Social Slider Feed - Settings Reference

Social Slider Feed (formerly Instagram Slider Widget) displays Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube feeds in widgets, posts, and pages. Its screens live under the Social Slider Feed menu in the WordPress admin sidebar: Profiles, Feeds, About, and Logs. The plugin has no global settings screen. Almost everything is configured per feed in the feed editor.

Feature gating: none. Since version 2.3.2, every former Pro feature (the Slick Slider, Masonry, Highlight, Shopifeed, and Masonry Lite templates, the Pop Up link option, Mobile settings, stories, and the feed header) is part of the free plugin. There is no Pro add-on or license screen.

In this article

• Profiles screen
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
• Feeds screen
• Feed editor layout
• Instagram feed settings
  • Common settings
  • Desktop and Mobile settings
• Facebook feed settings
  • Common settings
  • Desktop and Mobile settings
• YouTube feed settings
  • Common settings
  • Desktop and Mobile settings
• Widgets
• Logs screen
• About screen
• Controls that currently do nothing

Profiles screen

Social Slider Feed > Profiles (admin URL admin.php?page=settings-wisw) lists connected accounts in three stacked sections: Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Feeds can only pull from accounts connected here.

Instagram

• Add Account button. Opens a "Select type of account" dialog with a single Business account option, which starts the Meta (Facebook Login) authorization flow. After you authorize, a Choose Account: dialog lists the Instagram Business or Creator accounts linked to your Facebook Pages; pick one to connect it.
• Personal Instagram accounts can no longer be added (removed in 2.3.2 because Meta retired the Basic Display API). Personal accounts connected before that still appear in a Personal Accounts table, but they cannot be reconnected.
• Connected business accounts appear in a Business Accounts table with columns Image, ID, User (full name plus @username), Access Token (read-only), and Action (Delete).
• If a legacy personal account still has an old-format token, the plugin shows an admin notice asking you to reconnect it on this screen.

Facebook

• Add Account button. Starts the Facebook authorization flow. After you authorize, a Choose Account: dialog lists your Facebook Pages; pick one to connect it.
• Connected Pages appear in a table with columns Image, ID, Name, Access Token (read-only), and Action (Delete).

YouTube

YouTube needs a Google API key before any channel can be added.

• YouTube API key (text field) and Save button. Stores one site-wide YouTube Data API key.
• How to get YouTube API key link. Opens an internal help page with the steps for creating a key in the Google Cloud console.
• Add channel button. Opens an "Add Youtube channel" dialog with a Channel link field (example: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0WP5P-ufpRfjbNrmOWwLBQ), a How to get channel link link, and an Add channel submit button.
• Connected channels appear under Connected channels with columns Image, ID, Name, and Action (Delete).

Feeds screen

Social Slider Feed > Feeds (admin URL admin.php?page=feeds-wisw) has three stacked sections: Instagram feeds, Facebook feeds, and YouTube feeds. Each section has an Add feed button and a table with columns Name (links to the editor), Shortcode, and Action (edit and delete icons). An empty section shows "No feeds".

Shortcodes, one per network, each taking only the feed id:

Network	Shortcode
Instagram	[jr_instagram id="N"]
Facebook	[cm_facebook_feed id="N"]
YouTube	[cm_youtube_feed id="N"]

Feed IDs come from one shared counter, so an Instagram feed and a Facebook feed never share an ID.

Feed editor layout

Add feed or Edit opens the feed editor (headed Add feed or Edit feed). Every network's editor has the same structure:

1. A common block at the top: Title:, the source fields, and Check for new images every: (select interval). Once the feed is saved, Shortcode of this feed: shows the shortcode, ready to copy.
2. Desktop and Mobile tabs. The Mobile tab repeats the display settings from the Desktop tab with separate values. Visitors on a mobile or tablet browser (detected by user agent) get the Mobile values. Title, source, and refresh interval are shared by both tabs.
3. A Save button, which saves the feed and returns to the Feeds screen.

Instagram feed settings

Common settings

Title:

Text. The feed's name in the Feeds table and the widget picker. Default "Social Slider".

Search Instagram for

Radio: Business account / Username / Hashtag. Chooses where the images come from. New feeds preselect Business account when a business account is connected, otherwise Username. The choice shows the matching field below it:

• Business account (select). Lists connected Instagram business accounts. With none connected, shows an Add Account in Settings link to the Profiles screen.
• Username (text, prefixed instagram.com/).
• Hashtag (text, prefixed #), with the hint "If you have problems displaying by hashtag, please connect your business account and select display by hashtag again". Hashtag feeds also show Block Users (text): "Enter words separated by commas whose images you don't want to show".

Check for new images every: (select interval)

Number, 1 to 200 hours. Default 5. How long fetched images are cached before the plugin asks Instagram again.

Desktop and Mobile settings

Each control below appears on both tabs. Defaults are the same on both tabs unless noted.

Number of images to display:

Number (pcs), minimum 1. Default 20.

Number of words in caption:

Number (pcs), minimum 0. Default 20. Hidden for the Thumbnails, Thumbnails - Without Border, Highlight, and Slick Slider templates.

Order by

Select: Date - Ascending / Date - Descending / Popularity - Ascending / Popularity - Descending / Random (default). Popularity is likes plus comments and only applies to business-account feeds. Username and hashtag feeds sort by date instead.

Link to

Select. What clicking an image does:

• Instagram Image (default). Opens the post on Instagram.
• Image URL. Opens the image file.
• Custom Link. Every image links to the URL in Custom link:, which appears only when this option is selected.
• None.
• Pop Up. Opens the post in a lightbox on your site.

Hidden for the Shopifeed - Thumbnails template, which has its own click behavior.

Show feed header

Toggle. Off by default. Shows the account's profile picture, name, and counts above the images. Appears only when Search Instagram for is Business account.

Show Stories

Toggle. Off by default. Adds the account's current stories to the feed header. Hint: "Works only with business account." Appears only when Search Instagram for is Business account.

Enable author's ad

Toggle. Off by default. Adds a "Powered by Social Slider Feed" link below the feed.

Enable instagram icons

Toggle. Off by default. Shows video and carousel type icons on images. Used by every template except Slider - Normal.

Block words

Text. "Enter comma-separated words. If one of them occurs in the image description, the image will not be displayed". Hidden for hashtag feeds (they use Block Users instead).

Allow words

Text. "Enter comma-separated words. If one of them occurs in the image description, the image will be displayed". Hidden for hashtag feeds.

Template

Select. The layout. Default Slider - Normal. Each template shows its own extra settings:

Template	Extra settings (defaults)
Slider - Normal	Slider Navigation Controls: radio Prev & Next (default) / Dotted / No Navigation; Slider Animation: radio Slide (default) / Fade; Slide Speed: number in ms, minimum 1000, default 7000; Slider Text Description: multi-select of Username / Time / Caption (Ctrl-click to pick; leave all unselected to hide them; Username is hidden for hashtag feeds)
Slider - Overlay Text	Same as Slider - Normal
Thumbnails	Number of Columns: 1 to 10, default 4
Thumbnails - Without Border	Same as Thumbnails
Slick Slider	Enable control buttons toggle (off); Keep 1x1 Instagram ratio toggle (off); Images size: 1 to 500 px, default 300; Pictures per slide: default 3; Sliding speed: ms, default 5000; Space between pictures toggle (off)
Masonry	Vertical space between item elements: px, default 0; Image width: px, default 200. Shows the notice "Not recommended for sidebar". Adds a Show More button when more posts are available
Highlight	Offset (minimum 1, default 1) and Pattern (default 6). Controls which images are shown large: image number Offset is the first large one, then every Pattern-th image after it. Adds a Show More button when more posts are available
Shopifeed - Thumbnails	Phone (text, "Use for whatsapp messages"); Buttons Color (color, default #DA004A); Columns count (1 to 6, default 3)
Masonry Lite	Columns: 1 to 6 cols, default 4 on desktop and 2 on mobile; Gap: px, default 10 on desktop and 5 on mobile

Facebook feed settings

Common settings

• Title: (text). Default "Facebook feed".
• Account (select). Lists connected Facebook Pages. With none connected, shows an Add Account in Settings link.
• Check for new images every: (select interval): number, 1 to 200 hours, default 5.

Desktop and Mobile settings

• Number of images to display: (pcs, minimum 1). Default 20.
• Link to (select): Popup / Facebook link / None. Popup opens the post in a lightbox; Facebook link opens the post on Facebook.
• Show feed header (toggle, off). Shows the Page's avatar, name, and post time on each post.
• Template (select). Only Masonry is available. Shows "Not recommended for sidebar".
• Post width: (px, Masonry only). Default 200.

Number of words in caption:, Order by, and Vertical space between item elements: also appear here; see Controls that currently do nothing.

YouTube feed settings

Common settings

• Title: (text). Default "YouTube feed".
• Account (select). Lists connected YouTube channels. With none connected, shows an Add Account in Settings link.
• Check for new images every: (select interval): number, 1 to 200 hours, default 5.

Desktop and Mobile settings

• Number of images to display: (pcs, minimum 1). Default 20.
• Request videos by: (select): Relevance (default) / Date / Rating / View count / Unspecified. Passed to the YouTube API as the order of the channel search, so it decides which videos are fetched.
• Order by (select): Date - Ascending / Date - Descending / Popularity - Ascending / Popularity - Descending / Random (default). Sorts the fetched videos on the page. Popularity uses view count.
• Link to (select): YouTube link / Custom URL / None / Pop up. YouTube link opens the video on YouTube; Pop up plays it in a lightbox on your site.
• Show feed header (toggle). Off by default on Desktop, on by default on Mobile. Shows the channel's avatar and name above the videos.
• Block words (text). Comma-separated words; videos whose title contains one are hidden. The description is not checked.
• Template (select). Only Default is available.
• Number of Columns: (1 to 10). Default 2.

Number of words in caption: and the Custom link: field also appear here; see Controls that currently do nothing.

Widgets

The plugin registers three classic widgets under Appearance > Widgets: Social Slider - Instagram, Social Slider - Facebook, and Social Slider - Youtube. Each has only two fields:

• Title: (text). Defaults "Instagram feed", "Facebook feed", and "YouTube feed".
• Instagram feed / Facebook feed / Youtube feed (select). Picks one of the saved feeds for that network. All display options come from the feed, not the widget.

In the block editor, use a Shortcode block with the feed's shortcode instead.

Logs screen

Social Slider Feed > Logs shows the plugin log ("In this section, you can track how the plugin works. Sending this log to the developer will help you resolve possible issues."). Buttons: Export Debug Information (downloads a debug report) and Clean-up Logs (shows the current log size). No settings.

About screen

Social Slider Feed > About is informational only (features, benefits, feedback and support links). No settings.

Controls that currently do nothing

These controls are visible and saved, but no code reads their values when the feed renders. Do not document them as working settings.

Control	Where	Why it has no effect
Number of words in caption:	Facebook feed, Desktop and Mobile	The Masonry template does not print post text
Order by (all options except Random)	Facebook feed, Desktop and Mobile	The sort functions read YouTube-style fields that Facebook posts do not have, so posts keep the API's order
Vertical space between item elements:	Facebook feed, Desktop and Mobile	The Masonry script uses a fixed 5 px gap
Number of words in caption:	YouTube feed, Desktop and Mobile	The template shows the full video title, clipped to two lines by CSS
Custom link: / Custom URL link option	YouTube feed, Desktop and Mobile	The template only builds links for YouTube link; Custom URL behaves like None