How to Create a Slideshow on the Homepage of Your Website

Overview

Header slides create a self-running slideshow on the homepage, and the top of the page, but below the menu.

Slides can contain a variety of content, including:

  • Images
  • Video
  • Recent blog posts
  • Specific pages or posts
  • A site search
  • Content from another WordPress website

You can also mix and match slide types in the same slideshow.

The slideshow only appears on the homepage.

Step-by-Step

  1. Login to your website.
  2. On the WordPress Admin Dashboard (the black vertical menu at the left), locate and click Appearance..Customize.  A new screen appears with settings at the left, and the homepage at the right.
  3. In the left settings column, click Hero Image Options. The settings column changes to display Hero Image Options.
  4. In Hero Image on the Homepage, set the radio button to Shown.
  5. On the WordPress Admin Dashboard (the black vertical menu at the left), located and click Header Slides. The Header Slides page appears:

Header Slides Page

  1. Click Add New.  The Add New Post screen appears:

Add New Posts Screen

  1. Click the slide type below to view instructions on how to create specific slide types (each page will open in a new tab):
Slide Type Displays
Static Image or video you specify in the Hero Image field.
Latest Posts Specified number of recent posts.
Specific Posts Specific post or page.
Site Search Large site search box.
Remote WP Content Content from another WordPress website, e.g. news.cals.wisc.edu
This option shows a single post, from a single category.

How to Change the Order of the Slide in the Slideshow

The slides display in reverse chronological order (newest displays first), based on the publish date.

To reset the slide order, edit the slide’s Publish date and click Update.