EffortLess Simple Parallax Carousel

EffortLess Simple Parallax Carousel adds three front-end behaviours to existing block-editor content. It does not add a new block: it works on the core Cover, Group and Gallery blocks you already use. Nothing in your saved post content is changed: galleries are marked as carousels while the page is generated, and the rest is done by a stylesheet and a JavaScript file loaded on the front end.

1. Parallax backgrounds

• For Cover blocks, use the core Fixed background option of the block. The plugin does not change how cover blocks are displayed, so the focal point and “Repeated background” settings work as in core.

• If a default background image is set in the plugin settings, it is applied as a fixed background to every full-width group block (a Group block with “Full width” alignment) in the post or page content that has no background of its own (no image, gradient or theme background).

• On touch devices, on iOS, and for visitors who set “reduce motion”, the default background scrolls normally instead of staying fixed.

2. Text fade-in on scroll

Every h2, h3 and paragraph inside a Cover block or a full-width Group block of the post or page content is hidden from the moment the page is shown, and slides up into view when it enters the viewport (one second transition; elements that appear together are staggered by 100ms). This behaviour is always on while the plugin is active.

The text is shown without animation for visitors who set “reduce motion”, in browsers without IntersectionObserver, and when the plugin script has not started within three seconds (for example when it is blocked or delayed by an optimisation plugin).

3. Carousel gallery

When the carousel is enabled, every Gallery block that contains at least two images and sits inside a Cover block or a full-width Group block of the post or page content is shown as a slider. Each image becomes one slide. An image caption is shown over the bottom of its slide; bold text in the caption is displayed as a larger title line.

The gallery keeps its alignment, CSS classes, anchor and gallery caption (shown below the slider), and images keep their link and the “Expand on click” lightbox. Galleries outside cover and full-width group blocks are not changed.

js ); it does not depend on jQuery or any third-party library. It shows one image at a time and supports:

• Swiping left and right on touch screens, or dragging with the mouse.

• The left and right arrow keys when a carousel button has focus.

• Pausing autoplay while the mouse pointer is over the carousel, while one of its buttons has keyboard focus, and while the browser tab is hidden. Clicking or tapping the arrows and dots does not stop autoplay.

• Right-to-left languages: slides, arrows, swipe and arrow keys follow the reading direction.

• Visitors who set “reduce motion” in their operating system: slides change without the sliding animation and autoplay is off.

• Screen readers: the carousel, its slides, arrows and dots carry translated labels, and hidden slides are removed from the reading and tab order.

Settings

All settings are under Settings > Parallax Carousel.

• Default background image for full-width group blocks – An image URL. Click “Choose image” to pick one from the Media Library, or paste a URL. Default: empty. When empty, no default background is applied.

• Enable carousel gallery – Checkbox. Default: off. When off, galleries are displayed as normal and the other carousel options have no effect.

• Carousel autoplay delay (ms) – Number between 1000 and 10000, in steps of 500. Default: 3000. Time each slide is shown before moving to the next one. Values outside the range are clamped to it on save. Autoplay continues after a visitor uses the arrows, dots or swipe.

• Enable carousel loop – Checkbox. Default: on. When on, the slider continues from the last slide to the first one seamlessly, in both directions. When off, the previous arrow is disabled on the first slide and the next arrow on the last slide, and autoplay rewinds to the first slide after the last one.

• Show carousel navigation – Checkbox. Default: on. Shows previous/next arrows on the slider.

• Show carousel pagination – Checkbox. Default: on. Shows clickable dots at the bottom of the slider, one per slide.

Notes and limitations

• All three effects only apply to Cover blocks and full-width Group blocks that are part of the post or page content. Groups that belong to the theme itself (header, footer, or the full-width wrapper many block themes put around the content) are not affected.

• Only galleries inside a Cover block or a Group block with full-width alignment are turned into a carousel. A gallery with a single image is left as it is.

• The text fade-in applies to all h2, h3 and paragraph elements inside cover blocks and full-width group blocks. It cannot be switched off per block.

• The default background is not applied to a full-width group block that already has a background image or gradient.

• The default background scrolls normally instead of staying fixed on touch devices and for visitors who set “reduce motion”.

• Only galleries using the block-based gallery format (WordPress 5.9 and later) become carousels. Galleries created in older versions keep their grid until they are updated in the editor.

• The effects are only applied on the front end. The block editor preview does not show them; view the published page to check the result.

• Full-width alignment must be supported by your theme for full-width group blocks to exist.

• On multisite, settings are stored per site.

• Uninstalling the plugin (deleting it from the Plugins screen) removes all of its settings, on every site of a multisite network.