3 Ways To Display WP Cycle Slide Shows In Your Theme

The WP Cycle plugin is a very basic slider plugin for WordPress. It only contains one page of settings which makes it easier then any other plugin to setup.

It also works in any theme, not just Genesis.

Simply add your slider images and insert a link to any url you want the images to link to and that’s it for configuration.

Settings

Very self explanatory and easy to follow. Please click the image to enlarge.

Lets now take a look at different ways you can display your slider images in different themes.

Depending on which theme you’re using, you can:

Paste the shortcode for [wp_cycle] anywhere in your theme
Use the shortcode in a custom function in your child themes functions.php file
Use the PHP tag for WP Cycle in any template file your theme offers
Add the PHP tag for wp cycle to a custom function in your child themes functions.php file
Add either the shortcode or PHP tag to a custom function with theme specific hook and conditional tag

These options are pretty much the same as what you can do with Easing Slider and the Soliloquy slider plugins.

[wp_cycle] Shortcode In Custom Function

This method works for themes which include hooks. Here’s an example using genesis_hooks which will display the slider in the header on your home page only.

Paste the code at the end of your child themes functions.php file using a text editor.

Change the hook to change the position the slider displays in your theme.

Change the conditional tag to change which page(s) or posts the slider displays on.

wp_cycle PHP tag In Custom Function

This pretty much does the same thing as using the shortcode in a function. Recommended method for theme which use hooks.

Same deal with the conditional tag and hook.

wp_cycle PHP Tag in Template File

Use this method if your theme doesn’t include action hooks. Users of the Default themes like Twenty Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen should use this method.

This code works in any themes header template file and should be used if your theme doesn’t include hooks.

Paste the line of code in the position you want to display your slider using the template file for the header or any other template file.

You can see the position the slider outputs is between the site title and navigation menu which is exactly where i pasted the code in the header.php file.

Add [wp_cycle] Short Code To Widget

You can also add the short code for WP Cycle to any existing widget or create a new widget and paste it into a text widget.

You may need to add support for short codes in widgets if your theme doesn’t already include it. Simply paste this code in your child themes functions file.

Plugin Details

The plugin has been developed by the lead developer of the Genesis theme framework, Nathan Rice.

Limitations – Can only create one slide show.

This plugin is included in my list of the 4 best slider plugins for WordPress and highly recommended.