features, including customizable background, slide intervals, and an option for placing content. You can choose from its 6 different transition effects, and the slider comes with 3 different options: recent posts, category, and custom slider.
However, this plugin has been known to have a catch. People have reported problems with their sites crashing while using this plugin. Its latest version has most likely overcome this issue, but it’s good to be aware of.
2. WOW Slider
This plugin is a different beast altogether in the sense that it requires you to download a separate program—WOWSlider wizard. Once the download is complete, you will need to create a slideshow by using this application, and then upload the slideshow to the plugin. To insert the slideshow, you just need to copy and paste the shortcode and you are done. Yes, it’s that simple.
But if you do run into any problems, there is comprehensive list of documents to help you out.
3. Meta Slider
Meta Slider is considered to be the most popular image slider available. It’s been downloaded over 467,707 times, and this certainly stands testimony of its massive popularity. It comes loaded with 4 different and equally powerful image sliders: Responsive Slides, Flex Slider 2, Coin Slider, and Nivo Slider. All these jQuery sliders are immensely powerful and come preloaded with different transition effects and themes. This plugin also has a pro version available that includes more features.
4. WP Slider
This powerful WordPress image slider plugin boasts of its simplicity. The user interface is very easy and intuitive. The plugin lets you create an unlimited number of sliders, with an unlimited number of slides, which is definitely one of its major pluses. Its “drag and drop” feature has made it very popular among its users. Because of its cool features, WP Slider has been embraced by websites like SorianoMedia.
5. EasyRotator for WordPress – Slider Plugin
This image slider is beautiful, but it does take some effort to set it up properly. It requires you to install flash software on your machine to be able to create an image slider…and the process does not end there. To insert an image slider, you have to insert shortcode. This image slider plugin has some serious issues with Chrome and Safari, so beware of that as well.
6. Responsive WordPress Slider – Soliloquy Lite
The popularity of this plugin lies in its simplicity. It takes only a few seconds to install, and the creation of an image slider is a piece of cake. No need to mess around with the settings. Just choose the images, slider speed, size, and then when you are done with all these little things, just hit the publish button and you’re set! It is as easy as 1-2-3. Once done, just copy and paste the shortcode in the page where you want the image slider to appear.
7. Cyclone Slider 2
If you love simplicity and don’t particularly want to mess around with complex settings and codes, Cyclone Slider 2 is the slider plugin for you. It offers support to almost anything you want, including custom HTML, Vimeo, YouTube, images, and more. The sliders are responsive, and you can reorder them by simply dragging and dropping. For more feature, you can always try pro version too.
8. Easing Slider “Lite”
Easing Slider “Lite” is the 2nd most popular image slider plugin after Meta Slider. It allows users to make changes in the duration and dimension of the image slider. It has two different transition effects to choose from—slide and fade. To make this image slider appear, you need to add only a simple shortcode.
So there you have it…8 great choices for adding sliders to your website! I hope this roundup was helpful.
Which slider plugins do you prefer? Any that I didn’t include on this list? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below!
Michael Evans is currently promoting MotoCMS website templates, which help business organizations build a robust online presence.
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