All posts by : Maddy Osman

WordPress Staging provides a safe environment to experiment with changes and updates for a live site without distorting the user’s experience.

You will be able to make changes without pressure as you will be doing it within a private space, and no one will see them except those who may be working on the changes with you.

So, we thought, why not tell you how to experiment with various sliders and help improve your design workflow?

Dive into the world of sliders and learn how to experiment with them effectively in your staging environment. Let’s explore together and unlock new possibilities for your website design!

What is Staging?

WordPress Staging is a feature that allows you to create a duplicate version of your website where you can test changes, updates, and new features before making them live on your actual site.

In web development, especially for live sites, using this crucial safety measure will save you tons of headaches.

You can make mistakes, break things, or even delete it and start over. No matter what happens, your live site will remain completely unaffected.

WordPress Staging also allows you to test new plugins and themes without adding the load to your existing database size. This load may remain and bloat your database size even after you decide not to use the tested product again.

Why test slider functionality on a staging site?

Staging sites offer a secure space to test changes and updates intended for a live site without affecting user experience. You can view these changes from the perspective of users who regularly visit the live site.

WordPress websites commonly use design elements known as WordPress sliders or slideshows. These elements are intended to showcase multiple images, videos, or text snippets in a rotating format.

When well-crafted, even a free WordPress slider can be a powerful tool for capturing visitors’ attention and keeping them engaged, highlighting important information, and encouraging visitors to explore various sections of your website.

However, creating sliders on pages is a clear change that can’t be missed. So, it’s best to test your pages with sliders underground by doing it in a staging environment.

Doing this keeps your activities low and allows you to see how the sliders will look and function on your website without affecting the live site.

Using WordPress Staging, you can experiment with different slider designs, settings, and placements to ensure they enhance your website’s aesthetics and user experience.

How to Experiment with Sliders Using InstaWP?

It takes a bit of experimenting and time to master the art of slider creation, and this is necessary because the effectiveness of WordPress sliders depends on how they are designed and utilized. That’s why you need to experiment on a staging environment like InstaWP.

Your slider must showcase a range of content, such as product photos, special promotions, or even videos, directly on your page while highlighting important information and encouraging visitors to explore various sections of your website.

To experiment with sliders, you can easily create a staging site with InstaWP and install Depicter, a powerful WordPress slider tool available in InstaWP’s utility category when setting up a site from scratch.

Depicter is a free WordPress slider plugin that offers a user-friendly interface and a wide range of customization options to create stunning sliders for your website. All the excellent slider features packed into this free plugin will amaze you.

With the InstaWP staging environment and Depicter, you can experiment with as many sliders as you can for as long as you want. When you’ve got the perfect sliders, you can then implement them on your live site.

Best Practices for Including Sliders on Your Site

When incorporating sliders on your website, here are some best practices to consider:

Limit the Number of Slides:

Keep the number of slides to a minimum to avoid overwhelming visitors. Your website visitors may tire of scrolling through sliders, ignoring them, or leaving your site. Make use of 3-5 slides and nothing more.

Use High-Quality Images:

Ensure that the images used in the sliders are high-resolution and visually appealing. Sliders are meant to occupy the entire screen or at least a significant portion. Therefore, use pictures that won’t be distorted on smaller or larger screen sizes. 

Optimize for Performance:

Optimize the slider for speed and performance to prevent slow loading times. Using fewer slides, taking out some transitions, and using lossless compressed images are good practices to increase performance.

Include Clear Call-to-Actions:

Each slide should have a clear call-to-action to guide visitors on what to do next. Use a vibrant background for your CTA buttons to stand out from the overlay images or video.

Mobile Responsiveness:

Ensure the slider is responsive and displays well on various devices, including mobile phones and tablets.

Test Different Designs:

Experiment with slider designs to see what works best for your website and audience. If the content breaks out of the screen or is hidden on mobile devices, you lose out on effectively grabbing your website visitor’s attention and irritating them.

Monitor Performance:

Track the slider’s performance using analytics to see how effectively it engages visitors.

Regularly Update Content:

Keep the slider content fresh and relevant to maintain visitor interest. If you track the performance of your slides and CTAs using tools like Google Analytics, you can modify or update the slides for better performance.

Accessibility:

Ensure the slider is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Add intuitive and straightforward navigation arrows and buttons to assist visitors in better interacting with the slider.

These best practices will guide you in creating effective sliders on your site that will continue to attract and engage your website visitors.

Using Depicter for Creating Stunning Sliders

Depicter is a versatile and powerful WordPress slider plugin that allows you to easily create as many eye-catching sliders as you desire in WordPress.

With features like drag-and-drop functionality, customizable animations, and transition effects, Depicter empowers you to design sliders that grab users’ attention and enhance your website’s overall look.

Depicter can elevate your website’s visual appeal and engage your audience with captivating slider content.

Let’s see how you can create a staging site with InstaWP and use the staging site and Depicter to create stunning sliders.

How do you install Depicter on your staging site?

The following video provides a step-by-step guide on how to set up a staging Depicter website using InstaWP for free. After watching this video, you should be able to easily perform the setup. However, if you prefer more detailed text instructions, please continue reading this article.

Step 1: Log into InstaWP

You need to create an account on InstaWP to create a free staging site to experiment with and test your sliders with the Depicter Slider plugin.

After creating your account, you can log in to your dashboard. 

Step 2: Create Staging Site

Click Create Staging from your dashboard to start the staging site creation process. From the popup, select the From Scratch tab. Then, navigate to the Utility category when setting up your site and select the Depicter Slider plugin.

Then click the Create Site button, and your free staging site will be created within seconds. 

Step 3: Login to Your Staging Site

Simply click the Magic Login button to proceed to the WordPress Admin panel of your newly created staging site. 

You will notice that the Depicter plugin has already been activated on your staging site.

Step 4: Create your Slider with Depicter

Select Depicter from the left sidebar navigation, and you will be taken to the Depicter dashboard. 

One fantastic feature of Depicter is its templates for those who don’t want to start building from scratch. There are tons of unique free templates that you can select from and integrate seamlessly into your website design.

To build a slider from the available templates, simply hover over a template that is more suitable to your appeal and click the Import button to import the template to your Depicter canvas.

After importing the template, you can modify it to your taste. You can edit the existing text and captions, replace the images and videos with yours, and customize the slider’s settings, such as the animation, palette, CTAs, type of navigation controls, etc.

Another advantage of using Depicter Slider is the ability to preview your slider’s responsiveness across various screen sizes while still designing your slides.

Once you have completed all of your customizations for your slider, you are ready to publish it. Adding the slider to your page is very easy because Depicter supports all of the most popular WordPress page builders, such as Elementor, Gutenberg, Divi Builder, and Beaver Builder. Of course, Depicter also supports traditional WordPress methods, such as using shortcodes or PHP code.

Why use Depicter for your Sliders?

While it may be impossible to list all of the reasons why adding a slider to your website via the Depicter is an excellent choice, we will briefly introduce you to the advantages of Depicter in this article to give you a better understanding of this topic.

Depicter is a powerful WordPress slider choice for creating sliders due to its user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and compatibility with WordPress staging environments.

Here’s a list of features that make Depicter the best WordPress slider plugin:

1. Simplicity: Depicter is an intuitive drag-and-drop slider builder that is very easy to use.
2. Responsive Design: Sliders built with Depicter look good on all devices and screen sizes.
3. Customization options: Depicter offers various customization settings for colors, palettes, fonts, animations, navigation, etc.
4. Transition effects: Depicter is packed with different smooth and attractive transition effects that can be applied between slides.
5. Slider controls: Depicter doesn’t slack in the slider controls department. It offers easy-to-use navigation controls for users to interact with the slider.
6. Image and video support: Depicter Slider supports various media types, such as images, gifs, and videos.
7. Light Weight: The Depicter Slider is lightweight and optimized for speed, and it doesn’t slow down your website.
8. Compatibility: Depicter Slider is compatible with other WordPress plugins, different hosting platforms, and WordPress staging environments.

It would be unfair not to mention Depicter’s unique and new features, namely Popup Builder and Notification bar Builder. As you explore these two features, you’ll quickly realize that Depicter is the ultimate solution for all your website’s slider needs and more.

Conclusion

To achieve professional results, we must use professional methods. One such method is utilizing WordPress staging capabilities. Sliders are a crucial visual tool for websites, and creating and optimizing sliders in a WordPress staging environment can elevate your results from subpar to exceptional.

In this article, we briefly introduced InstaWP and Depicter and explored how combining these two tools can create a WordPress staging website for producing professional sliders.

What is a testimonial?

Looking to build trust and credibility for your website? Learn how to create powerful testimonials that resonate with your audience and highlight the value of your products or services. With the right approach, you can gather authentic and compelling testimonials that will make a lasting impression on your website visitors.

One of the most common examples of providing social proof on your website is using testimonials from previous customers, and one of the best ways to display this is using a tool called testimonial slider.

A testimonial is typically a section of your website that showcases comments from satisfied customers who have used your service or purchased your product. This section often presents information in a rotating slider format to maximize horizontal space.

Why should you consider a testimonial on your website?

One of the most influential options in content marketing is the opinions of previous customers.

This has a psychological reason because when a potential customer enters your website, before anything else, they look for the credibility of the experience of past users and buyers.

Therefore, the good experience of past customers and the quality of your service together will create a center of accumulated credit for you.

Having your users authentically express the quality of your service can be a winning card for attracting new customers. That’s why adding a testimonial section to your website is a smart choice.

How to add a testimonial to your WordPress website using the Depicter?

The video below provides two detailed examples of creating and adding testimonials to a website using ready-made templates.

If you would like more step-by-step details, please read the instructions below.

To create and add a WordPress testimonial slider to your website, we will use the Depicter slider plugin.

This is our website before adding a testimonial slider. The section where we want the testimonial is highlighted.

Step 1: Install the Depicter plugin

• Go to the Plugins menu.
• Click Add New Plugin.
• Search for Depicter.
• Click Install and then Activate.

Step 2: Importing a testimonial template

• Go to Templates > Testimonial

Many beautiful and professionally crafted premium and free testimonial slider templates are available to import here.

• Choose a template from the available options.
• Click Import.

• The imported testimonial template will be ready for customization.

Step 3: Customize the content

• Customize the content: For example reposition the elements or change the colors and typography
• Click Publish.

• Now you can add your testimonial to your website.

Step 4: Add the testimonial to your website

• Edit the page where you want to add the testimonial.

We have built our page with the Elementor page builder, and now we’re adding an Elementor testimonial slider to it.

• Select the location where you want to add the testimonial.
• From the list of widgets, select the Depicter widget and drag it into the section.

• From the list of sliders, select your slider. Your testimonial will be displayed.
• Update the changes and you’re done.

The final result will look like this:

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed what testimonials are, how to Create Testimonials, and how they can positively impact your website by increasing social proof for your new customers by adding a carousel testimonial slider via a WordPress testimonial plugin that is the Depicter.

This article explained testimonials and how they can build trust (social proof) for new visitors to your website. We explored using a WordPress testimonial plugin, the Depicter, to create a carousel slider that showcases these testimonials.

We went through the process of creating and customizing testimonials in the Depicter plugin step by step, and finally, we placed the final Elementor testimonial slider on our website.

I hope this article has been useful for you and can be a starting point and a good resource for creating and adding testimonials to your website.

FAQs

How many testimonials should I include? 

Try to maintain a balance in this section. Too many or too few will be damaging to you and will not achieve your main goal. However, a few quality comments from people who can be tracked on social media will have a positive impact.

Where should I place the testimonial section on my website? 

Testimonials are not usually the first section displayed on a website, but they can be placed below the first section on pages such as the homepage, landing page, product page, or even the “About Us” page, which is related to the introduction of your product or service.

What is a content slider?

A content slider is a type of dynamic slider that is placed on your website and displays parts or sections of content on your page. These sections are usually related to a source on your website, such as your blog or a product on your online shop. In this tutorial, we will explore how to add a content slider in WordPress, enabling you to effectively highlight your featured content and capture the attention of your website visitors.

For example, you can use content sliders to display the latest products or news on your website, or to showcase selected pieces of information about them.

An important feature that a WordPress content slider gives you is that it automatically update the latest, newest, or most important content from your chosen source, which can be your blog posts, your products, or even a custom post type, on your slider.

Why should you consider a content slider on your website?

Using a content slider has many benefits, especially if you have a news, magazine, or e-commerce website.

For example, you can always have your discounted products at the top of your website without having to edit the slider yourself. Across the web, it’s also called a featured slider.

Or, you can always have a section of your website updated with the latest breaking news from your blog.

In fact, you configure a content slider once to specify the category of content that will be displayed, and then the slider will automatically update as you add that content to your website.

How to add a content slider on your website with the Depicter?

WordPress content sliders are very popular and for this article, we will use the Depicter plugin to create and add one to our website.

Step 1: Install the Depicter plugin

• Go to the Plugins menu.
• Click Add New Plugin.
• Search for Depicter.
• Click Install and then Activate.

Step 2: Importing a content slider template

• Go to Templates > Post Slider

• There are many free post slider templates to choose from. Select one and click the import button

Notice the “Post Slider” badge which indicates that this is a dynamic slider. 

• We will import the post slider template and it will be ready for customization.

Step 3: Customize the content

In the left-hand panel, you have access to dynamic elements that you can add to your slider. Each element displays information from one of your posts in the slider.

Additionally, in the right-hand panel and under the “Data Source” section, there are options for filtering and displaying your posts.

For example, you can choose which categories of posts to load and display in your slider.

• Customize the content: Such as repositioning the elements or changing the colors and typography

Typically, after importing a template, you may need to make some small adjustments to get the final slider exactly as you want it.

In this case, we will make some minor edits to the imported template, which will involve changing a few words and resizing a few elements.

• Click Publish.
• Now you can add your content slider to your website.

Step 4: Add the content slider to your website

This is our website before adding our content slider and this is where we want to have it:

• Edit the page where you want to add the content slider. Our pages utilize the Elementor page builder, and we’re incorporating an Elementor post slider into our page.

• Select the location where you want to add the content slider.
• From the list of widgets, select the Depicter widget and drag it into the section.
• From the list of sliders, select your slider. Your content slider will appear on the website.

• Update the changes and you’re done.

The final result will look like this:

The slider section on our website, created with Depicter, always displays the latest posts from the “Healthy Food” category. This means that whenever a new post is added to this category, it will automatically appear on our website.

Conclusion

If used correctly, content sliders can add extra dynamism to your website.
In this article, we explored what a content slider is, why you should use it on your website, and how to create and add a WordPress post carousel using the Depicter plugin.

I hope you found this article helpful.

FAQs

Can I use dynamic sliders to display different types of content?

Yes, the Depicter plugin works by identifying all the different post types on your website, and you can create a content slider based on each one.

Can I use dynamic sliders to display content from custom post types?

Yes, the Depicter plugin is fully compatible with the popular ACF plugin.

This means that any custom post types and taxonomies created using ACF will be available for use within Depicter content sliders.

Are all the editor features for regular sliders also available for content sliders?

Yes, all the options, features, and functionalities that you have when working with regular sliders are also available for content sliders.

Enhancing User Experience and Visual Appeal

Looking to make your WordPress website more dynamic and engaging? Adding a slider can be a great way to showcase your content and grab your visitors’ attention. In this tutorial, We’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of adding a slider to your WordPress website in 2024.

Sliders remain powerful tools for space optimization. By consolidating multiple content pieces into a single carousel, they allow you to showcase more information without overwhelming visitors. This is especially valuable on landing pages, where you aim to deliver a strong visual storytelling impact within a limited space. In the competitive landscape of web development, concise and engaging content presentation is crucial, and sliders can help you achieve it.

In addition to functionality, sliders are also great at showcasing your best work. If your website relies heavily on visual content like photography, design, or art, sliders can act as a captivating showcase right from the moment visitors arrive. They can even be themed around specific events or product launches, creating a targeted and impactful presentation. In 2024, with attention spans shrinking, grabbing visitors’ interest quickly is vital, and sliders can be your secret weapon.

Ultimately, WordPress sliders offer a blend of flexibility and interactivity. They can be customized to match your brand aesthetic and accommodate different media types, making them suitable for a wide range of websites and stores. By utilizing their space-saving capabilities, user engagement potential, and visual storytelling power, you can harness sliders to enhance both the functionality and visual appeal of your website. If you are looking to add a slider to your WordPress website, this article is for you.

How can you add a slider to your WordPress website?

Add a custom-coded slider to your website

If you don’t have experience with coding, creating a customized slider means you might have to hire a developer, which can add extra expenses and time to the process. This may not be the most feasible option for everyone, particularly if you have a specific design in mind that can be achieved with existing plugins.

For most scenarios, the convenience and flexibility of plugins make them a smarter choice.

Add a slider to your website using the page builder

Some page builders allow you to create sliders directly within your website’s pages, without installing a separate plugin. However, it’s important to keep a few things in mind when using this approach:

Slider blocks are often only available in the premium versions of page builders. This means you might need to upgrade to a paid plan to access this feature. The Slides widget of the Elementor is an example of this.
You may have limited customization options. Built-in slider blocks may not offer the same level of customization as dedicated slider plugins.
You may miss out on advanced features. Some slider plugins provide advanced features such as animation effects, responsive design, and integration with other plugins.
If you’re looking for a basic slider and don’t want to install an additional plugin, using your page builder’s built-in slider block can be a convenient option. However, if you require more customization options or advanced features, using a dedicated slider plugin may be a better option.

Add a WordPress slider to your Website Using a Plugin (Depicter)

There are many plugins in the WordPress slider category, each with different features and capabilities. Here are 5 of the best sliders in 2024:

• Depicter
• Slider Revolution
• Master Slider
• Soliloquy Slider
• Smart Slider

It’s clear that we could write a detailed review for each of these WordPress slider plugins, as their functionality and features are diverse and extensive. Here, we’ll take a closer look at one of the best, Depicter.

Step 1: Install Depicter

Go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the Plugins menu.

• In the Search Plugins field, enter Depicter.
• Click the Install Now button.
• After the plugin has been installed, click the Activate button.

Step 2: Creating a slider

To create a blank slider:

• Go to the Depicter menu in your WordPress dashboard.
• Click the Create a Blank button.
• Enter a name for your slider and click the Create button.

Step 1: Install Depicter

Go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the Plugins menu.

• In the Search Plugins field, enter Depicter.
• Click the Install Now button.
• After the plugin has been installed, click the Activate button.

Once Depicter is installed, you can start creating sliders.

Step 2: Creating a slider

To create a blank slider:

Go to the Depicter menu in your WordPress dashboard.

• Click the Create a Blank button.
• Enter a name for your slider and click the Create button.

To use a pre-made template:

• Go to the Depicter menu in your WordPress dashboard.
• Click the Templates tab.
• Browse the available templates and select one that you like.
• Click the Import button.

After creating or importing a slider, you can begin customizing it.

Depicter’s interface is entirely drag-and-drop, and by selecting any element, you will have access to all the options related to it.

Depicter’s top features

As you work with Depicter, you will realize that it offers a wide range of professional features. These include:

Drag-and-drop editor:

This makes it easy to create and modify sliders without any coding knowledge. Just drag and drop the elements you want to use onto the canvas, and then adjust their properties as needed.

Asset panel:

This provides access to a variety of pre-made assets, such as images, videos, and icons, which can save you time and effort when creating your sliders.

Image, video, text, shape, button, and navigation control elements:

These allow you to create a wide variety of sliders. You can use images to showcase your products or services, videos to tell a story, text to provide information, shapes to add interest, buttons to call to action, and navigation controls to help users navigate your slider.

Animations:

You can add animations to any element in your slider. This can help you to make your slider more engaging and visually appealing.

Dedicated options:

Each element in Depicter has its own dedicated options. This allows you to fine-tune the appearance and behavior of each element.

Once you’ve finished customizing your slider with images, text, colors, and other changes, you can then add it to your page. The method for doing this will vary depending on the page builder you are using.

There are two common ways to add a slider: using a shortcode or adding a dedicated slider element for your page builder. The latter is the recommended method.

Fortunately, Depicter has elements dedicated to all popular page builders, which makes this process much easier. Here, we’ll go through an example using Elementor.

After opening the page in Elementor for editing, simply search for “Depicter Slider” in the list of widgets. Drag and drop it onto the page, then select your slider from the list of available sliders.

Save the page, and you’re done!

The result will look like this on the front end: