Add featured content slider to WordPress and thesis theme-Smooth slider plugin review

Smooth  slider Plugin for wordpress is used to add a featured content slider to homepage or to all the posts based upon the setting.This slider will be very useful in reducing site bounce rate at the homepage.

Here is a short tutorial for adding a featured post slider to WordPress blog

1.Download the latest version of the smooth-slider plugin here<link>

2.Go to WordPress dashboard and install the Smooth  slider plugin by Plugins>>Add new

3.Activate the plugin after uploading it.

For Thesis Theme 2.0 :

Note:Back up the files before add the code
4.Now open your custom_functions.php file in the custom folder of the thesis theme using an FTP client.

5.Add the below php code to your  custom_functions.php file and save it.This code will add the slider to the homepage of your wordpress blog

/*Featured Content Slider Thesis theme 2.0 Tutorial by MyTechShout.com*/
function thesis_content_slider() { ?>
<?php if (is_home()){ ?>
<?php if ( function_exists( ‘get_smooth_slider’ ) ) { get_smooth_slider(); } ?>
<?php }
}
add_action(‘thesis_hook_before_content’, ‘thesis_content_slider’);

This code will add the featured content slider to homepage of the thesis theme above the list of recent posts.

For adding featured slider to WordPress  theme homepage

4.After installing the plugin,open the index.php file using the dashboard editor  by clicking on the tab Appearance>>Editor

5.Add the below php code to the index file at the right place and save it

if ( function_exists( ‘get_smooth_slider’ ) ) { get_smooth_slider(); }

For add the slider to before the list of the posts in your homepage add the below code also before the wordpress loop and save it

if(have_posts()) : while(have_posts()) : the_post();

6.Its all done,now the featured content slider will be added to your blog homepage.

Hope you have successfully installed the plugin in your blog.If you have any problems do contact us via comments.

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