With WordPress, you can use video or images in your homepage slides. We’ll focus on images in this tutorial.
When you’re logged in to your site, go to your dashboard…
...then click on Appearance, then Widgets...
….then select the Homepage Slider widget. Selecting this option reveals more options below it.
In the homepage slider we see five CT Slides, each corresponding to a slide displayed on the homepage (on the front end of the website, where site visitors see it.)
Clicking on each of these slides reveals a smaller version of the picture displayed, along with options to edit it. (You can click again to collapse these details.)
To add a new slide, find the widget that says CT Slide in the bank on the left….
...click on the CT slide widget, hold, and drag it to the Homepage Slider.
Next, click Choose Image.
This opens the Media Library, which contains all the pictures currently uploaded to your site.
If you’d rather upload a new file, you can click on the Upload Files tab, and click the button to upload, or drag and drop a new file there…
Today we’re using a file already in the media library. Click on your desired image, then click Use in Widget in the bottom right corner.
There it is in the widget. Click Save. Now you can close the widget (hide all the details again).
You can drag and drop the widgets to rearrange the order of the slides. This affects the order they appear on your site’s homepage.
To view the new slide, go visit your site…
And the new slide is set as the second image in your slideshow!
You can edit your slide, if you desire. Return to the Dashboard, then Appearance, then Widgets, as before.
You can add a title, description, and clickable URL (link to content on your site) here.
For this example, we’ll add a link to the Events page. Return to the front side of your site and navigate to the chosen page.
To copy and paste the link (URL): click once in the browser toolbar to highlight the URL. Right click in the browser toolbar to display a list of options. Click on “copy.”
Return to the Widgets, as before.
Expand the content for your new widget.
Right click in the Click URL box to see the list of options, then click “Paste.”
Then you can add a title….
….and a description…..
...then click Save.
You can see your work by returning to the front of your site. The slide is now a clickable image that will take you to the Events page.
To recap:
To edit the homepage slider: Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets > Homepage Slider. Rearrange order by clicking, dragging, and dropping; click on slide to edit title, description, or link. To add new: click on CT Slide (from bank on left), drag, and drop in appropriate box.
Be aware that the image may be cropped, if its size doesn’t meet the requirements, which may yield unsatisfactory results. The image will be cropped to 960 by 480 pixels.
To help resolve this problem, go to the Media Library.
Click on the image you’ve selected.
It’s too big. (Note the dimensions on the right, given in pixels.)
Click Edit Image.
Then scale it, using the boxes on the right. (You only need enter dimensions on one side; the other will automatically generate.)
Here we’ve entered the width of the slider. Click Scale.
Now you can crop your image to the desired height. Select Crop, and a light gray box will appear over the picture. Click and drag the corner squares to resize the box.
(Alternately, you can simply click, hold, and drag on the image directly to make the box appear.) Type the numbers in the Selection boxes to read 960 x 480.
You can adjust the crop window up or down on the picture. When you’re satisfied, click the Crop icon….
...then click Save.
Using this editing tool built into WordPress, you are able to edit your pictures to the proper dimensions, and see how the images will appear in the homepage slider.
And that’s it! Basically, if you want to edit your homepage slider: log in. Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets, and work with the CT Slides under the Homepage Slider.