How to Build a Testimonial Slider Plugin for WordPress
Posted on 16th June 2023
WordPress Plugin Development
If you’re a WordPress developer, then you’ve probably been asked to create a testimonial slider plugin at some point. Testimonial sliders are a great way to showcase customer satisfaction on your website, and they can be used to increase conversion rates and boost sales. Plus, they’re relatively easy to create. In this article, we’ll show you how to build a testimonial slider plugin for WordPress in just a few minutes.
What You’ll Need
To follow along with this tutorial, you’ll need:
- A text editor (we recommend Atom)
- A local development environment for WordPress (we recommend DesktopServer)
Step 1: Create the Plugin Folder
The first thing you need to do is create a new folder for your plugin. This folder can be called anything you want, but we recommend something like “testimonial-slider”.
Once you’ve created the folder, open it in your text editor and create a new file called “testimonial-slider.php”.
Step 2: Add the Plugin Header
All WordPress plugins must have a plugin header. This header tells WordPress basic information about the plugin, such as the plugin name, author, version, etc. The header is added to the top of the main plugin file (in this case, “testimonial-slider.php”).
The plugin header should look something like this:
<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Testimonial Slider
Plugin URI: https://example.com/testimonial-slider
Description: A simple testimonial slider plugin for WordPress
Version: 1.0.0
Author: John Doe
Author URI: https://example.com
License: GPLv2 or later
Text Domain: testimonial-slider
Domain Path: /languages
*/
For more information on the plugin header, check out the WordPress codex.
Step 3: Create the Plugin File
Now that you’ve added the plugin header, you can start adding code to the main plugin file. We’ll start by creating a simple testimonial slider using the Bootstrap framework.
First, you need to add the Bootstrap CSS and JS files to the plugin. You can do this by adding the following code to the plugin file:
function testimonial_slider_scripts() {
wp_enqueue_style( 'bootstrap', 'https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.1.3/css/bootstrap.min.css', array(), '4.1.3', 'all' );
wp_enqueue_script( 'bootstrap', 'https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.1.3/js/bootstrap.min.js', array('jquery'), '4.1.3', true );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'testimonial_slider_scripts' );
This code simply adds the Bootstrap CSS and JS files to the WordPress <head> section. You can learn more about wp_enqueue_style() and wp_enqueue_script() in the WordPress codex.
Next, you need to add the HTML for the testimonial slider. Add the following code to the plugin file:
function testimonial_slider_html() {
?>
<div id="testimonial-slider" class="carousel slide" data-ride="carousel">
<ol class="carousel-indicators">
<li data-target="#testimonial-slider" data-slide-to="0" class="active"></li>
<li data-target="#testimonial-slider" data-slide-to="1"></li>
<li data-target="#testimonial-slider" data-slide-to="2"></li>
</ol>
<div class="carousel-inner">
<div class="carousel-item active">
<img class="d-block w-100" src="https://placehold.it/900x500?text=First+Slide" alt="First slide">
</div>
<div class="carousel-item">
<img class="d-block w-100" src="https://placehold.it/900x500?text=Second+Slide" alt="Second
There are two ways to do this. The first way is to use a WordPress plugin. The second way is to use a custom testimonial slider.
Using a WordPress Plugin
There are a few WordPress plugins that will allow you to create a testimonial slider. We recommend using the Testimonial Slider plugin. This plugin is easy to use and has a lot of features.
Using a Custom Testimonial Slider
If you want to have more control over your testimonial slider, you can create one using HTML, CSS, and jQuery.
To do this, you will need to create a custom post type for your testimonials. You can do this by going to your theme's functions.php file and adding the following code:
function create_testimonial_post_type() {
register_post_type( 'testimonial', array( 'labels' => array( 'name' => __( 'Testimonials' ), 'singular_name' => __( 'Testimonial' ) ), 'public' => true, 'has_archive' => true, ) ); } add_action( 'init', 'create_testimonial_post_type' );
This will create a new post type called "Testimonial" in your WordPress admin.
Next, you will need to create a file called "testimonial-slider.php" in your child theme. This is where you will put your code for the testimonial slider.
In this file, you will first need to query your testimonials. You can do this by using WP_Query.
$args = array( 'post_type' => 'testimonial', 'posts_per_page' => 10 ); $query = new WP_Query( $args );
Next, you will need to loop through your testimonials and output them in the slider.
if ( $query->have_posts() ) { while ( $query->have_posts() ) { $query->the_post(); ?>
<?php } }
Now that you have the testimonials outputted, you will need to style them using CSS. You can do this by adding the following CSS to your child theme's style.css file.
.testimonial { padding: 20px; border: 1px solid #CCC; }
Finally, you will need to add the jQuery code that will make the testimonial slider work. You can do this by adding the following code to your child theme's functions.php file.
function testimonial_slider_scripts() { wp_enqueue_script( 'testimonial-slider', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/js/testimonial-slider.js', array( 'jquery' ), '1.0.0', true ); } add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'testimonial_slider_scripts' );
And that's it! You have now successfully created a testimonial slider using WordPress.
