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!!IMP!! Do not upgrade to 2.3.3 or 2.3.4 if you have highly customized Smooth Slider, you may lose some CSS formatting as in the new versions the slider javascript is changed and is different from previous versions.

This plugin is easy to install like other plug-ins of WordPress as you need to just follow the below mentioned steps:

1. Copy Folder Smooth Slider from the downloaded and extracted file.

2. Paste it in wp-Content/plugins folder on your WordPress Installation

3. Activate the plugin from Dashboard / Plugins window.

4. Now Plugin is Activated, Go to the Usage section to see how to use Smooth Slider.

Usage

1. If you want the slideshow with all the added featured posts on your home page, open Index.php file from Dashboard by clicking on Tab Appearance / Editor and paste the following piece of code at the suitable place.

   if ( function_exists( 'get_smooth_slider' ) ) { get_smooth_slider(); }

   If you want to put the slider before the list of articles on your WordPress blog homepage, put the above piece of code before the WordPress Loop (the code is a php code, so ensure that it is enclosed within the php tags). WordPress loop code is shown below:

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

2. There is ready to use widget named 'Smooth Slider Widget - Simple', that you can directly use in your widgetized area of the theme. In case you use multiple sliders feature you can as well select the slider name from the dropdown on the widget.

3. You can use the Smooth Slider shortcode [smoothslider] or [smoothslider id='1'] on your edit post/page panel to insert the slider anywhere on the post or page. In case you use multiple sliders feature, just replace the 'id' with your required slider's 'ID' that you would find on Sliders admin panel(settings).

4. The content in the slider can be picked up from either the post content or the post excerpt or a custom field slider_content. You can add the custom field on the Edit Post panel for each of the posts.

5. It is very easy to select which image you want as the thumbnail for the slides. You can choose to get the image from custom field, or 'Post thumbnail' or from the post content.

6. Almost all the fields that appear in the Smooth Slider are customizable, you can change the looks of your Slider and make it suitable for your theme. The defaults set are according to the Default WordPress theme. Also, you can change the number of posts appearing in the slider and the pause or interval between the two consecutive posts on the slider. For making these changes, there would be a settings page for Smooth Slider in the wp-admin screen of your blog, once you enable the plugin.

7. To get the category specific posts in reverse chronological order, use the following piece of code (template tag) at the necessary place in your theme's template file.

   if ( function_exists( 'get_smooth_slider_category' ) ) { get_smooth_slider_category('apple'); }

   where 'apple' is the slug (url friendly version of the category name) of the category from which you want to extract the posts to be shown in the slider. Replace it with your own category slug and you are done.

Go to the plugin page to see more details.

Find More Slider Styles at SliderVilla