If you have a WordPress website and want to create a slide, then you can do it for free with the Smart Slider 3 plugin. It is easy to use and very powerful.
You can create beautiful slides without hassle. You can create different kinds of slides – videos, images, posts, etc.
Smart Slider 3 allows you to choose pre-made slides or create a custom one from scratch. It has widgets for text, images, colors, fonts, etc. Everything you need.
It works great with page builders such as Elementor, Gutenberg, Divi, and others. It is SEO-friendly and also has 180+ templates.
Also Read: Astra Theme Review
Slides are a great way to beautify your website, make it alive, and interactive. You can do almost everything with the free version but if you want more, you can upgrade to a pro version.
With a pro version, you get more features like lightbox, background video, text animation, particle effects, and more.
In this tutorial, I use a free version which is enough for starting. Let’s dive in and see how we can create amazing sliders with Smart Slider 3.
Table of Contents
1. Install & Configure
First of all, you have to install the Smart Slider 3 from the WordPress plugins repository. Simply, search for it and it will be the first result. Install and activate it.
On your dashboard, you will see a new tab. Go there and click the Settings on the upper right corner.
From here you can configure and set default settings. It is not necessary, but I like to do it. You can set general settings like breakpoints, JS & CSS settings, fonts, etc.
Of course, you can skip this process. So, after you are done, now it is time to create a slide.
2. Create Slides With Template
When you start creating, Smart Slider 3 offers two options – create from scratch or pick a template. Let’s first try creating a slide with a template.
When you are in a template view, you have many different options. You can pick full slides, carousel, boxed, video, etc. But we want free templates, as long as we are using a free version.
With the free categories, you can choose from 10+ pre-made templates. Choose which one you like and click the Import button.
Now, you are in edit mode. From here you can change the template settings such as size, controls, animation, autoplay settings, and more.
But if you want to change a slider itself, on the top you will see the three slides. So, this slider has three slides. You can change each of them separately.
Click the Edit button on the slide itself and it will take you to the customizer. Here you can change content, fonts, images, etc. You can delete or add new elements.
You have freedom. Smart Slider gives you drag & drop builder options, and it is straightforward to use. After you are done, click Save. Edit all other slides and it’s done.
Insert Slider On The Page
So, after you edit each slider and tweak the general settings you have three options to insert a slider on the page:
- Shortcode – Copy it and paste it right into your pages or posts.
- Blocks – You will have new blocks in supported page builders.
- PHP Code – Copy and paste it into the theme’s file.
You can choose the way you want. All works perfectly. I like to use the shortcode option. It is easier for me.
Paste it on your page, update it and that’s it. You have a slider on your website.
3. Create Slider From The Scratch
Smart Slider 3 allows us to create our own, custom slides from scratch. When you choose this option, you can create a slider or a block. With the free version, you can create only a simple slider.
It works the same way – you can create as many slides as you want, change general settings, add your content, etc. the only difference is that it is blank. There is no content.
And a great thing is that you can create image slides, posts slides, and static overlay. So, as you can see it is a very powerful tool.
Also Read: Best Websites Built With WordPress
And its builder is very easy to use and intuitive, so a beginner could create slides without problems.
After you are done, you can copy the shortcode and paste it whenever you want. Just like it worked with a pre-made template.
As you can see, you can create any kinds of sliders for free with this amazing plugin. It can be a post slides, just images, videos, etc.
It is a great way to make beautiful slides and make your website awesome and more interesting.
Conclusion
Smart Slider 3 is a great plugin that allows you to create professional and beautiful slides for your website. It is powerful, modern, easy to use, and free. Also, has pre-made templates.
For more options and features, check out the pro version.
