Creating a Responsive Carousel for Web: From Design to Implementation

GAMINGbible’s “Croissant” carousel 🥐

Introduction

In the world of web development, interactivity and responsiveness are not just trends but necessities. A well-executed carousel can significantly enhance the user experience, providing a dynamic way to browse content seamlessly across devices. This article details the creation of a sophisticated, responsive carousel for a news website, focusing on our approach from initial design through to final implementation.

Design Inspiration and Planning

Starting with Desktop

The journey began with the most complex task: designing for the desktop. Given its ample real estate, the desktop version was conceived to showcase interactive animations and detailed content visibility. Our goal was to design a carousel that not only meets aesthetic expectations but also functions as a central element of the user interface.

Desktop design

Adapting for Mobile and Tablet

With the desktop design set, the next challenge was adaptation. Mobile devices, with their limited screen sizes, required a simplified version of the carousel. We ensured that the essential functionalities and visual elements remained intact, providing a consistent user experience. The tablet version was a blend, utilising the real estate efficiently to display multiple cards at once, which introduced a unique design perspective.

Mobile and Tablet layout

Implementation Steps

Layout-First Approach

We initiated the build by mirroring the static layouts of the carousel as per the design specs. This phase was crucial for aligning the visual elements accurately across different breakpoints without any interactive elements.

To achieve precise control over the placement and animation of the carousel cards, we utilized a data-attribute (data-position) on each card element. This attribute dynamically reflected the card's position relative to the active card, which was governed by the currentIndex state in React. For instance, the central card in view would have a data-attribute like .card[data-position="0"], making it straightforward to apply specific CSS styles and transformations to it and its neighboring cards. This method allowed us to target and style cards based on their current position with high specificity in our CSS:

.card[data-position="0"] {
  transform: translateX(0);
  opacity: 1;
}
.card[data-position="1"], .card[data-position="-1"] {
  transform: translateX(100%);
  opacity: 0.5;
}

This approach provided a flexible and efficient way to handle the styling of the cards as they entered and exited the carousel’s viewport, ensuring smooth transitions and maintaining a consistent layout across different device screens.

Integrating Carousel Logic

Once the layouts were responsive, we introduced the carousel functionality. Using React’s state management, we controlled which card was active with a currentIndex state, dynamically updating the carousel’s view to show the active card in focus.

const swipeLeft = () => {
  setCurrentIndex((prevIndex) => {
    return prevIndex < articles.length - 1 ? prevIndex + 1 : prevIndex;
  });
};

Responsive Adjustments

We employed CSS and media queries to refine the carousel’s behavior across devices. This ensured that transitions and animations were smooth and that layout shifts between devices were seamless.

Fully responsive

Challenges and Enhancements

Enhancing Swipe Interactivity

Initially, the swipe functionality changed the active card but lacked fluid motion. To address this, we made the carousel’s active card follow the swipe gesture of the user, enhancing the tactile feedback and making the interface feel more natural and engaging.

const style = { '--moving': `${touchMove}px`, '--deg': `calc(0.1deg * ${touchMove})` };

Swipe interactivity

Navigation Indicators

To improve usability, we added indicators that reflect the current position within the carousel. This small yet effective component provides users with a visual cue of their navigation, enhancing the overall usability of the carousel.

const Indicators = ({ indicatorCount, activeIndicator }) => {
  return (
    <div className={styles.indicators}>
      {Array.from({ length: indicatorCount }).map((_, index) => (
        <div key={`indicator-${index}`} className={index === activeIndicator ? styles.activeIndicator : ''} />
      ))}
    </div>
  );
};

Conclusion

The development of this carousel not only improved the aesthetic appeal of the website but also its functionality, providing a seamless user experience across all devices. The project highlighted the importance of thoughtful design, meticulous planning, and responsive adaptation in web development (and yes this carousel was coined internally as the “croissant” carousel due to it looking like one 🥐).