How to Create a Joomla Slider?

A slider is an essential part of most websites. People love them, because sliders are attractive and grab the visitor’s attention. On the one hand, sliders help the website save some real estate. On the other hand, there are many Joomla slider extensions around, and not all worth your time. In this article, I would like to introduce you to Smart Slider 3, the best slider extension for Joomla. It lets you create gorgeous, responsive and mobile ready sliders.

How to create a Joomla slider for your website?

Creating a slider for your Joomla website is easy if you choose the right extension. Smart Slider 3, for instance, is an excellent content and image slider solution for Joomla. In addition, you can download it for free.

Download Smart Slider 3 and install it on your website.
Go to Components → Smart Slider 3 and visit the extension’s dashboard.
Click on New slider and create a new slider or import one from the library.
Create a new slide and add some layers.
When you are done with your slider, go to Extensions → Modules and create a new Smart Slider 3 module.
At the slider module you can pick the slider you created and publish it to a module position of your choice.

Why should you choose Smart Slider 3 as your Joomla slider extension?

Smart Slider 3 is a next generation visual slider creation tool for Joomla. It’s easy to use and fully customizable. The sliders you create with Smart Slider 3 are responsive. In other words, they adapt to any screen size, so your visitors can enjoy the slider on every device.

Smart Slider 3: more than just a simple image slideshow

Smart Slider 3 is great to create simple image sliders, but you’re not limited to use images. As a matter of fact, Smart Slider 3 makes it easy to put responsive text to your slider. You can edit your slides on a drag’n’drop interface. You don’t need any coding skills to work with Smart Slider 3 which makes the extension perfect for every user.

Texts aren’t the only tools Smart Slider 3 has to help you tell your story. As a matter of fact, you can add texts, images or videos to each slide. Videos have huge visual impact, and they’re great story-tellers. This extension lets you add videos from YouTube and Vimeo to your slider.

Gorgeous slider templates to get you started

Not everyone is a designer or has the time to plan a gorgeous slideshow. Luckily, Smart Slider 3 comes with a bunch of marvellous template sliders you can start with. At the moment, there are 11 templates, but there are more to come. Installing a template is easy, it only takes a couple of clicks. Once you’ve download a template to your site, you can edit anything on it. This includes replacing the texts or images and changing colors.

Create dynamic content from your Joomla articles the easy way

Do you often publish articles on your Joomla site? Have you ever thought about displaying these posts in a slider to draw more attention to them? I have good news for you! Smart Slider 3 is the only tool you’ll ever need to create a responsive Joomla slider. Besides, you can also use the extension to create a slider from your articles. The generator creates slides from the articles of the category you pick.

What’s even more, you can customize the end result to your liking. For instance, you can decide what content you want to display from the original article. In other words, you can create an article slider which shows the title and a short excerpt with a “read more” button. You can also display the intro image of the article.

Spectacular Joomla slider effects with Smart Slider 3 Pro

The free version of Smart Slider 3 has all the tools you need to create magnificent slideshows. Although, you might find yourself in need of more features to add to your Joomla slider. Smart Slider 3 has and amazing Pro version, which has all the features you’d ever need from a slider.

Here’s a list of the best features you can take advantage of if you decide to go pro:

More slider types. The Pro version of Smart Slider 3 has a total of 5 slider types, while the Free version has only one. You can display more slides next to each other using the Carousel or Showcase type. If you don’t feel like creating a slider, you can create Block instead.
More templates. Although the free version has 11 beautiful templates, the Pro can top that. If you decide to go Pro, you’ll be able to choose from more than 100 gorgeous slider templates.
Slide background video. One of the best features of Smart Slider 3 Pro is the slide background video. You can select any MP4 video of your choice and the slider will play it.
More layers. The Free version has the 5 essential layers which are enough to create the majority of sliders. Of course, that’s great, but you might find yourself wanting to add an audio layer or a counter. The Pro version has got you covered! As a matter of fact, it comes with 17 extra layers.
Layer animations. Have you ever thought of introducing your layers with cool effects? The Pro version has an extensive layer animation manager. What’s even more, you can launch the animations on different events, like a click of a button.
Spectacular effects. The Pro version has a long list of awesome effects you’ll love. Ken Burns, Parallax, Particle, Background animations, Reveal animation, Shape Dividers and more.

Conclusion

There are many Joomla slider extensions out there, but none of them is as good as Smart Slider 3. If you need to add a simple image slider or a complex content slideshow to your site, this extension is the one you need.

Are you ready to create gorgeous sliders with a next generation slider software?

Tags: Feature Joomla Tips

About Author

Hi, I’m Ramona and I’m a member of Nextend‘s awesome support team. You’ve probably chat with me if you’ve submit a support ticket. When I’m not answering support emails I read a book or go cycling. I enjoy writing as well, both for our blog and for my private projects.