Content Management Solution: Part 2- Slider Carousels

This blog post is one part in a series. Click to see the other posts related to the benefits of content management solutions.

Sometimes it is difficult for an organization to identify the top three to five messages it would like to communicate to its website users. And, further, an organization might have multiple website users too, so how can it ensure that its homepage is catering to each possible type of target audience user that would come to its website? With slider carousels, communicating the top messages on any page is made simple.

Using Slider Carousels with a Content Management Solution

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Slider carousels can come in all shapes and sizes. For example, our client NewTV.org (image above) opted to use a slider that defines 4 stories each time. Each story is always different too, allowing NewTV to communicate key messaging for a number of different audiences: active viewers, active members, and citizens of Newton. Or, like The Camera Company (image below), they utilize an “infinite” slider carousel whereby they can add as many “slides” as they want without the design being stipulated by a certain number, like it is in the NewTV case.

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Integrating Slider Carousel With Content Management Solution

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So the design looks great, but how can an administrator actually control the content of the slider carousel? With a content management solution, Polar Design is able to allow admins the freedom and ease to create as many slides as they want as well as adjust the following criteria for each:

With slider carousels, it might also be important to be able to order the slides, so that on page load the user will always see a specific slide first. With the SilverStripe content management solution adjusting the order of slides is as easy as a simple drag and drop. Just grab the slide and move it to the position you want it to be seen on the front end.

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Slider carousels not only allow websites to communicate more effectively with less space, but they also add an interactive element to the website as well, engaging multiple target audiences a bit longer to click through the top stories and eventually click through to the story that interests them the most. This, as a result, keeps bounce rates low while keeping time spent on the site higher, meaning more opportunities for your website to convert a user.

Next up in this content management solution blog series we’ll cover more specific modules that many clients find valuable not only to a website’s functionality, but more importantly to a website administrator’s ease of use. Up next will be dynamic event calendars in a content management solution.