Snap Carousel vs Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN

Most WordPress carousel plugins load heavy libraries (Slick, Swiper, jQuery) and fail basic accessibility checks. Screen readers can’t navigate them, keyboard users are stuck, and WCAG audits flag them every time. Snap Carousel takes a different approach: CSS scroll-snap does the scrolling, proper ARIA attributes do the rest. No JavaScript library, no configuration panel, no learning curve — just a block style to apply in one click. Built by WeAre[WP], a WordPress agency specializing in accessible websites and RGAA audits. This plugin exists because we needed a carousel that actually passes our own audits. Supported blocks Apply any of the 4 carousel styles to: Group block (core/group) — any child blocks become slides Query Loop block (core/query) — posts scroll as carousel slides Gallery block (core/gallery) — images scroll as carousel slides Variants Carousel (3 items) — 3 visible items + peek Carousel (1 item) — full-width slideshow Carousel (2 items) — 2 visible items + peek Carousel (4 items) — 4 visible items + peek Features 100% CSS scroll-snap — no Slick, no Swiper, no jQuery Prev/next navigation buttons Keyboard navigation (Arrow keys, Home, End) Full ARIA attributes (role=”region”, aria-roledescription, aria-live) Peek effect: partial visibility of the next item, signaling scrollable content Responsive (auto tablet/mobile adaptation) Respects prefers-reduced-motion Works with Group, Query Loop, and Gallery blocks Works with any child block (images, columns, groups, WooCommerce…) Lightweight: ~2 KB CSS + ~2 KB JS, zero external dependency Full RTL (right-to-left) language support Fully internationalized (i18n ready, French translation included) Easy to customize via CSS custom properties or overrides Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) role="region" + aria-roledescription="carousel" on the container role="group" + aria-roledescription="slide" on each item aria-label="X of Y" for position context tabindex="0" for keyboard focus aria-live="polite" to announce changes Buttons with aria-label and aria-controls Touch targets 44×44px minimum Visible focus indicator Usage With a Group block In the editor, create a Group block Set the group layout to Row Add child blocks (images, groups, columns…) In the sidebar panel → Styles → choose Carousel (3 items) (or another variant) Publish With a Query Loop block Insert a Query Loop block Configure the query (post type, filters, number of items…) In the sidebar panel → Styles → choose a Carousel variant Publish — posts scroll horizontally as carousel slides With a Gallery block Insert a Gallery block and add images In the sidebar panel → Styles → choose a Carousel variant Publish — images scroll horizontally as carousel slides Navigation buttons and accessibility attributes are automatically injected on the front-end. Customization The carousel is designed to work out of the box, but you can easily override styles in your theme’s style.css or via the WordPress Customizer > Additional CSS. Disable the peek effect By default, items are slightly narrower than the visible area so the next item “peeks” in — signaling there is more content to scroll. To disable this and show full-width items: /* Disable peek — 3 items variant */ .is-style-snap-carousel > * { flex-basis: calc(33.333% - 1rem) !important; } /* Disable peek — 1 item variant */ .is-style-snap-carousel-single > * { flex-basis: 100% !important; } /* Disable peek — 2 items variant */ .is-style-snap-carousel-duo > * { flex-basis: calc(50% - 0.75rem) !important; } /* Disable peek — 4 items variant */ .is-style-snap-carousel-quad > * { flex-basis: calc(25% - 1.125rem) !important; } Customize navigation arrows /* Arrow color and background */ .snap-carousel-prev, .snap-carousel-next { background: #0073aa; color: #ffffff; border-color: #0073aa; } /* Arrow hover state */ .snap-carousel-prev:hover, .snap-carousel-next:hover { background: #005177; color: #ffffff; } /* Arrow size (default: 44px — WCAG minimum touch target) */ .snap-carousel-prev, .snap-carousel-next { width: 48px; height: 48px; } /* Square arrows instead of round */ .snap-carousel-prev, .snap-carousel-next { border-radius: 8px; } Customize spacing /* Gap between items */ [class*="is-style-snap-carousel"] { gap: 2rem; } /* Space above carousel (room for navigation) */ .snap-carousel-wrapper { padding-top: 4rem; } Customize focus indicator /* Custom focus color for keyboard navigation */ [class*="is-style-snap-carousel"]:focus-visible { outline-color: #ff6600; outline-width: 3px; } .snap-carousel-prev:focus-visible, .snap-carousel-next:focus-visible { outline-color: #ff6600; } Use with WordPress theme.json design tokens The carousel already uses --wp--preset--color--base, --wp--preset--color--contrast and --wp--preset--color--primary tokens. You can override these per-block in theme.json or via CSS: /* Example: dark themed carousel */ .snap-carousel-wrapper { --wp--preset--color--base: #1a1a2e; --wp--preset--color--contrast: #e0e0e0; --wp--preset--color--primary: #e94560; } Technical Notes – CSS overrides flex-wrap: nowrap on the Row container to force horizontal scrolling – Items use a slightly reduced flex-basis to create a peek effect (next item partially visible) – Navigation buttons are positioned absolute at the top right (adjust top value for your theme) – JS uses a 150ms debounce on scroll for button state updates and 300ms for screen reader announcements – Compatible with WooCommerce blocks (products, etc.) About Snap Carousel is built and maintained by WeAre[WP], a French WordPress agency specializing in accessible websites and RGAA compliance audits. This plugin was built to solve a real problem: every carousel plugin we audited failed basic accessibility requirements. So we built one that passes our own audits. Need help with your WordPress project? Get in touch.

Compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load automatically with the powerful Smush image optimizer to keep your WordPress site fast, without losing quality. Smush makes it easy to optimize images, compress images, and deliver images faster across your entire WordPress site. This all-in-one image optimizer automatically reduces image file sizes, enables image lazy load, and serves modern formats like WebP and AVIF, all without breaking image quality or adding extra work. Whether you’re running a blog, store, or portfolio, Smush helps you optimize images at scale and keep your site fast with a trusted WordPress image optimizer. Trusted by 1+ Million Sites | 4.8/5 Star Rating Get everything you need to optimize images and speed up your site. Smush works out of the box with no complicated setup – just install and let it handle the rest. Compress images without losing quality Reduce image file size automatically while keeping your images sharp and clear. Smush is an easy-to-use image optimizer which let’s you compress images using both lossless and lossy compression, giving you the best balance of quality and performance without extra work. You can also compress images outside the media library using Directory Smush, making it easy to optimize images stored in theme folders, plugins, or other directories on your server. Lazy load images for faster pages Enable image lazy load across your site so images load only when needed. This image optimizer improves initial page speed and creates a smoother experience for visitors without extra configuration. Serve WebP and AVIF images automatically (PRO) Convert images to WebP and AVIF and serve them automatically to supported browsers. Smush helps you optimize images using next-gen formats to reduce file size and improve load times across your WordPress site. Deliver images faster with an Image CDN (PRO) Serve images through a global image CDN to reduce latency and improve load times for visitors around the world. 119 global CDN servers Up to 500 GB of bandwidth Faster image delivery based on visitor location Improved performance for image-heavy and high-traffic sites Automatically resize and fix image dimensions (PRO) Eliminate common PageSpeed warnings and improve layout stability with automatic image sizing. Smush dynamically resizes images to perfectly fit their containers, regardless of original size, helping fix the “Properly size images” warning in Google PageSpeed Insights. It also automatically adds missing width and height attributes to your images, improving rendering speed and reducing layout shifts. This helps you meet the “Ensure images have explicit width and height” recommendation without any manual work. Optimize your entire site, automatically Smush works across your whole site as a powerful image optimizer to optimize images as you upload them and maintain performance over time without manual work. Optimize images automatically on upload Compress images in bulk or individually Works with your existing media library No need to re-upload images Enable image lazy load across your site Convert images to WebP and AVIF Deliver images with an integrated image CDN Automatically resize and serve correctly sized images Optimize images outside the media library with Directory Smush Built for performance Smush improves page speed and overall performance by reducing image weight and improving how images are delivered. Reduce page load times Improve user experience Better performance for image-heavy pages Supports image lazy load and preload images (PRO) for faster perceived performance Works with your existing setup Smush is built to work with your current WordPress setup, including popular themes, page builders, and plugins. Compatible with Gutenberg, Elementor, WPBakery, and more Works with WooCommerce stores No need to change your workflow Easy to enable and configure Designed to be simple You don’t need to be a performance expert to optimize images with Smush image optimizer. Works out of the box Simple settings when you need them No technical knowledge required Safe to use on any site Why choose Smush? There are plenty of image optimization plugins, but Smush focuses on making it easy to optimize images, compress images, and improve performance without complexity. As a leading WordPress image optimizer, Smush gives you powerful optimization tools without the technical hassle. Trusted by over 1 million WordPress users Built specifically for WordPress Regular updates and improvements Backed by the WPMU DEV team Get started in minutes Install Smush, activate it, and start to compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load right away. This easy-to-use image optimizer helps most sites see improvements immediately without changing how they upload or manage images. About Us WPMU DEV is a premium supplier of quality WordPress plugins, services and support. Learn more here: https://wpmudev.com/ Don’t forget to stay up to date on everything WordPress from the Internet’s number one resource: WPMU DEV Blog Hey, one more thing… we hope you enjoy our free offerings as much as we’ve loved making them for you! Contact and Credits Originally written by Alex Dunae at Dialect (dialect.ca, e-mail ‘alex’ at ‘dialect dot ca’), 2008-11.