Simple WP Slider
Multi-slider WordPress carousels built on Swiper.js, no jQuery
Most WordPress slider plugins treat the carousel as a single global block bolted onto jQuery, with no real per-slide data model and no thought given to layout shift or screen readers. Simple WP Slider treats sliders as first-class content: each one is a named entry in its own custom post type with independent settings, and each slide carries its own alt text, caption, link, and call-to-action. Any slider drops into any page or template with the [simplewpslider id="ID"] shortcode or the bundled Gutenberg block, and the same id can be reused in as many places as needed.
Version 2.0 is a full rewrite that drops Slick, now an archived library, in favour of Swiper.js 11, which removes the jQuery dependency and brings touch support and a real accessibility module. Slides can be Media Library images with srcset and lazy-loading, self-hosted MP4 video, or YouTube/Vimeo embeds behind a click-to-load facade, so nothing is fetched from those services until a visitor actually presses play. Per-slider aspect ratio enforcement (16:9, 4:3, 1:1, or auto) stops the carousel from shifting the page as it loads, and the markup follows the WAI-ARIA carousel pattern with keyboard navigation, keyboard drag-reorder in the admin, and screen-reader live-region announcements from Swiper's a11y module. Upgraders from 1.x aren't stranded either: existing images are auto-imported into a "Default Slider" post and the old bare shortcode keeps rendering it.
It's built for developers who need more than one slider per site and who care about the details a plugin review actually checks: prefixed and sanitised input, escaped output, REST permission callbacks, a real uninstall routine, and no runtime requests to third parties beyond a deliberately gated Vimeo oEmbed call made only from the admin when an editor adds a Vimeo slide.
What it does
Multi-slider CPT
Sliders are a custom post type, so you can create unlimited named sliders, each with its own settings, and place any of them via shortcode or block.
Mixed slide types
A slider can mix Media Library images with full srcset and lazy-loading, self-hosted MP4 video, and YouTube/Vimeo slides.
Layout-stable rendering
Per-slider aspect ratio enforcement (16:9, 4:3, 1:1, or auto) keeps the carousel from causing layout shift while it loads.
WAI-ARIA carousel markup
The frontend follows the WAI-ARIA carousel pattern with keyboard navigation, screen-reader live-region announcements, and respect for prefers-reduced-motion.
Privacy-gated video embeds
YouTube slides load via youtube-nocookie.com only after a click, and Vimeo's oEmbed is only called from the admin when a slide is added, never on frontend page loads.
Auto-migration from 1.x
Existing images from earlier versions are imported into a "Default Slider" post automatically, and the legacy bare [simplewpslider] shortcode keeps working.
Built with
FAQ
I upgraded from 1.x. Where did my images go?
They were automatically imported into a new slider called “Default Slider” under the Sliders menu. The old [simplewpslider] shortcode (with no id) still renders that slider, so existing pages keep working.
Does this plugin send data anywhere?
No. Nothing leaves your site. YouTube and Vimeo embeds load only after a visitor clicks the play button, and YouTube uses the youtube-nocookie.com domain.
Can I display the same slider in multiple places?
Yes. Use the same id with the shortcode or block on any page or template.