For instance, if you’re creating an ecommerce store, then including an image carousel that has image zoom would be important, as it would allow users to zoom into images. Or, if you’re running a blog, then photo captions would be a useful feature to include for blog graphics. We’ll be taking a look at a great variety of libraries and components in this guide. Let’s get started!
1. React Owl Carousel
React Owl Carousel is a React port of the popular jQuery plugin called Owl Carousel. If you’re on the lookout for an image slider to add to your project, then I’d definitely recommend this one, as it has an incredible array of features. Features include:
Mobile support Customizable Mobile gestures such as drag-to-swipe supported Fully responsive
To get started, all you need to do is install the library via NPM and then follow the steps shown in the documentation. I’ve found it quite quick to set-up, since lots of code samples are provided on the GitHub repository’s Readme page.
2. React Animated Slider
React Animated Slider is an image carousel component for React that supports image transitions and image captions. A sliding animation is available, which makes for a seamless user experience overall! You can also customize the content that’s placed within the carousel, for instance if you want to display a heading with subtitle text, this is also possible. There are lots of variations of this, and I’d definitely recommend taking a look at the demos available on the website to see the various interactive examples that showcase the carousel in action. The code samples for each demo are also provided too!
3. Lightbox.js
Lightbox.js is a React image carousel that’s quick and easy to set-up. It has a whole range of great features, including image zooming, theming, as well as slideshow playback and image transitions. This component is a fully-featured lightbox, which can be used to create an image slider, so that users can navigate through the images in the gallery. Features include:
Image zooming Fully responsive Pinch-to-zoom for mobile devices Mobile support
This lightbox is quite easy to set-up overall, and has a fantastic set of demos, so be sure to take a look at those to see the lightbox in action! This demo page showcases some of the potential use cases, such as for an eCommerce store, an online photo portfolio and more. You can zoom into images on a desktop through the mouse-wheel or by clicking on the image. If using a mobile device, you can do so by using the pinch-to-zoom gesture or through clicking on the zoom controls in the header provided. The backdrop to the image carousel can also be customized, so you can edit the background color and icon colors too. There are also varying image transitions available, such as a slide transition between images, or a fade-in animation as shown below. Overall, I’d definitely recommend this image carousel, as it has lots of important features, from image zooming to mobile support and so much more!
4. React Simply Carousel
React Simply Carousel is an image slider component for React that has a great set of features, and it supports frameworks such as Gatsby and Next.js too, which is fantastic if you’re developing a server-side rendered site with these frameworks and wish to include a carousel in your project. Features include:
Customization options Responsive with mobile support Great performance and lightweight Drag-to-swipe support Code samples for quick set-up
This component has a great variety of features, and would be an excellent addition to any project. Be sure to take a look at the demo on Codesandbox to see how it works, as well as an interactive demo you can try out too.
5. React Slick
React Slick is a port of the jQuery library called Slick, which allows you to develop swipeable image carousels with ease. This is more of a low-level solution, especially if you’re hoping to add an image slider to your project. For instance, image zooming functionality isn’t supported, however I’d recommend the other libraries mentioned in this guide if you’re looking for those features. This library is primarily for developers who wish to create their own custom solution by adding other modular features to the carousel through the addition of other libraries. For instance, you could integrate it with a library such as Lightbox.js so that when a user clicks on an image, a lightbox appears. Using a more low-level library such as this one is excellent if you want to create your own custom solution. This all depends on your project’s use case that being said. Overall, I’ve found the documentation to be incredibly comprehensive and the demo is great for seeing how it works.
6. Swiper.js
Swiper.js is another library that can be used to develop swipeable React carousels. It can also be used with other frameworks including Vue.js and Angular, and it is quite a popular solution with developers. I’ve found the documentation to be incredibly comprehensive and easy-to-follow overall, so I’d definitely recommend taking a look at this library! There are plenty of demos on the official website too, so that you can try out the various galleries created with Swiper.js.
7. Image Slider
Image Slider is a fantastic image slider component available for React, with great documentation! Be sure to take a look at the demo on the official website to see how it works, and to try out the interactive example available. You can also see a preview of the demo in the image below, complete with navigation arrows which can be used to cycle through the images in the set. The documentation in the NPM package’s official page is quite comprehensive and shows the quick steps required to get started. Simply install the package, take a look at the code samples and you’ll have an image carousel added to your site in no time!
Hopefully You’ve Discovered Some Great React Image Carousels!
Hopefully this guide has helped you decide on the ideal React image carousel for your project. We’ve taken a look at a variety of components, including some low-level libraries that you can use to build your very own image slider. However if you’d like to cut down on development time and costs, then be sure to take a look at the pre-built libraries mentioned too. If you have any other questions or suggestions, be sure to add a comment below, as I’d love to hear your thoughts or feedback! Thanks again for reading, and wishing you the very best with adding a React image carousel to your project! This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
