How to Create a Crossword Puzzle for Your Website?

Nowadays, the retaining visitors on the site is one of the biggest problems for website owners. Instead of focusing on traditional lengthy content creation, you can focus on alternate options like offering small games. Crossword puzzles are an excellent way to engage and entertain visitors coming to your website. It not only increases user engagement, but also bring the users coming back to see whether you have updated new puzzles. So, if you are interested in creating a crossword puzzle for your website, then let us guide you on how to make these puzzles easily and effectively.

Creating Crossword Puzzle for Your Website

There are several ways to create a crossword puzzle for your website, depending on the resources and your preferences. Here we will discuss two popular ways in detail – using a desktop app and using online tools.

1. Using a Desktop App

Eclipsecrossword desktop app is one the easiest ways to create interesting crossword puzzles. The app is completely free and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It offers user-friendly crossword puzzle generator that allows you to create crosswords in minutes. With EclipseCrossword, you can create a puzzle with your own words and clues, and customize it according to the theme of your website.

1.1. Installing EclipseCrossword App

Here is how you can download and use EclipseCrossword in Windows computers. You can follow the similar process on Mac and Linux.

• Go to the official website of EclipseCrossword and click on the “Download” button in the menu.
• Scroll down to the “Manual installation instructions” and click on “Download EclipseCrossword” to start downloading the app.

• Once the app is downloaded, open the installation file to launch the setup wizard. Click on “Next’’ button until it starts installing the program.

• Upon completion of the installation process, click “Close” button to exit the wizard.

1.2. Creating Crossword Puzzle Using EclipseCrossword App

• Open the app and click on the “Accept” button to accept the terms and start using the EclipseCrossword crossword generator.
• You can see the interface of EclipseCrossword on your screen. Select “I would like to start a new crossword” and press “Next”.

• Now select “Let me create a word list from scratch now” and hit “Next”.

• Enter the word in the space given and also add clue for that word. Then click on “Add to word list” to create a crossword puzzle. After adding all the words and clues to the word list, click on “Next”.

• If you want to save this word list for future use, select “Yes” and if you don’t need it again, select “No”.

• Now enter the name for your crossword and click on “Next”. If required, you can also provide your name and copyright details. This information will be shown with the crossword puzzle on the webpage. You can also leave the option blank and move further.

• Next step is to define the size of the crossword puzzle. Enter your desired numbers for wide / tall and click on “Next”.

• The last option is to save or print the newly made crossword puzzle. You can also publish and share it online.

1.3. Sharing Your Crossword Online

For inserting the crossword in your website, you need to get the HTML source of the crossword you created. For that, go to “Share online” tab and click on “Interactive with JavaScript” option.

• This will open “Save as” dialog, enter the name for the HTML page and save the file in your system. Open the HTML page in your browser and check the crossword puzzle is working fine.

That’s all and now you have the source code of your crossword puzzle. Embedding this HTML crossword page on your site depends on the platform you use for creating the site. Platforms like WordPress offer Custom HTML block for adding third-party content. First, right-click and open the HTML page with Notepad app and copy its content. All what you need is to simply paste the copied HTML content inside Custom HTML block and publish your page. Once the page is published, you can see the live crossword puzzle appears which users can play online.

2. Using Online Tools

If you do not want to download and install a desktop app, then using online tools is an alternate option for creating crossword puzzles for your website. There are many online crossword puzzle tools available, and they more or less offer similar features and functionality. Below are two of the best tools to generate crossword puzzles.

2.1. Crossword Labs

Crossword Labs is a free and easy-to-use crossword puzzle maker. You can easily create, print, share and embed crossword puzzles on your website without downloading any app. There are no ads, watermarks, or registration required to get started. Let’s see how to create a crossword puzzle using Crossword Labs:

• Go to the official website of Crossword Labs and type Crossword Puzzle Title in the given space.
• Type the word for your puzzle, a space, and then the clue in a single line. You can enter all your words in the box as shown below.

• Scroll down to  preview  your crossword puzzle. Select the privacy setting and click on “Save & Finish” button.

•  Now, for embedding the crossword puzzle on your website, click “embed your puzzle” link.

• Copy the embed code of the crossword puzzle and insert on your website. As mentioned, you can use Custom HTML block or simply insert the copied iframe section between the content on your page.

This is how an amazing crossword puzzle is created. Make sure to double-check the words and clues before embedding the puzzle on your website.

2.2. XWords

XWords is another online crossword puzzle generator that allows you to create and publish crossword puzzles free of cost. However, this site shows advertisements and you need to sign up for a free account to create a customized crossword puzzle.

• Go to the official website of XWords and click on the “Sign up” button. Provide your Email address, name, and password, and tick the blocks available. Then click on the “SIGN UP” button.

• Now provide the same Email address and password and press the “LOG IN” button. The site by default opens with an untitled puzzle and click on the pencil icon showing next to “Untitled XWord”. Provide a proper name for your crossword and save your puzzle.
• Add your questions and answers in the space given. Type clues in the space given under Question and add your words in the space given under the answer option.

• Click on “Additional options” to customize your crossword puzzle. There are several options that are changeable: color, background, size of the puzzle, font size and its color, etc.

• After filling the required details, click on “GENERATE PUZZLES” button to create your customized crossword puzzle.

• Scroll up the page and click on “PUBLISH” button.

• If you did not create account or provide a name and saved your work, you will be prompted to do so at this point. Finally, click on “PUBLISH XWORD” button in the pop-up.

• Now click on the “EMBED” button to get the embed code.

• You can use this iframe code to display the crossword puzzle on your website as a widget.

Final Words

These are some of the best methods to create a crossword puzzle for your website. These options are user-friendly and provide many different options to customize the crossword puzzle. Choose the best method for your website to increase user engagement and user retention.