Finding a “Post SlideShow” plugin and “Smooth Slider”

I am going nuts here and for the last few days. All I am looking for is a simple Plugin that will perform a simple task. My goal is to have a slide show that will show my most recent posts in a widget. Please don’t get me wrong, they are out there. But where the frustration sets in, is when I test them. They either are not upgraded or have been abandoned, are not working properly or do not offer a widget. I’m really surprised because this is very important tool for enhancing your Blog, especially for readers to read archived articles. I went through so many plugins, including “Sliding Posts”, “Featured Posts Slideshow” and others and nothing worked. It looked rather bleak and I had to look outside the box and to a rather reliable source and that would be Widgetbox. Now as you can see, on the right sidebar, my widget stands. Of course with the use of the “Executable PHP Code” Widget, I neatly placed it there.

As I was writing this post here, I decided to quadruple check, just in case and I ran into a plugin, it was a total surprise to me, I found it. Yes I did and the name of this plugin is “Smooth Slider.” It does the job and if you follow the instructions, it will work. In my case, I just placed it o my left sidebar, in the bottom by placing it on the Executable PHP Code Widget it will show on every page. So upload the “Smooth Slider” and you will be able to show your posts as a slideshow presentation.

Steps to take:

1. Upload the Smooth Slider Plugin.

2. Go to “Settings” and click on “Smooth Slider”

3. Here you can see how your widget will look and will be where you edit it also. But before you do anything you must notice one thing that occurred when you uploaded this plugin every post that you have written has acquired an option that you can click on now. So you can see how it works, just click on it, update the post and go right back to “Smooth Slider” (Step 2) and you will see your post there. You will also see how it will look when you add it to your Blog.

4. So now, add all the posts that you would like everyone to see on your post slideshow. Don’t worry, you can add and delete as many as you like and whenever you add/delete more in the future, it will automatically update!

Note: Before you go on, please adjust the width of the slideshow presentation to the same width of the sidebar where you will be placing it and save it in the bottom, by clicking on “Save Changes.”

5. Now, go to “Appearance” click on “Widgets” and place the “Executable PHP Code” widget wherever you would like everyone to see the Slideshow. Open the widget and copy this code in the box:

<?php if ( function_exists( ‘get_smooth_slider’ ) ) {
get_smooth_slider(); } ?> 

Save it and view your your blog! There it is!!

6. If you follow these steps, it should show up. Afterwords, you can go back and tweak it all you like. every time you click on “Save Changes” it will make the changes on the widget, automatically, nice!

You can always go to the Smooth Slider install Website and watch the video on the bottom. This will show you how to place it on your Index PHP page. I recommend not to play around with the editor too much unless you know what you are doing. Just use the video to learn how to edit the Smooth Slider plugin. To place it on your sidebar, there’s no easier way than using the “Executable PHP Code” Plugin. There you have it, if you have any questions contact me . Enjoy!