The Versatile jQuery Slider is a WordPress plugin that helps you set up an easy, versatile, responsive slider with images or any HTML content.  It’s powered by jQuery Cycle2.

I’ve often looked for a good plugin that would allow me to quickly and easily add the jQuery Cycle2 plugin to a site, but I couldn’t find any good ones… so I built this.  Basically, the Versatile jQuery Slider (VJS Slider) is a wrapper that pulls in most of the available options into a shortcode for easy use. So you’ll want to check out the jQuery Cycle2 options to know what is available.

The nice part is, the jQuery Cycle2 scripts are only loaded on the pages that they are used on, and only the necessary scripts are loaded.  So if you need the carousel plugin, it will automatically be added in if the fx attribute is set carousel.  You need to center vertically?  Set the center-vert attribute to true.

It’s that easy!

Usage

To use the VJS Slider, you’ll use the shortcode [vjs_slider] your slide code here [/vjs_slider], then you’re all set for the basic, default usage.

If you want to get fancy, follow along with the jQuery Cycle2 demos, and wherever data-cycle-attribute is used, drop data-cycle- and all the rest is the same (in most cases).

I’m not going to list out all the options here because they are all very well documented on the jQuery Cycle2 site.  Check it all out over there, then make some cool stuff with the VJS Slider!

Important Differences

There are a couple important changes that had to be made because they wouldn’t work with the shortcode. The following attributes are affected:

• slides
  If you use the slide attribute, don’t add >, it will automatically be assumed. If you use ‘ If you use > like the demos on the jQuery Cycle2 site show, then it will mess up the shortcode and your slider won’t work.
• next and prev
  If you want to set your own selectors for next and prev, you’ll need to add your own CSS.

  Note: if the navigation elements are inside the slider container they will be hidden by default. (see navs attribute below)

• slide-css
  This attribute is not used because it doesn’t work reliably inside the shortcode. If you want slide specific CSS, just add your own class to your slide and add your own CSS.
• swipe
  Swipe is turned on and the necessary js added automatically because let’s face it, who doesn’t want that?

VJS Slider Specific Attributes

VJS Slider has a few attribute unique to the plugin that are designed to help you out.

• id
  By default, the VJS Slider will have id="vjs-slider". If you want to change it, use the id attribute.

  Note: if you have more than one slider on the same page, make sure they all have a different id.

• class
  Give your slider a class and style to your heart’s content.  By default all sliders will have the class vjs-slider. If you set one here, it will be in addition to that class.
• css
  VJS Slider comes with some very basic CSS. If you don’t want to use it, set the css attribute to false. Then you can use your own without having to override anything.
• ie-fade
  Set to true to include the fade/fadeout plugin for old versions of IE. This plugin corrects issues that arise when cleartype is used with opacity. See the jQuery Cycle2 docs.
• navs
  This will enable next and prev navigation links. Set to inside for the links to live inside the slider container. Set to outside for the links to live outside the slider container.

  Note: If set to outside, you’ll need to add your own CSS to make things look right.

• nav-next
  When navs are enabled, the default will create a right arrow link. Use this attribute to change it to something else. It will accept plain text, img tag, or any html. If you don’t want an element inside (like you want to control it all with CSS), then just add nav-next="".
• nav-prev
  When navs are enabled, the default will create a left arrow link. Use this attribute to change it to something else. It will accept plain text, img tag, or any html. If you don’t want an element inside (like you want to control it all with CSS), then just add nav-prev="".
• nav-selector
  Give the navigation wrapper a class or id so that you can style as you wish.
• theme-fix
  Sometimes a theme includes a version of jQuery Cycle (usually it’s an older version). When this happens, it will create a conflict with VJS Slider. Set this attribute to true to fix the conflict.
• width
  By default, the slider container will expand the full width of it’s parent container. You can set your own width with this attribute .