How to Create a WordPress Post Slider
No matter what kind of blog you are running, we’d bet you’re on the lookout for more and different ways of showcasing your posts. In this tutorial we will be showing you how to do just that: showcase your posts using a WordPress post slider.
We are not talking about a core WordPress functionality, though: we are talking about a function you can only use after installing a plugin. But let’s start at the beginning. What is a WordPress post slider, exactly, and do you really need it? Here’s what we’d like to address:
A slider is a web design element, basically a kind of display for whatever you want to showcase. There are multiple kinds, and they usually come as a feature of a slider plugin but might also be included as a theme feature. So, this is a slider showing posts, typically as rich links (showing the title and featured image, rather than just the post’s permalink).
We will be showing you how to create a WordPress post slider using the blog carousel functionality of the Qi Addons For Elementor plugin.
Qi Addons for Elementor is a plugin designed by premium WordPress developers Qode Interactive. It comes packed with interesting features, and its aim is to expand upon Elementor’s already considerable capabilities. With Qi Addons, you get 100+ exquisitely designed new widgets you can use to make your website really stand out.
In order to use it, you need to install the latest Elementor and Qi Addons. Qi Addons works with free and paid versions of Elementor, and the blog carousel is included with the free version of Qi Addons, so this feature needn’t cost you a penny. Qi Addons will not work with other page editors.
After having installed and activated the latest versions of both Elementor and Qi Addons, open the page you wish to edit and find the Blog Carousel widget in the left hand side menu. Then, drag it to where you want it on the page.
The widget is now in place and operates with default settings. You can, however, change a lot of things about it in order to make it fit your website’s layout or style better. The controls to do so are sorted into several sections of the Content and Style tabs.
In the General section of the Content tab, you can set the behavior of the slider in terms of animation speed, number of columns, navigation, pagination, and the general look of the widget.
The Query section of the Content tab contains controls for the number of pages and the order of posts, as well as whether or not to include other parameters.
In the Layout section, you will find controls for the layout of each post in the slider, and what to include in its presentation: date, featured image, category, author name, and others.
You can use the Read More Button and the Read More Button Icon sections to configure, you guessed it, the button at the bottom of each post in the slider: what the button says and what it looks like, and whether or not it uses an icon.
The Style tab is where you can really make your blog slider unique. We won’t go over each control here, but you have virtually unlimited options when styling your slider’s navigation and pagination, textual elements, media elements, and much, much more.
In Conclusion
As you can see, you can have an eye-catching display for your latest posts virtually within minutes, and have it fit your website’s layout and your brand’s style whatever it may be. A carousel of your blog posts, unlimited options, numerous extra widgets, and all of that for free – what more could you want?
We hope this article was helpful. If you liked it, feel free to check out some of these articles as well!
