In setting up the slideshow widget, first you’ll need to add the widget to the area you want it to display. This can be done in live design or in your store admin.
The default area for the slideshow widget is in “Home Page Header Widgets” area on the home page. This area will set it on the home page, above the left and right columns. Otherwise you can place it at the top of the home page, so it will span between the columns.
(Option 1) Live design:
Click the widget icon to view the widgets. Go to the “Home Page Header Widgets” area and add a widget. If one is already there, hover over it and click the settings icon.
(Option 2) Admin Console:
Go to the widget area of the Home page (selected from the left column). Click on Add Widget to the HomePageHeaderWidgets section, select the Slideshow Widget. After it loads click the settings icon.
Next step (applies to both options)
After you have opened up the widget you’ll see a lot of different fields to customize the slideshow. First you'll want to set the size of the slideshow. Scroll down to Slideshow Settings and set the height and width of the slideshow. This setting will not affect the size of your images. If your images are larger than these dimensions, they will be cropped. So if your images are cut in half, it is most likely this height and width that needs to be corrected.
After this scroll down to “Slides” section. If there are no slides, click the “Add New Slide” button.
You can also make Content slides with HTML Content. To do this, select "Custom" from the Content Type dropdown