Woo Product Slider and Carousel with Category Pro

A product carousel ages according to what feeds it

You hand-pick eight products for the home page, place them in a carousel and it looks good. Some time later, one has sold out, another belongs to a season that has passed, and what sells best today is not there. Nobody decided that: nobody simply went back to touch the selection.

What matters in a carousel is not how it moves but where its products come from. A manual selection asks for maintenance. A list with a rule, such as best sellers, featured products or the latest ones, changes with the store.

Woo Product Slider and Carousel with Category Pro, by Essential Plugin, works with lists like these. Each shortcode states which list to show and in which format. So your job is deciding which rule fits each spot on the page, not going through products one by one.

Two formats and several product lists

The plugin shows WooCommerce products in a carousel or a grid with these shortcodes:

• Carousel: [wcpscwc_pdt_slider].
• Grid: [wcpscwc_pdt_grid].
• Featured: either of the two with type="featured".
• Best sellers: either of the two with type="bestselling".
• By category: a parameter with the category ID filters the products.

It also offers the latest products, in a carousel or a grid, and two widgets, Product Grid and Product Slider, for widget areas.

Which list goes in each spot

These combinations are ideas to test in your store. They are not presets, you put them together with the shortcodes above:

• Home page: best sellers, to show what already works without choosing it yourself.
• A campaign: featured, because you control the list by marking products in WooCommerce.
• Page for a topic or section: category filter, to show only what is related.
• Content page: grid, if you prefer products visible at once rather than through slides.

Look at each result on a phone, and check the order and number of products before publishing.

Fifteen designs over your theme's look

The plugin comes with 15 designs and uses the original WooCommerce loop, so products inherit your theme's product design. That keeps the carousel from looking like a piece foreign to the store.

• Columns: you choose how many to show.
• Motion: autoplay can be turned on or off.
• Navigation: navigation controls and pagination can be shown or hidden.
• Mobile: responsive on phones and tablets, with touch swipe.
• Base: carousel built on the Slick Slider library.

Placing it with your editor or a shortcode

Besides the shortcode, it works with Gutenberg, Elementor, Beaver Builder, SiteOrigin, Divi and Fusion Builder, and it has a Shortcode Builder page. You need a store running WooCommerce. To start:

1. Upload the plugin folder to /wp-content/plugins/ and activate it in the Plugins menu.
2. Decide which list you want and which area of the page it goes in.
3. Insert the shortcode, or use your editor or one of the widgets.
4. If you filter by category, add its ID.
5. Adjust columns, autoplay and navigation, and check the result on a phone.

When you need something other than a carousel

This plugin presents products: it does not change their prices or stock. Its features do not include filters for visitors to refine the list on the site. It does not fix an unappealing catalog either: if the photos are uneven, the carousel puts them more on view.

If your site is built with Divi and you want one carousel with many controls, Product Carousel for Divi and WooCommerce has over a hundred options and can pull products by sale, rating, price range or availability. The catalog also includes Product Slider Pro for WooCommerce.

Answers before building the first carousel

Can I show just one category?

Yes, by adding the category ID to the shortcode.

Can I switch from carousel to grid without redoing it?

They are two different shortcodes that accept the same featured and best-seller lists. Review the result, because the space it takes up changes.

Does it adapt to my theme's style?

Because it uses the WooCommerce loop, products inherit your theme's product design.

Does it work on phones?

Yes, it is responsive on phones and tablets and supports touch swipe.

Do I need a page builder?

No. A shortcode or a widget is enough, and if you use one of the compatible builders you can also work from there.