New Features: Image Carousel, Background Zoom, and Reverse Parallax

You can already set a still image as a background, now you can create an Image Carousel as well as Background Zoom. We like feeling adventurous so we create features that bring movement to your website. Talking about movement, there's the option to reverse parallax now too.

And when you thought that creating a website cannot get any quicker, we found a way! You can use Keyboard Shortcuts to navigate through the features with maximum speed.

Create your page like a Pro even with the Free version. You heard us right - all these features are available in the Free version as well as the Premium.

Image Carousel

The term 'Image Carousel' might sound a bit intimidating at first, but it's harmless. Even more than that - it's fun (who doesn't like theme parks, right?) When using Image Slideshow as the Background type, Carousel effect will make your site always moving. Apart from the Slide effect, it makes the images move all the time, changing each other seamlessly.

Let's say you are creating a website for your company and want to show an image of your whole team, but there's a lot of people, therefore, the image is too wide for the page. You've already everything, even changing the WordPress default image size. What you can do, is divide the image into several separate ones and set them as a carousel, creating an illusion of a continuous, moving image.

The Image Carousel is quickly available in Design Options of rows and columns. And you can find the step by step tutorial on how to set it at our Help Center.

Background Zoom

If a carousel is a just too much movement for your site, now you can choose a more subtle background type - the Background zoom. It zooms in and zooms out - it's all in the name already. You can easily adjust the speed and direction of the zoom effect and enjoy the little 'edge' it can give to your page.

Apart from the 'edge' this effect gives, it can also be used to focus the visitors' attention to a certain point. Add the background zoom to hero section at the beginning of your page, so their attention is directed exactly where you want it to. The Background zoom can be added via Design Options and as always, you can read more about it in our Help Center.

Image background with zoom in/out effect

Reverse Parallax

The Parallax effect has already established its place, but we thought there just weren't enough options. So now you can reverse the Parallax effect. And again - it's all in the name. Just reverse the parallax. Sometimes you want the Parallax effect to follow the mouse, not move opposite of it, in that case simply find the 'Reverse Parallax' toggle in the element Design Options and enable it.

If you're not 100% familiar with the parallax effect, let me make a quick introduction. In this case parallax effect means that the background is moving slower than the foreground. But as any effect, too much is never good. Use the parallax effect to create a dimensional feel to your product by adding a parallax to the image of it or create an engaging hero section at the beginning of the page to keep the visitor interested.

Research says that visitors do think that parallax effect is more fun and gives an impression of a more professional design, so use it wisely and have fun!

Keyboard Shortcuts

We know that there's a lot on your plate when creating a website, especially if you are a hard-working developer. To save you some precious time, it's finally possible to use already well-known Keyboard Shortcuts. One letter away is a template, the Tree View, an element - just to name a few.

You can use the following time-saving shortcuts:

  • Open Add Element (A)
  • Open Template (L)
  • Open Tree View (T)
  • Save/Publish (Cmd/Ctrl + S)
  • Preview (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P)
  • Undo (Cmd/Ctrl + Z)
  • Redo (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Z)
  • Close window (Esc)

It's Only the Beginning

As always, we do everything we can to make your website looking good and you feeling happy while making it. These new options should be just what's needed for that. 

We will not stop here, so feel free to comment below, what features you want to see in the future.

Stay tuned and start creating with Visual Composer!