Most WordPress carousel plugins load heavy libraries (Slick, Swiper, jQuery) and fail basic accessibility checks. Screen readers can’t navigate them, keyboard users are stuck, and WCAG audits flag them every time.
Snap Carousel takes a different approach: CSS scroll-snap does the scrolling, proper ARIA attributes do the rest. No JavaScript library, no configuration panel, no learning curve — just a block style to apply in one click.
Built by WeAre[WP], a WordPress agency specializing in accessible websites and RGAA audits. This plugin exists because we needed a carousel that actually passes our own audits.
Supported blocks
Apply any of the 4 carousel styles to:
- Group block (
core/group) — any child blocks become slides - Query Loop block (
core/query) — posts scroll as carousel slides - Gallery block (
core/gallery) — images scroll as carousel slides
Variants
- Carousel (3 items) — 3 visible items + peek
- Carousel (1 item) — full-width slideshow
- Carousel (2 items) — 2 visible items + peek
- Carousel (4 items) — 4 visible items + peek
Features
- 100% CSS scroll-snap — no Slick, no Swiper, no jQuery
- Prev/next navigation buttons
- Keyboard navigation (Arrow keys, Home, End)
- Full ARIA attributes (role=»region», aria-roledescription, aria-live)
- Peek effect: partial visibility of the next item, signaling scrollable content
- Responsive (auto tablet/mobile adaptation)
- Respects
prefers-reduced-motion - Works with Group, Query Loop, and Gallery blocks
- Works with any child block (images, columns, groups, WooCommerce…)
- Lightweight: ~2 KB CSS + ~2 KB JS, zero external dependency
- Full RTL (right-to-left) language support
- Fully internationalized (i18n ready, French translation included)
- Easy to customize via CSS custom properties or overrides
Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA)
role="region"+aria-roledescription="carousel"on the containerrole="group"+aria-roledescription="slide"on each itemaria-label="X of Y"for position contexttabindex="0"for keyboard focusaria-live="polite"to announce changes- Buttons with
aria-labelandaria-controls - Touch targets 44×44px minimum
- Visible focus indicator
Usage
With a Group block
- In the editor, create a Group block
- Set the group layout to Row
- Add child blocks (images, groups, columns…)
- In the sidebar panel → Styles → choose Carousel (3 items) (or another variant)
- Publish
With a Query Loop block
- Insert a Query Loop block
- Configure the query (post type, filters, number of items…)
- In the sidebar panel → Styles → choose a Carousel variant
- Publish — posts scroll horizontally as carousel slides
With a Gallery block
- Insert a Gallery block and add images
- In the sidebar panel → Styles → choose a Carousel variant
- Publish — images scroll horizontally as carousel slides
Navigation buttons and accessibility attributes are automatically injected on the front-end.
Customization
The carousel is designed to work out of the box, but you can easily override styles in your theme’s style.css or via the WordPress Customizer > Additional CSS.
Disable the peek effect
By default, items are slightly narrower than the visible area so the next item «peeks» in — signaling there is more content to scroll. To disable this and show full-width items:
/* Disable peek — 3 items variant */
.is-style-snap-carousel > * {
flex-basis: calc(33.333% - 1rem) !important;
}
/* Disable peek — 1 item variant */
.is-style-snap-carousel-single > * {
flex-basis: 100% !important;
}
/* Disable peek — 2 items variant */
.is-style-snap-carousel-duo > * {
flex-basis: calc(50% - 0.75rem) !important;
}
/* Disable peek — 4 items variant */
.is-style-snap-carousel-quad > * {
flex-basis: calc(25% - 1.125rem) !important;
}
Customize navigation arrows
/* Arrow color and background */
.snap-carousel-prev,
.snap-carousel-next {
background: #0073aa;
color: #ffffff;
border-color: #0073aa;
}
/* Arrow hover state */
.snap-carousel-prev:hover,
.snap-carousel-next:hover {
background: #005177;
color: #ffffff;
}
/* Arrow size (default: 44px — WCAG minimum touch target) */
.snap-carousel-prev,
.snap-carousel-next {
width: 48px;
height: 48px;
}
/* Square arrows instead of round */
.snap-carousel-prev,
.snap-carousel-next {
border-radius: 8px;
}
Customize spacing
/* Gap between items */
[class*="is-style-snap-carousel"] {
gap: 2rem;
}
/* Space above carousel (room for navigation) */
.snap-carousel-wrapper {
padding-top: 4rem;
}
Customize focus indicator
/* Custom focus color for keyboard navigation */
[class*="is-style-snap-carousel"]:focus-visible {
outline-color: #ff6600;
outline-width: 3px;
}
.snap-carousel-prev:focus-visible,
.snap-carousel-next:focus-visible {
outline-color: #ff6600;
}
Use with WordPress theme.json design tokens
The carousel already uses --wp--preset--color--base, --wp--preset--color--contrast and --wp--preset--color--primary tokens. You can override these per-block in theme.json or via CSS:
/* Example: dark themed carousel */
.snap-carousel-wrapper {
--wp--preset--color--base: #1a1a2e;
--wp--preset--color--contrast: #e0e0e0;
--wp--preset--color--primary: #e94560;
}<h3>Technical Notes</h3>
– CSS overrides flex-wrap: nowrap on the Row container to force horizontal scrolling
– Items use a slightly reduced flex-basis to create a peek effect (next item partially visible)
– Navigation buttons are positioned absolute at the top right (adjust top value for your theme)
– JS uses a 150ms debounce on scroll for button state updates and 300ms for screen reader announcements
– Compatible with WooCommerce blocks (products, etc.)
About
Snap Carousel is built and maintained by WeAre[WP], a French WordPress agency specializing in accessible websites and RGAA compliance audits. This plugin was built to solve a real problem: every carousel plugin we audited failed basic accessibility requirements. So we built one that passes our own audits.
Need help with your WordPress project? Get in touch.