The Carousel Plugin

The Carousel plugin is a component for cycling through elements, like a carousel (slideshow).

How To Create a Carousel

The following example shows how to create a basic carousel:

EXAMPLE:

<div id="myCarousel" class="carousel slide" data-ride="carousel">
  
  <ol class="carousel-indicators">
    <li data-target="#myCarousel" data-slide-to="0" class="active"></li>
    <li data-target="#myCarousel" data-slide-to="1"></li>
    <li data-target="#myCarousel" data-slide-to="2"></li>
  </ol>

  
  <div class="carousel-inner">
    <div class="item active">
      <img src="la.jpg" alt="Los Angeles">
    </div>

    <div class="item">
      <img src="chicago.jpg" alt="Chicago">
    </div>

    <div class="item">
      <img src="ny.jpg" alt="New York">
    </div>
  </div>

  
  <a class="left carousel-control" href="#myCarousel" data-slide="prev">
    <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-chevron-left"></span>
    <span class="sr-only">Previous</span>
  </a>
  <a class="right carousel-control" href="#myCarousel" data-slide="next">
    <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-chevron-right"></span>
    <span class="sr-only">Next</span>
  </a>
</div>

Example Explained

The outermost <div>:

Carousels require the use of an id (in this case id="myCarousel") for carousel controls to function properly.

The class="carousel" specifies that this <div> contains a carousel.

The .slide class adds a CSS transition and animation effect, which makes the items slide when showing a new item. Omit this class if you do not want this effect.

The data-ride="carousel" attribute tells Bootstrap to begin animating the carousel immediately when the page loads.

The "Indicators" part:

The indicators are the little dots at the bottom of each slide (which indicates how many slides there are in the carousel, and which slide the user is currently viewing).

The indicators are specified in an ordered list with class .carousel-indicators.

The data-target attribute points to the id of the carousel.

The data-slide-to attribute specifies which slide to go to, when clicking on the specific dot.

The "Wrapper for slides" part:

The slides are specified in a <div> with class .carousel-inner.

The content of each slide is defined in a <div> with class .item. This can be text or images.

The .active class needs to be added to one of the slides. Otherwise, the carousel will not be visible.

The "Left and right controls" part:

This code adds "left" and "right" buttons that allows the user to go back and forth between the slides manually.

The data-slide attribute accepts the keywords "prev" or "next", which alters the slide position relative to its current position.

Add Captions to Slides

Add <div class="carousel-caption"> within each <div class="item"> to create a caption for each slide:

EXAMPLE:

<div id="myCarousel" class="carousel slide" data-ride="carousel">
  
  <ol class="carousel-indicators">
    <li data-target="#myCarousel" data-slide-to="0" class="active"></li>
    <li data-target="#myCarousel" data-slide-to="1"></li>
    <li data-target="#myCarousel" data-slide-to="2"></li>
  </ol>

  
  <div class="carousel-inner">
    <div class="item active">
      <img src="la.jpg" alt="Chania">
      <div class="carousel-caption">
        <h3>Los Angeles</h3>
        <p>LA is always so much fun!</p>
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="item">
      <img src="chicago.jpg" alt="Chicago">
      <div class="carousel-caption">
        <h3>Chicago</h3>
        <p>Thank you, Chicago!</p>
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="item">
      <img src="ny.jpg" alt="New York">
      <div class="carousel-caption">
        <h3>New York</h3>
        <p>We love the Big Apple!</p>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>

  
  <a class="left carousel-control" href="#myCarousel" data-slide="prev">
    <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-chevron-left"></span>
    <span class="sr-only">Previous</span>
  </a>
  <a class="right carousel-control" href="#myCarousel" data-slide="next">
    <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-chevron-right"></span>
    <span class="sr-only">Next</span>
  </a>
</div>