The Difference Between “Image Gallery” vs. “Image Slider”

One of the things that makes your website come alive is using visuals on your site.  It engages the reader and helps explain concepts.  Often I get asked the question: What is the difference between an Image Gallery vs an Image Slider?  Both of these terms are used to display multiple images. And the easiest way to explain the difference is to show you visually.

What is an Image Gallery?

An image gallery is a group of images, displayed together in a grid.  You generally see all of the images at once. You can read my article on What is an Image Gallery here  that goes much deeper into the specifics of image galleries.

Here’s an example of an image gallery with the FooGallery Plugin.  To view an image larger, just click on it.  The first image will take you to a special page, and the last image will take you to another site.

 

What is an Image Slider?

Image sliders are usually large on the site, and either automatically change, or you click on the slider controls and the image moves.  Sometimes there are little dots under the images to show you where in the series you are.  Some sliders move fast, and some are slower, and some have different kinds of transitions, for example swipe or cross dissolved!

Click on the picture above to go to the slider page.

Video Showing an Image Gallery vs. an Image Slider:

Watch this quick 3 min video explaining the difference between an image gallery vs. and image slider in WordPress.  It’s much easier to explain as a video.

 

Here is an example below of a screenshot of a slider at the top of my main Website Creation Workshop homepage showing some testimonials from my students. You can see the slider controls on the left and right, as well as the little dots to show you where you are in the series.

 

Here is another example of a slider from one of my student’s sites: www.escaperoommissouricity.com/teambuilding  You can see the slider controls on the right and left of the screen. It captures your attention and shows you examples of people using their services.

If you decide to use a slider, do think about the user experience.  You don’t want to make your readers dizzy if your slider rotates to quickly.  And also, don’t put essential content in a slider.  It’s best for testimonials or other visuals that are not essential to the message of your website.  Read my other article that goes deeper into “What is an image slider?” here

So whether you use an image gallery vs an image slider, it’s up to you.  Use whatever works best for your site and your market.  Experiment and see which gives you the best results!