Sliders: The Good, the Bad and the Technical

This is my presentation given at WordCamps Buffalo, Raleigh and Orlando during 2013. This presentation was created using the WooSlider plugin and is based on my experiences while working on WooSlider v2.0. I’m happy to answer any questions regarding sliders in general in the comments.

Actual presentation slides are on the left side, with my notes and links added to the right. Slides can be navigated via the previous/next button on the top right of the slider, or by using the left and right arrows on your keyboard. Special thanks to Brian Krogsgard and Chris Lema for the great articles they’ve written on sliders and to all of the authors of plugins mentioned in this slide deck.

 

  • Sliders: The Good, The Bad and The Technical

    Tom Harrigan

    Twitter: @TomHarrigan

    This presentation is built completely in a slider (using the WooSlider plugin).

    Sliders are one of the most popular functional elements included with themes, or added via plugin. Despite their widespread use, the value added to a site by having a slider has been increasingly questioned, with some results showing that sliders hurts a site in terms of click-through rate, page-load time, and accessibility.

    As the lead developer on WooSlider version 2.0, I’ve been head deep in sliders for the past 6 months. I’ll be using this experience in combination with research, articles and posts from others in the industry to look at what we’ve been doing wrong, and right, in implementing sliders. We’ll see where sliders can be most effective, how they can be effective and what makes (or doesn’t make) a slider a valuable addition to a site.

  • WooThemes: Ninja

    04-Ninja-Vector-i3-31

    I work for WooThemes, we build awesome themes and plugins (WooCommerce, Sensei, WooSlider, etc.). At Woo, I primarily work on tech support and WooSlider.