Description
Aha Hero Slider is a 100% free hero carousel for WordPress: one shortcode, a dedicated slide library, and a front end that is tuned for real visitors — not only for wide desktop screens.
Demo | Product page | Documentation | Support
Why this plugin is different
Hero sections often look great on desktop and fall apart on mobile — cramped text, awkward crops, buttons that are hard to tap. Aha Hero Slider is built so your Default slides adapt the layout: on phones and small tablets, each slide becomes a clean card — image on top, then headline, copy, and CTAs on a dedicated content area — so your offer stays readable, on-brand, and conversion-friendly on the device people actually use to browse.
We’re Aha Plugins: we ship professional WordPress tools and use generous free plugins so you can see our quality firsthand. When you need more for your business, browse our plugins — we’ll be glad to earn your trust.
What you get under the hood (technical overview)
- Dedicated Hero Slides CPT with fields for desktop image, mobile image, badge, headline, subtitle, and one or two action buttons
- Two slide templates: Default (text + buttons, with the mobile card behaviour above) and Image Only (full-area image with optional link)
- Shortcode
[aha_hero_slider]with optionalgroupto show different sliders on different pages - Hierarchical Slide groups taxonomy for organizing slides
- Per-slide style options: text colors, font sizes, button colors, border radius
- Global Design settings: default arrow, bullet, text, and button colors; optional overlay mask; autoplay progress colors — from Settings Design
- Optional autoplay progress indicator (
progress="bar"orprogress="circle"via shortcode); autoplay pauses on hover on pointer devices - Arrows use a subtle hover reveal; pagination uses accessible controls
- Front-end carousel in vanilla JavaScript (no jQuery carousel dependency)
- Works with any theme or page builder (Elementor, Bricks, Oxygen, Divi, etc.) via shortcode
- Uninstall tab: optional removal of plugin data when the plugin is deleted from Plugins Installed Plugins (not on deactivate alone)
Translations
- Default language: English — all user-facing strings in the plugin source are in English (the reference locale).
- Brazilian Portuguese (pt_BR) — translation files (
aha-hero-slider-pt_BR.po/.mo) are bundled in thelanguages/folder. When your site language is set to Português do Brasil under Settings General, the plugin loads those strings automatically.
Global Design & Color Palette
Go to Aha Hero Slider Settings Design to configure a neutral color palette for the slider. Set defaults for arrow colors, bullet colors, text colors, button colors, and an optional overlay mask for better text contrast. Individual slides can override these defaults with their own per-slide styles.
Multiple Sliders on the Same Site
Create Slide groups (taxonomy) and assign each slide to a group. Use the shortcode with a group slug: [aha_hero_slider group="homepage"]. Multiple groups: [aha_hero_slider group="home,sale"].
More from the same team: Aha Plugins — WordPress plugins for serious sites
Third-party libraries
The front-end carousel uses plain JavaScript (no jQuery). No carousel library is bundled and no data is sent to external servers for slideshow behaviour.
Screenshots
Slide — Aha Hero Slider 
Settings page — General tab 
Settings page — Shortcode tab (documentation and examples) 
Slides – CPT 
Slides – Categories 
Slide editor — Default template with text fields and action buttons 
Front end — Example 
Front end — Example mobile
Installation
- Install the plugin via Plugins Add New (search for “Aha Hero Slider”) or upload the ZIP file.
- Click Activate.
- Go to Aha Hero Slider in the admin sidebar and create your first slide.
- Place the shortcode
[aha_hero_slider]on any page, post, widget, or page builder block.
Manual installation via FTP
- Unzip the plugin ZIP on your computer.
- Upload the
aha-hero-sliderfolder towp-content/plugins/. - In WordPress admin, go to Plugins and activate Aha Hero Slider.
FAQ
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Can I use this with Elementor, Bricks, Divi, or other page builders?
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Yes. Use the shortcode
[aha_hero_slider]inside any shortcode block or widget in your page builder of choice. -
How does the slider look on phones and small tablets?
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For Default slides, the layout becomes a stacked card: image on top, then badge, headline, subtitle, and buttons on a solid content area below. Set that background under Aha Hero Slider Settings Design (mobile section for the Default template). The goal is readable type and tappable buttons instead of squeezing a desktop hero into a narrow viewport.
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How do I order slides?
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In the CPT, use the Order field (Page Attributes) — lower values appear first.
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How do I show different sliders on different pages?
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Create Slide groups under Hero Slider Slide Groups. Assign each slide to one or more groups. Use the shortcode with a group slug, e.g.
[aha_hero_slider group="homepage"]on the home page and[aha_hero_slider group="products"]elsewhere. -
How do I set a global color palette?
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Go to Aha Hero Slider Settings Design. From there you can configure default colors for arrows, bullets, text elements, and buttons. You can also enable an overlay mask for better text contrast over images.
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Can I customize colors per slide?
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Yes. Open any slide in the editor and use the Style options under each field (badge, headline, subtitle, buttons) to set per-slide colors and font sizes. These override the global defaults.
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Where can I get support?
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Visit ahaplugins.com/support or open a topic in the WordPress.org support forum.
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What happens when I uninstall or delete the plugin?
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Deactivating leaves your slides and settings in the database. Deleting the plugin runs
uninstall.php. Data is only removed if you enabled Remove all plugin data when the plugin is deleted on the Uninstall settings tab before deletion. When enabled, Hero slide posts, slide groups, and plugin options are removed; media library files are not deleted automatically.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Aha Hero Slider” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Aha Hero Slider” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.1
- Refactored settings architecture: Settings now stored in three separate per-tab WordPress options instead of a single unified option.
- Fixed potential checkbox reset issue: Each tab’s settings are now saved independently, preventing cross-tab value loss.
- Per-tab options:
aha_hero_slider_general,aha_hero_slider_design,aha_hero_slider_shortcode(documentation-only, no settings saved). - Automatic one-time migration from legacy unified option on first load; all settings are preserved and distributed to correct per-tab options.
- New hooks for add-ons:
aha_hero_slider_get_settings(inject custom settings) andaha_hero_slider_tab_option_group(register custom tab option group).
1.0.0
- Initial release. Shortcode-first hero slider with Hero Slides CPT, hierarchical Slide groups taxonomy, and templates Default (text + buttons) and Image Only.
- Settings: General — slideshow toggle, slide library shortcuts, and shortcode defaults (autoplay, arrows, border radius). Design — global colors, overlay mask, arrows, and bullets. Shortcode — documentation-only tab (copyable shortcode, examples, attribute reference). Uninstall — optional data removal on delete.
- Per-slide styles override global Design defaults where set.
- Shortcode
[aha_hero_slider]withgroup,transition(slide/fade/vertical),autoplay_speed,arrows,infinite(yes/no/seamless), optionalprogress(bar/circle, off by default), and more. Seamless works for horizontal and vertical slide; with fade it falls back to a classic loop. - Front-end carousel: vanilla JavaScript (horizontal slide, vertical slide, fade), round dot pagination, arrows, swipe on touch.
- Uninstall tab and
uninstall.php: optional removal of slides, groups, and options when the plugin is deleted (if enabled before deletion).