Groundworx

Groundworx Carousel is a flexible Gutenberg block that transforms any WordPress content into beautiful, responsive carousels. Built on the lightweight Embla Carousel engine and the WordPress Interactivity API, it offers advanced responsive controls, multiple design templates, and extensive customization options—all within WordPress’s native block editor.
<h4>Perfect For</h4>
<ul>
<li>Image galleries and photo carousels</li>
<li>Testimonial and review sliders</li>
<li>Product showcases and e-commerce displays</li>
<li>Hero sections and featured content</li>
<li>Client logo carousels</li>
<li>Team member presentations</li>
<li>Portfolio galleries</li>
<li>Content marketing sliders</li>
<li>Blog post carousels</li>
<li>Before/after comparisons</li>
</ul>
<h4>Key Features</h4>
🎨 Nine Professional Templates 
Choose from carefully designed templates to match your content style: 
* Default & Default Alt – Classic carousel layouts with external navigation 
* Simple, Simple Left, Simple Right – Clean minimalist designs with flexible content positioning 
* Overlay & Overlay Alt – Modern content overlaid on images with gradient backgrounds 
* Partial Overlay & Partial Overlay Alt – Balanced layouts with partial content overlays
📱 Advanced Responsive Controls 
* Configure carousel behavior per breakpoint (mobile, large-phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, large-desktop) 
* Responsive grid fallback – destroy carousel at specific breakpoints to display slides as a grid 
* Mobile-first breakpoint system with inheritance 
* Full touch and swipe gesture support for mobile devices 
* 6 total breakpoint levels for precise responsive control
🎯 Carousel Types & Transitions 
* Slide mode – Classic horizontal sliding carousel 
* Loop mode – Infinite continuous scrolling with clones 
* Drag and swipe gesture support with momentum
⚙️ Flexible Display Options 
* Multiple slides per page with responsive settings 
* Variable slide width (auto) or fixed width options 
* Start, center, or end alignment 
* Customizable gap spacing between slides 
* Autoplay
🎚️ Navigation & UI Controls 
* 11 Arrow Styles: arrow, chevron, chevronRounded, halfArrow, play, playRounded, sharpChevron, thinChevron, thinChevronRounded, triangle, triangleRounded 
* 9 Pagination Styles: circle, circleOutline, square, squareOutline, diamond, diamondOutline, rectangle, rectangleOutline, number 
* Progress bar indicator 
* Slide counter display (e.g., “3 / 10”) 
* Hide/show controls per breakpoint 
* Color customization for all UI elements
🎨 Advanced Color Controls 
Customize every UI element with full WordPress color palette support: 
* Arrows: text, background, border colors 
* Active Pagination: text, background, border colors 
* Inactive Pagination: text, background, border colors 
* Progress Bar: foreground and background colors 
* Counter: text color 
* Uses WordPress preset color classes and custom inline styles (no CSS custom properties)
♿ Accessibility First 
* ARIA labels and semantic HTML structure 
* Keyboard navigation support (arrow keys, Enter, Space) 
* Screen reader friendly with live regions 
* WCAG compliant markup 
* Focus management and visible focus states
🔧 Developer Features 
* WordPress Interactivity API for reactive frontend behavior 
* Block variations support via <code>wp.blocks.registerBlockVariation()</code> 
* Carousel options via <code>carouselOptions</code> attribute (legacy <code>splideOptions</code> auto-migrated) 
* Extensible template system with WordPress hooks 
* Breakpoint configuration via JSON file 
* React hooks for responsive state management 
* Standard WordPress color classes for theme integration 
* Well-documented, modular code structure
<h4>Works With Any Block</h4>
The Carousel block is a container that accepts any WordPress block as slides: 
* Core Image block 
* Core Paragraph block 
* Core Heading block 
* Core Group block 
* Core Cover block 
* Core Buttons block 
* Custom blocks from other plugins 
* Your own custom blocks
Each slide is fully customizable using WordPress’s native block editing tools.
<h4>Built on Embla Carousel</h4>
Powered by Embla Carousel 8.x – a lightweight, extensible, and performant carousel library. No jQuery required. Optimized for modern browsers with the WordPress Interactivity API for reactive state management.
<h4>Part of Groundworx Core</h4>
This carousel block is part of the Groundworx Block Suite—a modular collection of high-performance, design-focused blocks built for modern WordPress development. Uses Groundworx Foundation components for consistent, professional UI controls.
<h4>Need More? Check Out Groundworx Showcase</h4>
Groundworx Carousel is a self-contained carousel block — you add slides manually, and navigation (arrows, pagination, etc.) is built into the block itself. It’s a great fit for static content like testimonials, feature highlights, or image galleries where you control every slide.
<a href="https://groundworx.dev/products/groundworx-showcase/" rel="nofollow ugc">Groundworx Showcase</a> takes a fundamentally different approach: a modular block system where every piece — the carousel, the slides, and each navigation control — is its own independent block. 12 blocks, 4 flow types, and full query support.
Query & Content:
<ul>
<li>Query-driven carousels — Pull slides automatically from posts, pages, custom post types, or WooCommerce products. Filter by taxonomies, date, authors, keyword, and post formats. Set max items and sort order. Or switch to Curated mode to hand-pick specific posts.</li>
<li>Block pattern support — Design your slide layout with blocks (title, excerpt, image, buttons — whatever you want), and every queried post fills that pattern. Works just like WordPress’s Query Loop block — pick a pattern, change it later, every slide updates.</li>
<li>4 Flow types — Dynamic Flow (query carousel), Static Flow (manual carousel), Dynamic Content (query grid/flex), and Flow Template (reusable slide pattern). Dynamic Content outputs the same query to grid or flex layouts instead of a carousel.</li>
</ul>
Modular Controls:
<ul>
<li>Independent navigation blocks — Arrows, pagination, progress bar, and counter are separate blocks inside the carousel. Wrap them in groups, columns, or any container block to build your own layout — they’re not locked to fixed positions.</li>
<li>More control over every component — Each piece is its own block with its own settings, spacing, and layout options.</li>
</ul>
Carousel Options:
<ul>
<li>More modes — Fade transitions, vertical slides, auto-scroll (continuous scrolling), and RTL text direction — in addition to slide and loop.</li>
<li>Fine-grained timing — Customizable slide animation duration, autoplay with configurable interval, auto-scroll with configurable speed, and pause-on-hover for both autoplay and auto-scroll.</li>
<li>Video support — Videos automatically pause when their slide is not active.</li>
<li>Per-breakpoint layout switching — Switch between carousel, grid, and flex at every breakpoint independently. For example: carousel on mobile, grid on tablet, carousel again on desktop. Carousel only supports a one-way break to grid — once destroyed, it stays grid at all larger breakpoints.</li>
</ul>
Carousel vs. Showcase at a glance:
<ul>
<li>Carousel: One block, manual slides, built-in navigation, slide/loop modes, one-way grid fallback — simple and self-contained</li>
<li>Showcase: 12 modular blocks, query-driven or curated, slide/loop/fade/auto-scroll modes, vertical slides, RTL, per-breakpoint carousel/grid/flex switching — flexible and composable</li>
</ul>
Showcase is ideal when you need:
<ul>
<li>Carousels that populate automatically from your content</li>
<li>Block patterns applied to query-driven slides — like the Query Loop block, but for carousels</li>
<li>Full control over navigation layout — wrap controls in any block container</li>
<li>The same query powering both carousel and grid views</li>
</ul>
<a href="https://groundworx.dev/products/groundworx-showcase/" rel="nofollow ugc">Learn more about Groundworx Showcase →</a>
<h3>Developer Notes</h3>
<h4>Registering Custom Block Variations</h4>
You can register custom carousel variations using <code>wp.blocks.registerBlockVariation()</code> and pass carousel configuration options via the <code>carouselOptions</code> attribute.
Example: Carousel with Grid Fallback at Tablet
<pre><code>wp.blocks.registerBlockVariation('groundworx/carousel', {
 name: 'carousel-to-tablet',
 title: 'Carousel / Grid Tablet',
 attributes: {
 template: 'default',
 carouselOptions: {
 type: 'loop',
 perPage: 1,
 arrows: true,
 pagination: true,
 containScroll: 'trimSnaps',
 breakpoints: {
 tablet: {
 destroy: true
 }
 }
 },
 breakpoints: {
 tablet: {
 layout: {
 type: 'grid',
 columnCount: 3
 }
 }
 }
 },
 scope: ['block', 'inserter', 'transform']
});
</code></pre>
Example: Auto-Width Carousel
<pre><code>wp.blocks.registerBlockVariation('groundworx/carousel', {
 name: 'auto-width-carousel',
 title: 'Auto Width Carousel',
 attributes: {
 carouselOptions: {
 type: 'loop',
 fixedWidth: '300px',
 align: 'center',
 gap: '1rem'
 }
 }
});
</code></pre>
<h4>Adding Custom Templates</h4>
Use the <code>groundworx.carousel.templates</code> filter to add custom templates:
<pre><code>wp.hooks.addFilter(
 'groundworx.carousel.templates',
 'my-theme/add-custom-template',
 (templates) => [
 ...templates,
 {
 label: 'My Custom Template',
 value: 'my-custom'
 }
 ]
);
</code></pre>
Then add your template styles in your theme:
<pre><code>.wp-block-groundworx-carousel.template-my-custom .gwx-carousel__slide {
 /* Your custom styles */
}
</code></pre>
<h4>Supported Breakpoints</h4>
The carousel supports 5 configurable responsive breakpoints plus a mobile/default base, following a mobile-first approach:
<ul>
<li>Mobile/Default: 0-479px (base configuration)</li>
<li>large-phone: 480px and up</li>
<li>tablet: 680px and up</li>
<li>laptop: 1080px and up</li>
<li>desktop: 1280px and up</li>
<li>large-desktop: 1440px and up</li>
</ul>
Settings cascade from mobile to larger screens. Override at any breakpoint to change behavior.
Grid Fallback Breakpoints: 
For grid fallback functionality, you can use any of the 5 breakpoints: <code>large-phone</code>, <code>tablet</code>, <code>laptop</code>, <code>desktop</code>, or <code>large-desktop</code>.
<h4>Carousel Options</h4>
Carousel options are configured via the <code>carouselOptions</code> attribute. Common options:
<ul>
<li><code>type</code>: ‘slide’ or ‘loop’</li>
<li><code>perPage</code>: Number of slides per page</li>
<li><code>slidesToScroll</code>: Number of slides to scroll per action (default: 1)</li>
<li><code>fixedWidth</code>: Fixed width for each slide (e.g., ‘300px’)</li>
<li><code>gap</code>: Space between slides</li>
<li><code>align</code>: Slide alignment — ‘start’, ‘center’, or ‘end’</li>
<li><code>containScroll</code>: Trim empty scroll snaps — ‘trimSnaps’ or false</li>
<li><code>autoplay</code>: Enable/disable autoplay</li>
<li><code>arrows</code>: Show/hide arrows</li>
<li><code>pagination</code>: Show/hide pagination</li>
<li><code>progressBar</code>: Show/hide progress bar</li>
<li><code>counter</code>: Show/hide slide counter</li>
<li><code>destroy</code>: Disable carousel and display as grid</li>
</ul>
Breakpoint-specific overrides are supported via the <code>breakpoints</code> attribute. Legacy <code>splideOptions</code> are automatically converted on render.
<h4>Color System</h4>
All UI element colors use the standard WordPress color pattern:
<ul>
<li>Preset colors apply WordPress utility classes (<code>has-text-color</code>, <code>has-{slug}-color</code>, <code>has-background</code>, <code>has-border-color</code>)</li>
<li>Custom colors apply inline styles</li>
</ul>
Pagination dot colors toggle dynamically between active and inactive states using the WordPress Interactivity API (<code>data-wp-class</code> for presets, <code>data-wp-style</code> for custom colors).
Elements with color support:
<ul>
<li>Arrows: text, background, border</li>
<li>Pagination (active): text, background (number style), border (number style)</li>
<li>Pagination (inactive): text, background (number style), border (number style)</li>
<li>Progress bar: track background, bar foreground</li>
<li>Counter: text</li>
</ul>
<h4>Template Classes</h4>
Each template adds a class to the carousel wrapper:
<ul>
<li><code>.template-default</code></li>
<li><code>.template-default-alt</code></li>
<li><code>.template-simple</code></li>
<li><code>.template-simple-left</code></li>
<li><code>.template-simple-right</code></li>
<li><code>.template-overlay</code></li>
<li><code>.template-overlay-alt</code></li>
<li><code>.template-partial-overlay</code></li>
<li><code>.template-partial-overlay-alt</code></li>
</ul>
Use these for template-specific styling.
<h3>Privacy</h3>
This plugin does not collect, store, or transmit any user data. It operates entirely within your WordPress installation and does not make external API calls except for loading assets from your own server.
<h3>Credits</h3>
<ul>
<li>Built with <a href="https://www.embla-carousel.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Embla Carousel</a> by David Jerleke – A lightweight, extensible carousel library</li>
<li>Developed by Groundworx Agency LLC</li>
<li>Created and maintained by Johanne Courtright</li>
<li>Part of the Groundworx Core framework</li>
<li>Website: https://groundworx.dev</li>
<li>Support: https://ko-fi.com/groundworx</li>
</ul>
<h3>Additional Resources</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/groundworx-dev/groundworx-carousel#readme" rel="nofollow ugc">Full Documentation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/groundworx-dev/groundworx-carousel#developer-notes" rel="nofollow ugc">Developer Guide</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/groundworx-dev/groundworx-carousel#block-variations" rel="nofollow ugc">Block Variations Examples</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.embla-carousel.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Embla Carousel Documentation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://groundworx.dev" rel="nofollow ugc">Groundworx Core Framework</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/groundworx-dev/groundworx-carousel" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub Repository</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/groundworx-dev/groundworx-carousel/issues" rel="nofollow ugc">Report Issues</a></li>
</ul>

Groundworx Carousel

A responsive carousel block built with Embla Carousel and the WordPress Interactivity API. Works with any block in the editor.

Stefan Boonstra

John West

Slideshow SE provides an easy way to add a slideshow to any WordPress installation.
Any image can be loaded into the slideshow by picking it from the WordPress media page, even images you’ve already uploaded can be inserted into your slideshow right away!
Fancy doing something crazy? You can create and use as many slideshows as you’d like, with different images, settings, and styles for each one of them.
<h4>Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Gutenberg block</li>
<li>Create as many slideshows with as many slides as you like</li>
<li>Image slides</li>
<li>Text slides</li>
<li>YouTube Video slides</li>
<li>Responsive</li>
<li>Place it anywhere on your website</li>
<li>Run multiple slideshows on the same page</li>
<li>Change animations and handling</li>
<li>Customizable stylesheets</li>
<li>COMPLETELY FREE AND OPEN SOURCE</li>
</ul>
<h4>Need the (uncompressed) source code?</h4>
The forked code is available on <a href="https://github.com/f1rehead/Slideshow" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub</a>. 
The original project’s source code is also in a <a href="https://github.com/Boonstra/Slideshow" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub</a> repository.
<h3>Links</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/Boonstra/Slideshow" rel="nofollow ugc">Original Project GitHub</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/f1rehead/SlideshowSE" rel="nofollow ugc">Forked Project GitHub</a></li>
</ul>

Slideshow SE

Thank you John West for bringing this fantastic plugin back to life :) I published many tutorials years ago and thought they would go to waste. But now I can keep them running and of course I have to also update some of them. 

When I have the time, I will help with the Spanish translation :)

Well done. 

Thank you

Completely free, open source plugin to easily add slideshows to your WordPress site.

Groundworx Carousel vs Slideshow SE