Sliders already load their scripts and styles only on pages that have a slider, and WordPress lazy-loads the images in your content. The Performance section adds three settings that make the sliders themselves lighter. This guide explains what each one does and when to use it.
What You’ll Learn
- How the slider cache works and when it is cleared
- How right-sized images save bandwidth
- When to preload the first image
- How to clear the cache by hand
Cache
Go to Gallery Slider > Performance & Analytics. With Cache sliders built from posts and the Media Library on (the default), the list of slides for content and saved sliders is kept, so the page does not query the database for it on every visit. Keep the Cache sets how many hours it is kept (12 by default).
The cache is emptied on its own when a post, an image or a category changes, so visitors never see old slides. Gallery blocks are not affected – their images are already part of the page.
Image Sizes
With Match the image size to the slider on (the default), a slider that shows several slides at once tells the browser it only needs smaller images, instead of loading the large size for every slide. This works for Gallery blocks and content sliders, and saves the most on phones.
Top of the Page
Turn on Preload the first image of the first slider when a slider is at the top of your pages, such as a hero slider. The browser then fetches its first image before anything else, which improves the Largest Contentful Paint score in Core Web Vitals. Leave it off (the default) when your sliders are further down the page, where preloading would only compete with more important content.
Clearing the Cache by Hand
Under Maintenance, click Clear cache after changes the plugin cannot see, such as switching themes or editing images with another plugin. The next visit to each page builds the slides again.
Performance settings are available in Gallery Slider Suite Pro.