Recently, my foundational theme from WP Startbox began alerting all child themes that its integrated slideshow was going to go “bye-bye”, and that I should buy-buy a great replacement that they recommend named Soliloquy. But Startbox’s creator, Brian (@rzen), suggested I first consider this presentation when it came time to replace a slider or carousel: ShouldIUseACarousel.com…

This set of slides raises some interesting thoughts & posts a number of quotes from people familiar with their use and statistics. I don’t see it as nearly so dire as the slideshow makes things out to be, though — I have a number of clients using them who have found them to be great for portfolio presentation, promotion of a smaller number of items, and for demonstration (again, when used sparingly, instead of loading it up with images and text).

Yet, this is an item that bears continued monitoring and reevaluation. For now, the old Slideshows will be replaced with Soliloquy, but that doesn’t lock them into existence forever, so I’ll be keeping any eye on things such as user experience and the like to insure it is worth its inclusion into content in what is often such a prominent position on the website.