WeatherSlider WP

Premium WordPress Weather widget

Version: 2.6.8 | Released: 22nd October 2017 | What's new?

Thank you

Thank you for purchasing this product. If you have any questions that are beyond the scope of this documentation, please feel free to email us.

About the item

WeatherSlider WP is a gorgeous weather widget that you can easily add to your WordPress site. It supports multiple units of measurement, time and date formats, geolocation and custom location search for your visitors. It’s device friendly by supporting responsive mode, touch gestures on mobile devices, and CSS3 transitions for optimal performance. It has a beautiful and easy-to-use admin interface with localization and WP Multisite support. It has tons of options to entirely customize the appearance and behavior of your weather widgets at the smallest detail.

Features

  • 48 different weather types with a powerful weather API
  • Showing current weather and 3 day weather forecast Showing current weather and 3 day weather forecast
  • Beautiful CSS3 animations with jQuery fallback
  • Responsive size from 240×200 to 1300×600 pixels (content, images and font size also auto resizing)
  • Multiple (unlimited) locations in one slider
  • Stunning admin user interface with visual editor to add locations
  • Multiple (unlimited) sliders on your site with unique settings!
  • Custom Location Search Bar (users can type their custom location)
  • Auto-Slideshow and Auto-Refresh features (optional)
  • Updated, reliable geolocation feature
  • 12 or 24 hour time format
  • Touch Control for mobile devices
  • Keyboard navigation (optional)
  • Multi-language support (works with the famous qTranslate plugin)
  • Localization ready, you can translate the entire plugin
  • Multisite ready with support for network-wide activation and handling new sites in the network
  • Supports all major browsers (but for using the WeatherSlider WP admin page we recommend Chrome, Safari or Firefox)
  • Very Detailed documentation
  • Layered graphic elements included in .PSD format
  • Free support and future updates

Compatibility

  • Requires at least WordPress 3.3
  • Requires at least jQuery 1.7. Working with 1.10.x or 2.x versions. Please note that jQuery 2.x is no more compatible with IE7 and 8.
  • Compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE7+, Opera and mobile browsers
In old browsers some animations (for example fading the transparent PNGs) are missing, but the plugin is fully functional.

Third party credits

We are extremely grateful for the people working on the projects below. These guys are making our lives much easier, thus we can focus on building high quality products.

Project Homepage Comment
jQuery jquery.com The most popular JavaScript library for building complex web apps.
World Weather Online worldweatheronline.com Global weather forecast and weather API provider
Google Maps API developers.google.com Free maps API from Google
Dashicons github.com/melchoyce/dashicons Dashicons is the official icon font of the WordPress admin as of 3.8.

Installation via WP plugin installer

  1. Extract the archive file on your machine that you've downloaded from CodeCanyon.
  2. Navigate to Plugins -> Add new page on your WordPress admin area.
  3. Select the Upload button on the top and choose the "weathersliderwp-x.x.x.installable.zip" file that you've extracted from the downloaded archive, then hit the Install Now button.
  4. WordPress may ask you to enter your FTP login credentials. Click on Proceed when you finished.
  5. The plugin is now installed, click on the Activate Plugin button.

Installation via FTP

  1. Extract the archive file on your machine that you've downloaded from CodeCanyon.
  2. Find the "weathersliderwp-x.x.x.installable.zip" file in the extracted contents and unpack that archive as well.
  3. Open your favorite FTP application and connect to your server. Navigate to the "/wp-content/plugins/" folder.
  4. Copy over the "WeatherSlider" folder extracted from "weathersliderwp-x.x.x.installable.zip" file.
  5. Navigate to the Plugins page on your WordPress admin area and click the Activate button below WeatherSlider WP.

Auto-update

Since WeatherSlider WP 2.3.0 we are supporting automatic updates. The auto-update feature requires a valid item purchase code; you can find it by navigating to your CodeCanyon downloads page and downloading your License Certificate for the corresponding item. Your Item Purchase code is in the downloaded text file. Please enter this code at the WeatherSlider WP main plugin page under the "News & Updates" section.

Manual update

Once you've downloaded the most recent version from your CodeCanyon downloads page you can deactivate and remove the old version, then install the new one. Your sliders and settings are in the database, removing the plugin won't touch them. The new version always has backwards compatibility, so you don't have to worry about anything.

Changes during updates

Depending on the default settings, you may have to enable or disable some settings related with the new features. If you experience any unwanted behavior change after an update, it is always a good idea to check the settings of your sliders, there are probably new options to control these changes.

Setting up your API key

Before you can use the plugin, WeatherSlider requires a World Weather Online API key. You can get it for free and it only takes a couple of seconds. Please click on the following URL and register for your own API key: http://developer.worldweatheronline.com/signup.aspx.

If you are done with the registration and received your key, please navigate to the WeatherSlider settings page and enter the key to the "WWO API key" text field and save your settings.

World Weather Online, the weather data provider that we’re working with, has changed its terms of service and will suspend free API signups. As of April 5th, WWO will no longer issue free API keys, thus new customers can only use this plugin with a premium subscription (which has a 60 day trial period). Current users with already registered API keys will not be affected, the plugin will continue to work as before. We’re currently looking into this situation and try to find a way to offer a solution without additional costs.
Thank you for your understanding.

What is caching?

Caching is a technique that helps avoiding API overuse and can significantly speed up loading of the weather information. Enable this option if you've a site with great traffic, or if you've received a warning from WorldWeatherOnline about overusing your free API.

How do I enable caching?

In some cases, you may need to make writable the cache folder in your "/wp-content/plugins/WeatherSlider/" directory. The plugin will let you know if a certain action from your part is required. See the Codex for more info.

Also, you can set the cache refresh interval, this setting controls how often the plugin should get the latest weather data in minutes. By adjusting this settings you can achieve even more effective results in API usage.

Managing sliders

You can add new sliders with the 'Add New' button at the top of the plugin's main admin page. After you've added a slider it will be listed in the list below. There are buttons at the end of each row, which enabling you to duplicate or remove sliders.

Inserting WeatherSlider with shortcode

You can place your WeatherSlider sliders into posts and pages with their shortcodes. Once you've created a slider, its shortcode will appear in the list of your sliders.

Inserting WeatherSlider with widget

WeatherSlider WP supports widgets, so you can place your WeatherSliders in your front-end page just by a drag 'n' drop. To do that, navigate to the Appearance menu on your left sidebar and select "Widgets". Grab the WeatherSlider WP Widget and drop it into one of your widget areas.

Please note that some themes may not support a widget area what you need. In this case, you can create a new widget area by editing your template files. See the official documentation about widgetizing your theme.

Calling WeatherSlider from your theme files

Because WeatherSlider can be an integral part of your site, you may want to place it into your theme files. There is a PHP function with filtering options that you can call for example from the header.php file of your theme to insert the slider on certain pages. Here is the function definition:

weatherslider ( mixed $sliderID [, string $pages] )

The $sliderID parameter can be found on the plugin page in the slider list view at the first table column.

The $pages parameter is a comma separated list of pages either by name or the ID of the pages. If you are unsure about your page names or IDs, look at their URL, it is the last component.

There is a special page name, the "homepage", with you can filter WeatherSlider WP to display the slider on your home page only.

The follwing examples are all valid, you can use either of these, you can even mix them on your own needs:

<?php weatherslider(1); ?> // Displays the first slider on every page
<?php weatherslider(1, 'homepage'); ?> // Displays the first slider only on your home page
<?php weatherslider(1, 'my-custom-post-title'); ?> // Displays the first slider on a custom page by name
<?php weatherslider(2, '1369'); ?> // Diplays the second slider on a custom page by ID
<?php weatherslider('paris', 'category-name'); ?> // Displays the slider with the slug 'paris' on a custom page by a category name
<?php weatherslider(3, 'homepage,about-us,1234'); ?> // Displays the third slider on multiple pages

Using the Geolocation feature

The Geolocation feature enables your visitors to see weather information for their own location. Just add the special location name "GEOLOCATION" (without quotation marks) to your list of locations, the plugin will handle the rest for you.

Supported slider dimensions

You can specify any size to the slider you want between 240x200 and 1300x600 pixels. These two limitations required to maintain the quality of the graphics elements.

Custom styling

By editing the weatherslider.css in your "/wp-content/plugins/WeatherSlider/css/" you can set custom style settings to your WeatherSliders. This requires some basic CSS knowledge.

How to translet the admin user interface?

  1. Download PoEdit

    There are several apps available to help you with translating .PO files. PoEdit is a popular one, and it's available on every major platform. You can download it from here.

  2. Start translating

    Open the default WeatherSlider-en_US.po file from your "/wp-content/plugins/WeatherSlider/locales/" folder. When you save your work PoEdit will generate you a .MO file which will be needed to apply your work.

  3. Name your files properly

    WordPress recognizes your localization by a special formatting of file names. You will need to include the right language and country codes so it can identify what language is your work made for.

    For example, a French localization would have the file names: WeatherSlider-fr_FR.po and WeatherSlider-fr_FR.mo. You must follow this syntax, including the dash, underscore, and lower- or uppercase letters.

  4. Apply your localization

    Copy your newly created .PO and .MO files into the "/wp-content/plugins/WeatherSlider/locales/" folder. WordPress should use them immediately if you named your files properly.

Creating multilingual sliders with qTranslate

qTranslate is the most easiest way to create multilingual sliders in WeatherSlider. It is a free and simple plugin that supports a shortcode-like syntax to enter text in multiple languages, so it can display the proper one for your visitors. WeatherSlider supports shortcodes and other special syntaxes in its language strings, so you can enter something like this to create a multilingual slider:

[:en]English text[:de]German text
The line above will output “English text” if the visitor selected an English page and “German text” if the visitor selected German. You can read more about qTranslate on their homepage.

Translating with the WPML plugin

You need a "Multilingual CMS" version of WPML with installed WPML String Translation add-on.

Translating the plugin's user interface:
  • Navigate WPML -> Theme and plugins localization
  • Select "Translate by WPML" option in "Select how to localize the theme" section.
  • In the newly appeared list of plugins, select WeatherSlider and click "Scan selected plugins for strings" button.
  • Under WPML -> String translation menu item, you can now see and edit the texts that WeatherSlider uses.

Creating multilingual sliders:

WeatherSlider registers translatable contents when you save your work. If you have used WeatherSlider before, you may need to re-save your plugin settings, even if you won't change anything. Once WeatherSlider registered its translatable contents, they will appear under the WPML -> String translation menu item in your WP admin sidebar.

About the Troubleshooting & Advanced Settings section

The "Troubleshooting & Advanced Settings" box contains options to improve the plugin's performance when it's possible and to avoid common incompatibility issues with other themes and plugins.

Please note, changing these settings incorrectly could break some features of your site, and it is not recommended for users without experience.

Is my location supported?

You can test your location and weather data on WorldWeatherOnline's website.

WeatherSlider keeps saying "getting weather"

Please, make sure about the following things:

  • You are using the most-recent version of the plugin
  • You get your own API key for the new WWO API
  • Your API key is valid and works without problems. You can test it on WWO's developer page.
  • Check your account standing by logging in on WWO's developer page.
  • You entered your API key properly, without any whitespaces or extra characters.

Please note, caching plugins on your WP installation could prevent showing real-time changes, and you might need to empty your caches to verify whether your actions have solved the problem or not.

Multiple widgets on the same page does not work

This is a limitation in the World Weather Online API, it doesn't allow parallel requests at the same time. Caching may help improving cases related to this limitation, but only WWO's premium API solves the problem entirely.

I have exceeded my API usage limit. What should I do?

WeatherSlider WP has caching functionality. It makes your widgets load faster and helps to decrease your API usage considerably. Adjusting the update intervals can be even more effective. Caching is highly recommended in most cases, see the "Setting up caching" section for more details.

I'm receiving security notifications on my HTTPS site

Since version 2.6.2 you can enable the "Use HTTPS" option in the plugin settings, so WeatherSlider will retrieve the weather information over a secure connection.

Changes in version 2.6.8

  • Fixed the API timeout issue that affected some users.

Changes in version 2.6.7

  • Improved compatibility with WordPress 4.6

Changes in version 2.6.6

  • API keys will no longer be in the source code in any case
  • Better WWO API error handling
  • Fixed some issues with WWO Premium API
  • Changed the following default settings:
    • Use Premium API: enabled
    • API version: API v1
    • Use HTTPS: enabled

Changes in version 2.6.5

  • Revamped documentation design
  • Fixed WordPress debug message under WP 4.3.

Changes in version 2.6.4

  • Fixed some issues with WWO API Version 2

Changes in version 2.6.3

  • Reporting WWO API error messages
  • Added option to set the API version
  • Fixed premium API with enabled caching
If you've registered a FREE API key before November 2014, you may need to set the API Version option to be API v1 (Legacy) after the update. This change should not affect premium API users.

Changes in version 2.6.2

  • Added HTTPS support

Changes in version 2.6.1

  • Fixed an issue that could result blank admin pages due to a PHP error

Changes in version 2.6.0

  • Major interface revamp with several enhancements
  • Updated documentation with clearer language
  • Added new and more reliable auto-update feature
  • Added release channels for optional beta testing
  • Added WeatherSlider News section
  • Added WorldWeatherOnline premium API support
  • Added WPML support for multilingual sliders
  • Added slider slug/alias support
  • Added option to allow plugin access to non-admin users
  • Added advanced settings for potential performance and compatibility improvements
  • Improved compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress
  • Improved compatibility with most themes and plugins
  • Using WP nonces to better secure your pages
  • The weatherslider() PHP function now accepts category name filters
  • Lots of fixes and other improvements

Changes in previous versions

2.5.0

  • Improved caching with faster results and less API usage
  • Improved autocomplete suggestions on the admin user interface
  • A new Geolocation feature as MaxMind discontinued to support their free Javascript API

2.4.1

  • Fixed an issue with the caching feature that prevented to load the weather data

2.4.0

  • Support for the new World Weather Online API

    IMPORTANT: if you are upgrading from previous versions of WeatherSlider, the plugin will need a new World Weather Online API key due to some changes in WWO API.

    You can register for a new API key here: http://developer.worldweatheronline.com/member/register

2.3.0

  • Added feature: auto-updates
  • Improvement: if caching support is disabled, the plugin will use AJAX only
  • Imrpovement: Improved CSS overrides to prevent the theme applying global CSS style settings on the slider and its elements
  • Bug fix: using wp_remote_post() instead of file_get_contents() to bypass the security restrictions of some hosting services
  • Bug fix: fixed init code to bypass WP filters
  • Bug fix: fixed an issue in IE9-10 and Opera that caused the animations to stop in a certain point

2.2.0

  • Added feature: caching support
  • Added feature: a public PHP function to display the slider with filtering options
  • Added feature: option to show always the weather forecast
  • Added feature: option to show always the custom location search box
  • Improvement: added jQuery 1.9 compatibility (the plugin needs now jQuery 1.7+)
  • Fixed: 12 hour time format
  • Fixed: infobox positioning issue
  • Fixed: animations under Opera

2.1.0

  • Added feature: WeatherSlider WP is now localization ready
  • Added feature: option to display custom location name
  • Added feature: option to hide the widget background
  • Improvement: you can now remove your custom location by erasing the search field
  • Improvement: improved WordPress 3.5 compatibility
  • Bug fix: Fixed language strings

2.0.1

  • Fixed an issue in language support

2.0.0

  • Stunning admin user interface with visual editor to add locations
  • Updated, reliable geolocation feature (powered by MaxMind)
  • Multi-language support (works with the famous qTranslate plugin)
  • Custom Location Search Bar (users can type their custom location)
  • Auto-Slideshow and Auto-Refresh features (optional)
  • Added a lot of customization options (forecast or weather informations can be switched off)
  • Added support for 12 hour time format
  • More intelligent weather information box sizing
  • Fixed 'one location touch' bug
  • Fixed degree symbol

1.2.2

  • fixed a function name bug
  • fixed a small bug of reduction
  • fixed some css glitches
  • removed shadow by default

1.2.1

  • added touch control for mobile devices
  • added geolocation feature
  • daytime bugfix
  • switched-off animation bugfixes

1.2.0

  • first release

If you get stuck...

Before contacting us, please make sure that you:

If you didn't find answer to your problem, please ask your question on the item discussion page or send us a private message from our Codecanyon profile page (Search for the "Email kreatura" box on the bottom right - in this case we will reply via email). We can answer your support questions only in these ways (please do not send us email directly).

IMPORTANT! For the fast troubleshooting, please send us detailed informations about the issue and make sure that you don't forget to send us your site url where you are using / want to use the item. Please note, that we cannot troubleshoot from screencast videos or screenshots.

Please take some time until we respond (usually in 24 - 48 hours).

Useful pages

site you can find here...
The website of the item demo sliders and examples
Codecanyon item page the latest version of the plugin
Codecanyon discussion an item discussion topic where you can ask your questions if you get stuck
FAQ of the item a detailed FAQ with answers for the most commonly asked questions and reported issues