Flexslider is a jQuery plugin by WooThemes and it makes it very easy to create slideshows.

The Newsflash module is part of the Joomla core and it can automatically display a list of articles, together with images from your body text.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to combine FlexSlider and Newsflash in order to create a beautiful slideshow that updates automatically.

Step #1. Create a template override

• Go to Extensions > Template manager > Templates
• Create overrides > mod_articles_news

This will create a set of files in templates/yourtemplate/html/mod_articles_news/

Step #2. Integrate Flexslider 2

• Download Flexslider from the developer's page
• Decompress the zip file
• Look for the jquery.flexslider-min.js file and move that inside your /templates/yourtemplate/js/ folder
• Look for the flexslider.css file and move that inside your templates/yourtemplate/css/ folder
• Look for the fonts folder and move that inside your templates/yourtemplate/css/ folder

Step #3. Customize the override

• Create a new PHP file named slideshow.php
• Save it inside templates/yourtemplate/html/mod_articles_news/

• Add the following code:

<?php
defined('_JEXEC') or die;
$app = JFactory::getApplication();
JHtml::_('stylesheet', 'templates/' . $app->getTemplate() . '/css/flexslider.css');
JHtml::_('script', 'templates/' . $app->getTemplate() . '/js/jquery.flexslider-min.js');
?>

<div class="newsflash flexslider <?php echo $moduleclass_sfx; ?>">
    <ul class="slides">
        <?php foreach ($list as $item) : ?>
            <li><?php require JModuleHelper::getLayoutPath('mod_articles_news', '_item'); ?></li>
        <?php endforeach; ?>
    </ul>
</div>

<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function(){
    jQuery('.flexslider').flexslider({
        animation: "slide"
    });
});
</script>

Take a look at this part of the code below. This code loads the new Javascript and CSS files.

JHtml::_('stylesheet', 'templates/' . $app->getTemplate() . '/css/flexslider.css');
JHtml::_('script', 'templates/' . $app->getTemplate() . '/js/jquery.flexslider-min.js');

This code below executes the jQuery plugin in the elements with the flexslider class.

<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function(){
    jQuery('.flexslider').flexslider({
        animation: "slide"
    });
});
</script>

Note: if your template doesn't use jQuery, add this line before loading flexslider.css:

JHtml::_('script', 'media/jui/js/jquery.min.js');
JHtml::_('script', 'media/jui/js/jquery-noconflict.js');

Step #4. Create a Newsflash module

• Go to Extensions > Module manager > New
• Choose Articles - Newsflash
• Select the category; be sure the articles contain images inside the description.
• In Advanced > Alternative layout choose slideshow

Set the params as in the screenshot below:

• Save when you’re done

Step #5. The end result

Go to the front of your site to check out your beautiful new slideshow, which will update automatically thanks to the Newsflash module: