Reaching for a small arrow with the mouse is a deliberate act. Scrolling is something people are already doing, which makes it a tempting way to move a carousel.
It is also the setting most likely to annoy, because the page scroll and the carousel scroll are the same gesture.
Before You Start
- Edition: Pro — the Carousel Anything block needs Nexter Blocks Pro.
- Block to enable: Carousel Anything, switched on under Nexter > Blocks in your WordPress dashboard.
- A Carousel Anything block with several slides — see the Carousel Anything guide.
- Test with several slides. A carousel with one slide has nothing to move to, so most settings will look broken when they are simply idle.
Steps
- Select your Carousel Anything block.
- Switch mousewheel on.
- Publish and scroll over the carousel with a real mouse.
- Scroll past it as well, to check the page still scrolls normally.
How It Behaves
One setting produces two entries in the carousel configuration.
- Measured on a published page: switching mousewheel on rendered both
wheel: trueandreleaseWheel: true; with it off, both werefalse. - The release setting is what lets the page keep scrolling. With it on, the carousel takes the wheel while it has slides left in that direction and hands it back at the ends, so the visitor is not trapped.
- It applies to the wheel only. Touch swiping is a separate setting and is unaffected.
- It pairs badly with a vertical carousel, because then both the page and the carousel move in the same axis — see the vertical carousel guide.
- Every setting ends up in one place. The block writes its whole configuration into a
data-splideattribute on the carousel, which is what the slider script reads. If a setting is not doing what you expect, that attribute is where to look. - Measured with Nexter Blocks Pro deactivated: the carousel renders nothing at all — no wrapper, no configuration and no slides. This is a Pro-only block.
Limitations
- Pro only — measured with Nexter Blocks Pro deactivated, nothing renders.
- It hijacks a gesture people rely on. A visitor scrolling down the page will hit the carousel and move it instead, which is disorienting the first time.
- It does nothing on a phone or tablet, so it can never be the only way to navigate.
- Trackpads are very sensitive. What is one click of a wheel can be several slides of a trackpad flick.
- Keep arrows or dots visible as well, so there is an obvious control for everyone else.
Troubleshooting
Scrolling does nothing
Check the setting is on and Nexter Blocks Pro is active. Measured, the setting renders wheel: true in the carousel configuration.
I get stuck and cannot scroll past the carousel
Measured, the block also sets releaseWheel, which hands scrolling back at the ends. If you are stuck, the carousel is probably looping, so it never reaches an end — switch loop off, or switch mousewheel off.
It skips several slides at once
That is a trackpad sending many small scroll events. There is no sensitivity setting; consider whether mousewheel is worth it for your visitors.
It does not work on mobile
Expected — there is no wheel on a touch screen. Swiping is separate.
