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While developing a custom section on our Elementor-based WordPress website, we ran into an unusual but frustrating issue with a Loop Carousel slider. The layout appeared fine visually, but on deeper inspection, there was a persistent space between the slider content and the navigation dots — and no obvious reason for it.
After hours of debugging, inspecting elements, and checking all configurations — including Elementor’s default styles, custom templates — the issue persisted. This blog post outlines the full diagnostic process and the final solution that fixed it. If you’re facing something similar, this might save you hours of time.
We were working on a slider of “Success Stories” using Elementor’s Loop Carousel widget. The setup was standard: each slide displayed one item at a time with a featured image, heading, and short description. All the content was pulled from custom templates built with Elementor’s Theme Builder.
From the front end, everything looked fine — until we noticed a noticeable space between the content area and the navigation dots below. This wasn’t a small detail; it disrupted the entire visual flow of the section.
Our first assumption was that some CSS — maybe a margin, padding, or a min-height — was causing the extra space. So, we inspected the carousel using browser DevTools. We checked:
Nothing seemed out of place. No suspicious padding or margins, no obvious layout conflicts. The structure was clean, and the spacing looked logically correct in the code — yet, the extra space persisted on the front end.
We even experimented by removing different elements, stripping the design down, and testing various layout settings. Still, no change. The gap remained.
After confirming that no immediate CSS or HTML was to blame, we looked into how the loop carousel behaves with dynamic content.
Here’s what we examined step-by-step:
Eventually, this gave us a clue. Even though only one slide is visible, the hidden slides still affected the overall carousel height.
After testing multiple layout conditions, we pinpointed the real problem.
Even though we had tried to standardize the image height using custom CSS, some JavaScript behavior (possibly related to Elementor or lazy-loading) was calculating the height based on the tallest hidden image.
So while the currently visible slide looked fine, the container was being “stretched” by a hidden slide’s image, creating that extra space at the bottom — right where the dots were supposed to sit.
Once we identified that image size inconsistency was the culprit, the solution was surprisingly simple.
Instead of using a fixed height (which wasn’t being respected due to hidden elements and JS behavior), we used the CSS aspect-ratio property. This approach lets us define a consistent width-to-height ratio for all images, ensuring visual uniformity across slides — even the hidden ones.
Here’s the CSS we applied to the image inside the loop template:
.custom-slide-image {
aspect-ratio: 4 / 3;
object-fit: cover;
width: 100%;
height: auto;
}
By forcing all images into the same aspect ratio and using object-fit: cover, we maintained design consistency without distorting the image or affecting load performance. As soon as this was implemented, the layout corrected itself — the container no longer inherited extra space, and the dots aligned perfectly below the content.
The Problem:
What Didn’t Work:
What Worked:
This case perfectly illustrates how layout issues in Elementor can sometimes originate from elements that aren’t even visible on screen. In our case, a simple inconsistency in image dimensions from hidden slides caused a cascade effect on the slider layout.
When dealing with loop carousels, sliders, or dynamic content in Elementor, always keep in mind that DOM elements—even when hidden—can influence visible layout, especially with JavaScript-rendered elements.
If you’re facing similar issues, try inspecting all elements being rendered — not just the visible ones. A bit of strategic CSS can often solve what seems like an unsolvable problem.
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