How to use Javascript’s Slick.js to create a Carousel

Javascript is not only a popular programming language to create interactive webpages, but also a foundation for third party libraries that you can use to spruce up your projects!

JQuery is a popular JavaScript library that simplifies the process of writing JavaScript code for websites. It allows developers to perform common tasks, such as event handling, animation, and handling asynchronous user requests, with less code and in a more efficient manner. A jQuery plugin is an additional piece of code that extends the functionality of jQuery, allowing developers to add new features or effects to their websites without having to write the code from scratch.

One such jQuery plugin is Slick.js which is specifically designed for creating carousels and sliders on web pages. It provides an easy way to display content in a slideshow format, with options for customization and control over the appearance and behavior of the carousel. Slick.js is commonly used to create visually appealing and interactive carousels for websites, making it a valuable tool for web developers looking to enhance the user experience.

If you don’t know what a carousel is, you would have definitely seen them in many sites but you probably did not know that they are called a carousel. For instance, Amazon.com uses carousels to showcase multiple products, making it easier for customers to compare and choose from a variety of offerings. Apps like Instagram use carousels to display a range of posts that you can swipe left or right on. Once you realize their basic functionality, you will see carousels everywhere!

Slick.js offers a range of options for controlling the behavior and appearance of the carousel, including settings for slides to show, infinite looping, arrows for navigation, autoplay, adaptive height, and more. The plugin is widely used for its versatility and ease of implementation, making it a popular choice for developers looking to incorporate interactive and visually appealing carousels into their websites.

Here is a self-contained HTML + Javascript code that uses Javascript slick to show a carousel with each element showing one word from "Kodeclik Online Academy is Cool!" in a different background color (and corresponding foreground color):

Here's a breakdown of what the code does:

First, notice the HTML outlying structure. The HTML structure includes the necessary elements for the carousel, such as the 'div' with the class "carousel" and five child 'div' elements containing the carousel content - "Kodeclik", "Online", "Academy", "is", and "Cool!".

Second, notice the CSS styling. The style section contains CSS rules to style the carousel slides. It sets the background color and text color for the slides, with different background colors for every second, third, and fourth slide using the nth-child pseudo-class.

Finally, look at the Javascript portion of the code. The JavaScript section includes the necessary scripts to enable the Slick carousel functionality. It uses jQuery and the Slick library to initialize the carousel. The $(document).ready() function ensures that the carousel is initialized when the document is ready. The .slick() method is called on the .carousel element to initialize the carousel with specific settings:

The slidesToShow: 3 setting specifies the number of slides to show at a time. The slidesToScroll: 1 settings defines the number of slides to scroll at a time. The autoplay: true setting enables autoplay for the carousel. Finally, the autoplaySpeed: 2000 sets the autoplay speed to 2000 milliseconds (2 seconds).

If we load this page up in a browser you will see the carousel cycling through the words. Below are three separate screenshots taken of it so you can understand what is going on:

Note also that in our code, we include links to external resources such as the Slick CSS and JavaScript files, as well as the jQuery library, which are really the source for the functionality we are seeing. This is really important as without it you will not be able to use these commands.

In summary, the provided HTML code creates a webpage with a carousel using the Slick library, styling the carousel slides and enabling autoplay functionality with specific settings.

If you liked this blogpost, checkout our post on how to make Javascript automatically scroll down to the bottom of a webpage!

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