Groundworx

Groundworx Carousel is a flexible Gutenberg block that transforms any WordPress content into beautiful, responsive carousels. Built on the lightweight Splide.js library, 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, phone, large-phone, tablet, large-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 
* 8 total breakpoint levels for precise responsive control
🎯 Carousel Types & Transitions 
* Slide mode – Classic horizontal sliding carousel 
* Loop mode – Infinite continuous scrolling with clones 
* Fade transitions – Smooth crossfade effects between slides 
* Customizable animation speed and easing 
* Rewind option for non-loop carousels
⚙️ Flexible Display Options 
* Multiple slides per page with responsive settings 
* Variable slide width (auto) or fixed width options 
* Center mode with focus control 
* Customizable gap spacing between slides 
* Autoplay with interval and pause-on-hover 
* Auto-height adjustment option
🎚️ 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 independent color pickers: 
* 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
♿ 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 
* Block variations support via <code>wp.blocks.registerBlockVariation()</code> 
* Custom Splide.js options via attributes 
* Extensible template system with WordPress hooks 
* Breakpoint configuration via JSON file 
* React hooks for responsive state management 
* CSS custom properties for styling 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 Splide.js</h4>
Powered by Splide.js 4.x – a lightweight (28KB gzipped), accessible, and performant carousel library. No jQuery required. Optimized for modern browsers with progressive enhancement.
<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.
<h3>Developer Notes</h3>
<h4>Registering Custom Block Variations</h4>
You can register custom carousel variations using <code>wp.blocks.registerBlockVariation()</code> and pass Splide configuration options via the <code>splideOptions</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',
 splideOptions: {
 type: 'loop',
 perPage: 1,
 arrows: true,
 pagination: 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: {
 splideOptions: {
 type: 'loop',
 fixedWidth: '300px',
 focus: '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>.template-my-custom .splide__slide {
 /* Your custom styles */
}
</code></pre>
<h4>Supported Breakpoints</h4>
The carousel supports 7 configurable responsive breakpoints plus a mobile/default base, following a mobile-first approach:
<ul>
<li>Mobile/Default: 0-374px (base configuration)</li>
<li>phone: 375px and up</li>
<li>large-phone: 480px and up</li>
<li>tablet: 680px and up</li>
<li>large-tablet: 960px 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 7 breakpoints: <code>phone</code>, <code>large-phone</code>, <code>tablet</code>, <code>large-tablet</code>, <code>laptop</code>, <code>desktop</code>, or <code>large-desktop</code>.
<h4>Splide.js Options</h4>
All Splide.js options are supported via the <code>splideOptions</code> attribute. Common options:
<ul>
<li><code>type</code>: ‘slide’, ‘loop’, or ‘fade’</li>
<li><code>perPage</code>: Number of slides per page</li>
<li><code>fixedWidth</code>: Fixed width for each slide (e.g., ‘300px’)</li>
<li><code>gap</code>: Space between slides</li>
<li><code>autoplay</code>: Enable/disable autoplay</li>
<li><code>interval</code>: Autoplay interval in milliseconds</li>
<li><code>speed</code>: Transition speed in milliseconds</li>
<li><code>rewind</code>: Enable rewind for non-loop carousels</li>
<li><code>arrows</code>: Show/hide arrows</li>
<li><code>pagination</code>: Show/hide pagination</li>
<li><code>focus</code>: ‘center’ for center mode</li>
<li><code>autoHeight</code>: Adjust height to current slide</li>
</ul>
Full documentation: https://splidejs.com/guides/options/
<h4>CSS Custom Properties</h4>
<pre><code>/* Arrow Colors */
--gwx--color--arrows
--gwx--background-color--arrows
--gwx--border-color--arrows

/* Active Pagination Colors */
--gwx--color--pagination
--gwx--background-color--pagination
--gwx--border-color--pagination

/* Inactive Pagination Colors */
--gwx--color--inactive-pagination
--gwx--background-color--inactive-pagination
--gwx--border-color--inactive-pagination

/* Progress Bar Colors */
--gwx--color--progress
--gwx--background-color--progress

/* Counter Color */
--gwx--color--counter
</code></pre>
<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://splidejs.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Splide.js</a> by Naotoshi Fujita – A lightweight, accessible slider 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://splidejs.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Splide.js 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 powerful and responsive carousel block built with Splide.js and fully integrated into the WordPress block editor. Create stunning carousels with any …

J. Isaac Friend

WP Dream Carousel creates a custom post type in which any number of images can be uploaded via the WordPress media uploader and then arranged into a carousel slider. Once the images are uploaded, slides can be defined and arranged bt drag-and-drop to set their order. The carousel can be implemented through the page/post content using the provided shortcode or can be placed directly into a template using the provided php function.
Th plugin uses the Elastislide.js library to create a fully responsive carousel slider that uses CSS3 animations. All of the necessary javascript libraries are included in the plugin and registered when/where they are needed. The plugin does not universally register the script libraries on all front- and back-end pages. Instead it only loads the libraries when/where they are needed in order to minimize impact on site performance.
Slides can be set to have a link and that link can be set to open in the same window or a new window. There is also a setting that allows the link to open a modal window that can include a YouTube video.
This plugin includes and requires the Piklist WordPress plugin. It will automatically install Piklist if it is not present on your site. Disabling the Piklist plugin will cause many features on the back end of WP Dream Carousel to stop functioning – including the ability to create or modify slideshows.

WP Dream Carousel

WP Dream Carousel creates a custom post type in which any number of images can be uploaded via the WordPress media uploader and then arranged into a c …

Groundworx Carousel vs WP Dream Carousel