PrestaShop change banner on the home page: the slider, a seasonal banner and going back
Changing a banner in PrestaShop depends on where the banner comes from. In the Classic theme, the home page slider is the Image slider module, where you swap a slide's image, title and link. A single banner is a separate module. In bought themes, the banner may sit in a template or in the theme author's page builder.
Author: The TellMyShop team. A guide for PrestaShop store owners: the cause, the manual fix and the same work in a chat conversation.
Last updated: · 5 min read
Where does the home page banner come from?
From a module or from the theme template, and that decides where you change it. Before you start searching, look in Design > Positions. Under the home page hook (displayHome) you will see the modules that build it.
| Banner source | How to recognise it | Where to change it |
|---|---|---|
| Image slider module | several rotating slides | Modules > Module Manager > Image slider > Configure |
| Banner module | one image between page sections | Modules > Module Manager > Banner > Configure |
| Theme template | a banner with no settings in the admin | the home page template file in the theme |
| Theme page builder | a drag-and-drop editor | the theme author's module |
Store owners have been asking about changing the banner on the PrestaShop forum (in Polish) for years. The answer almost always starts with a question about the theme. You will find the Classic theme's slider code in the ps_imageslider module repository.
How to swap a slide in the slider step by step
In the slider module you do this without touching any files.
- Go to Modules > Module Manager and search for “slider”.
- Click Configure next to the Image slider module.
- Add a new slide or edit an existing one.
- Upload an image with the same dimensions as the current slides.
- Type the title, target URL and caption. The caption also goes into the image alt text.
- Repeat for each store language.
- Set the slide as enabled and drag it to the top of the list.
- Disable the old slide instead of deleting it.
Finally, open the home page in a private window. If nothing has changed, read why changes are not visible in PrestaShop.
How to plan a seasonal banner
Prepare it together with the campaign, not on launch day. Wednesday, 20:15, the autumn sale starts tomorrow. The image is ready, but the slider has three languages, and each slide needs its own image and link. Along the way it turns out that the slide title is a page heading and the images have no alt text.
A few rules help:
- The banner leads to one specific category or promotion page, not to the home page.
- Each language has its own image and its own alt text.
- The alt text says what is on the banner, not “banner1”. Google sets out the rules for alt text in its guide to images.
- The old banner is disabled, not deleted.
- You note the date to switch the banner off in the campaign calendar.
A slider or a single banner for a campaign?
For a campaign, one slide with one message is usually enough. A slider rotates several images, and not every customer waits for the third one. If the sale is the most important thing this week, put it on the first slide, or make it the only one.
| Situation | Better choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One campaign, a short deadline | one slide or a banner | one message, one link |
| Several categories of equal weight | a slider with 2 or 3 slides | each category gets its place |
| Information about delivery or a deadline | a text bar above the banner | readable on a phone too |
Also check the banner on a phone. Text built into the image is often unreadable on a small screen. A short caption and a big button in the image work better than a long sentence. If the theme allows it, prepare a separate version of the image for phones.
What if the slider has to be changed in the template?
Change the copy of the template in the theme, not the module file. PrestaShop lets you copy a module's template into the theme and then uses the copy. A module update will not overwrite it. This is described in the documentation on overriding modules.
That is how you fix, for example, slide titles that the theme displays as page headings. The home page should have one main heading, and slide titles can be plain text.
How to change the banner with the chat
You describe the campaign, and your chat (Claude or ChatGPT) works out where the banner comes from and proposes a change with a preview.
You: For the autumn sale I want a banner linking to the Lanterns category. The image autumn.jpg is already uploaded. Add alt text in English and French.
Your chat: The home page banner comes from the theme template, not from a module. I suggest a change in the file, with a backup:
After saving, I will clear the cache and check the home page. You can restore the old banner from the backup after the campaign.
Card status: waiting for your “yes”old version: <img src="summer.jpg" alt="banner1">
new version: <img src="autumn.jpg" alt="Autumn lantern sale">
old version: link: /summer-offers
new version: link: /lanterns
A new seasonal banner is one request and one preview. Every file gets a backup before saving. After the campaign you restore the previous version from the backup, also with a preview.
Appearance changes work in TellMyShop Pro, once you turn on the Theme switch. The switch lasts 24 hours and needs a database backup made the same day. You upload images yourself, and you change slide content in the slider module's configuration. In the free TellMyShop Free the chat checks the headings on the home page and points to the modules that build it.
The two most common tasks are described in the use cases a seasonal banner on the home page and headings and image alt text in the slider. If you are changing the order of sections along with the banner, read about the home page layout.
Questions and answers
What size should a slider image be?
The same as the current slides in your theme. Every theme has a different home page width, and the slider stretches or crops images with other proportions. Check the dimensions of the current slide image and prepare the new one at the same size. Save it as JPG or WebP so the page loads quickly.
Why does the new banner not appear on the page?
Most often because of the cache or a disabled slide. Check that the slide is enabled and has an image in the language you are viewing. Then clear the cache in Advanced Parameters > Performance and refresh the page in a private window. In a store with several languages, each language has its own image.
Does the slider banner matter for Google?
It does, though only a little. Image alt text helps Google and screen readers understand what is in the picture. Something else often matters more. In some themes, slide titles are page headings, so the home page has several of them. That is worth checking and fixing in the slider template.
How do I go back to the old banner after a campaign?
The simplest way is not to delete the old slide, but to disable it for the campaign. After the promotion you enable the old one and disable the seasonal one. If the chat changed the banner in a template, the previous version of the file is in a backup, and you restore it with one instruction, with a preview of the differences.
Will the chat upload the banner image?
No. You upload the image yourself, in the slider module configuration or in the file manager. The chat changes a banner stored in the theme template, links, image alt text and the slider's look through a copy of the template in the theme. This works in TellMyShop Pro with the Theme switch on.
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