The Complete Beginner's Guide to Smooothy Slider: Build Beautiful Carousels in Minutes

Stop wrestling with bloated slider libraries. Learn how to create buttery-smooth, professional carousels that your users will actually love.

Why Another Slider Tutorial?

Let's be honest - most slider libraries are either:

• Bloated monsters that slow down your site 🐌
• Feature-poor and look like they're from 2010 📟
• Framework-locked and impossible to customize 🔒

Smooothy is different. It's what sliders should have been all along - tiny, fast, and infinitely customizable.

Quick note: This isn't any kind of promotion — I just happened to come across Smooothy, liked it, and felt like sharing it with you all. Sometimes you discover tools that are too good not to pass along! 💎

What You'll Learn

By the end of this tutorial, you'll know how to:

• ✅ Set up Smooothy in under 2 minutes
• ✅ Create smooth, professional-looking sliders
• ✅ Add touch/mouse interactions that feel native
• ✅ Implement eye-catching parallax effects
• ✅ Make responsive sliders that work everywhere
• ✅ Customize everything to match your design

Estimated time: 15 minutes Skill level: Complete beginner friendly

Chapter 1: Getting Started (The Easy Part)

Installation

First, let's get Smooothy into your project:

npm install smooothy
# or
pnpm install smooothy
# or
yarn add smooothy
        

Your First Slider (30 Seconds Setup)

Create this HTML structure:

<div class="my-slider" id="slider">
  <div class="slide">
    <img src="image1.jpg" alt="Slide 1">
    <h3>Amazing Product 1</h3>
  </div>
  <div class="slide">
    <img src="image2.jpg" alt="Slide 2">
    <h3>Amazing Product 2</h3>
  </div>
  <div class="slide">
    <img src="image3.jpg" alt="Slide 3">
    <h3>Amazing Product 3</h3>
  </div>
</div>
        

Add this CSS:

.my-slider {
  display: flex;
  overflow: hidden;
  width: 100%;
  height: 400px;
}

.slide {
  flex-shrink: 0;
  width: 100%;
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  background: linear-gradient(135deg, #667eea 0%, #764ba2 100%);
  color: white;
  text-align: center;
}

.slide img {
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
  object-fit: cover;
  border-radius: 12px;
  margin-bottom: 20px;
}
        

Now the JavaScript magic:

import Core from "smooothy"

// Get your slider element
const sliderElement = document.getElementById('slider')

// Create the slider
const slider = new Core(sliderElement, {
  infinite: true,    // Endless loop
  snap: true,        // Snap to slides
  scrollInput: true  // Enable mouse wheel
})

// Start the animation loop
function animate() {
  slider.update()
  requestAnimationFrame(animate)
}
animate()
        

Congratulations! 🎉 You just created your first Smooothy slider. It's already touch-enabled, smooth, and infinite-scrolling.

Chapter 2: Making It Beautiful (The Fun Part)

Multiple Slides Per View

Want to show multiple slides at once? Easy:

.slide {
  width: 300px; /* Fixed width instead of 100% */
  margin-right: 20px; /* Add spacing */
}
        

Adding Smooth Transitions

Let's make the slides fade in beautifully:

.slide {
  opacity: 0.7;
  transform: scale(0.9);
  transition: all 0.3s ease;
}

.slide.active {
  opacity: 1;
  transform: scale(1);
}
        

Update your JavaScript to handle active states:

const slider = new Core(sliderElement, {
  infinite: true,
  snap: true,
  onSlideChange: (currentSlide, previousSlide) => {
    // Remove active class from all slides
    document.querySelectorAll('.slide').forEach(slide => {
      slide.classList.remove('active')
    })
    
    // Add active class to current slide
    document.querySelectorAll('.slide')[currentSlide]?.classList.add('active')
  }
})
        

Chapter 3: Advanced Features (The Pro Moves)

Adding Navigation Buttons

Let's add some classy navigation:

<!-- Add these buttons after your slider -->
<div class="slider-nav">
  <button id="prevBtn" class="nav-btn">←</button>
  <button id="nextBtn" class="nav-btn">→</button>
</div>
        

.slider-nav {
  text-align: center;
  margin-top: 20px;
}

.nav-btn {
  background: #667eea;
  border: none;
  color: white;
  padding: 12px 20px;
  margin: 0 10px;
  border-radius: 25px;
  cursor: pointer;
  font-size: 18px;
  transition: all 0.3s ease;
}

.nav-btn:hover {
  background: #764ba2;
  transform: translateY(-2px);
}
        

Connect the buttons:

document.getElementById('prevBtn').addEventListener('click', () => {
  slider.goToPrev()
})

document.getElementById('nextBtn').addEventListener('click', () => {
  slider.goToNext()
})
        

Creating Parallax Magic ✨

This is where Smooothy really shines:

<div class="slide">
  <div class="parallax-bg"></div>
  <div class="slide-content">
    <h3>Parallax Magic</h3>
    <p>Watch the background move!</p>
  </div>
</div>
        

.slide {
  position: relative;
  overflow: hidden;
}

.parallax-bg {
  position: absolute;
  top: -20%;
  left: -20%;
  width: 140%;
  height: 140%;
  background: url('your-bg-image.jpg') center/cover;
  will-change: transform;
}

.slide-content {
  position: relative;
  z-index: 2;
}
        

class ParallaxSlider extends Core {
  constructor(wrapper, config) {
    super(wrapper, config)
    this.parallaxElements = wrapper.querySelectorAll('.parallax-bg')
  }

  onUpdate({ parallaxValues }) {
    this.parallaxElements.forEach((element, i) => {
      const offset = parallaxValues[i] * 30
      element.style.transform = `translateX(${offset}px) scale(1.1)`
    })
  }
}

// Use the enhanced slider
const slider = new ParallaxSlider(sliderElement, {
  infinite: true,
  snap: true
})
        

Chapter 4: Mobile-First Excellence

Touch Gestures That Feel Native

Smooothy handles touch automatically, but let's optimize:

const slider = new Core(sliderElement, {
  infinite: true,
  snap: true,
  dragSensitivity: 0.008,  // More sensitive on mobile
  virtualScroll: {
    touchMultiplier: 2,     // Boost touch responsiveness
    mouseMultiplier: 0.5    // Gentler mouse scrolling
  }
})
        

Responsive Breakpoints

/* Mobile */
@media (max-width: 768px) {
  .slide {
    width: 100%;
  }
  
  .my-slider {
    height: 300px;
  }
}

/* Tablet */
@media (min-width: 769px) and (max-width: 1024px) {
  .slide {
    width: 50%;
  }
}

/* Desktop */
@media (min-width: 1025px) {
  .slide {
    width: 33.333%;
  }
}
        

Chapter 5: Performance & Best Practices

Optimization Tips

1. Always destroy your slider:

// When component unmounts or page changes
slider.destroy()
        

1. Use requestAnimationFrame efficiently:

let animationId
function animate() {
  slider.update()
  animationId = requestAnimationFrame(animate)
}
animate()

// Clean up
cancelAnimationFrame(animationId)
        

1. Lazy load images:

<img data-src="image.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="Slide">
        

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

❌ Don't: Use CSS gaps (not supported) ✅ Do: Use padding for spacing

❌ Don't: Forget to call slider.update() in your animation loop ✅ Do: Always include the update call

❌ Don't: Inline event listeners without cleanup ✅ Do: Store references and remove them properly

Real-World Examples

E-commerce Product Gallery

const productSlider = new Core(document.getElementById('products'), {
  infinite: true,
  snap: true,
  setOffset: ({ itemWidth, wrapperWidth }) => {
    return wrapperWidth / 2 - itemWidth / 2 // Center products
  },
  onSlideChange: (current) => {
    updateProductInfo(current)
  }
})
        

Hero Banner with Auto-play

class AutoplaySlider extends Core {
  constructor(wrapper, config) {
    super(wrapper, config)
    this.startAutoplay()
  }

  startAutoplay() {
    this.interval = setInterval(() => {
      if (!this.paused) {
        this.goToNext()
      }
    }, 5000)
  }

  destroy() {
    clearInterval(this.interval)
    super.destroy()
  }
}
        

Testimonial Carousel

.testimonial-slide {
  width: 400px;
  padding: 40px;
  background: white;
  border-radius: 12px;
  box-shadow: 0 10px 30px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
  margin-right: 30px;
}
        

Troubleshooting Guide

Problem: Slides not smooth

Solution: Check your CSS - ensure flex-shrink: 0 on slides

Problem: Touch not working on mobile

Solution: Add touch-action: pan-y to your slider CSS

Problem: Performance issues

Solution: Use will-change: transform on sliding elements

Next Steps

You now have everything you need to create amazing sliders with Smooothy! Here's what to explore next:

1. Combine with animations libraries (GSAP, Framer Motion)
2. Add custom loading states
3. Integrate with your favorite framework
4. Experiment with 3D transforms

Useful Resources

• Smooothy GitHub Repository
• Live Examples & Demos

Conclusion

Smooothy isn't just another slider library - it's a complete solution that respects your bundle size, your users' experience, and your developer happiness.

The best part? Everything you learned here works across all modern frameworks and vanilla JavaScript projects.

What will you build next? Share your Smooothy creations in the comments below!

Found this helpful? Give it a ⭐ and share with your fellow developers. Questions? Drop them in the comments - I read and respond to every single one!

Tags: #WebDevelopment #JavaScript #Slider #Frontend #Tutorial #Performance #UX