So that visitors to your site can see your events and register for them, you can add an event calendar to a page on your website – and restrict access to the page by membership level, member groups, or to administrators only. You can set up multiple event calendars, each displaying a different set of events (e.g. training vs. social events).
You can customize each event calendar by adding introductory text, choosing the default view, and controlling what type of events are included.
You can also control the visibility of individual events, so that only certain kinds of members – or only administrators – can see them.
Event calendars – like other site content – are inserted as gadgets, in this case, an event calendar gadget. You cannot add an event calendar gadget – or any other singular gadget – to a page template or system page.
Whether an event appears on the calendar depends on the visibility and access restrictions for the event, and on the event calendar gadget settings.
You can also add an upcoming events gadget to display a list of upcoming events. Unlike an upcoming events gadget that lists only a limited number of upcoming events, the event calendar gadget can display all events, including past ones.
You can embed your Wild Apricot event calendar – or individual event details – into another website using widgets.
Adding an event calendar gadget
To add an event calendar gadget to a page, follow these steps:
- Click Sites pages within the Website module and create or begin editing the site page where you want the calendar to appear.
- Click the Gadget list to display the list of available gadgets.
- Drag the event calendar gadget from the list, and drop it where you want it to appear on the page. You can insert it into a cell within a layout, or above or below a layout.
- After you have dropped the gadget in the desired location, hover your pointer over it and click the Settings icon.
- From the gadget settings panel on the left, choose the desired settings for the event calendar, including Among other things, you can choose which types of events are displayed, and which types of visitors can view the event calendar. For more information, see Adjusting event calendar settings (below).
- Click Save to save the changes to the page.
For instructions on restricting access to the page, see Page access and visibility.
The event calendar page will now appear on your site, subject to any access restrictions you have set.
Adjusting event calendar settings
Now that you have added an event calendar gadget to a page, you can adjust the event calendar gadget settings. Within the gadget settings, you can control how events are displayed, and filter the events using event tags.
Gadget settings appear in a panel on the left side (which can be hidden to maximize the page design area). To display the settings panel, you position your pointer over the gadget – while editing a site page – then click the gadget settings icon.
You can modify the following settings for event calendar gadgets:
Filter events by
You can filter the event calendar so that it displays only events with certain event tags. To filter the calendar, check only those event tags you want to include in the event calendar.
Show past events
Controls whether the calendar displays past events as well as upcoming events.
Show restricted events to public users
Choose whether to show events with restricted access to public visitors – those who are not signed in as members or administrators.
Show RSS icon
Controls whether an RSS icon appears on the event calendar beside each section title. By clicking on the RSS icon, visitors to your site can subscribe and be automatically notified of updates to the calendar in their RSS reader. If your event calendar appears on a page with restricted access, the RSS feed will not be accessible to your RSS reader. If you see an error message after clicking the RSS icon, you need to add a RSS extension or add-on to your browser.
Default view
Controls whether the events are displayed within a list or within a calendar.
Calendar scale
If you choose Calendar as the default view, you can choose whether the calendar displays the current week, month, or year.
Week starts on
If you choose Calendar as the default view, you can decide whether the week begins on Sunday or Monday.
Upcoming events section title
The heading for the upcoming events section.
Past events section title
The heading for the past events section.
Text to show when there are no events
Specify the text to be displayed if there are no events to display.
Margins
The amount of space – in pixels – that appears outside the gadget. You can set top, bottom, left, and right margins separately.
Advanced
Within the Advanced section, you can enter CSS code or classes to further control the appearance and behavior of the gadget. For more information, see Advanced gadget settings.
Adding a title and description
You can add a title and description for your event calendar by inserting a content gadget ahead of the event calendar gadget. Within the content gadget, you can format the title and description using text styles. For more information, see Using the content editor.
Changing colors and fonts
You can change the colors and text styles used on your event calendar form from the Colors and styles screen. For a list of the elements you can change and the settings you choose to do so, see Colors and styles settings for event calendar gadgets. Any changes you make will be applied to other gadgets that use the same settings.
You can also color code different types of events on the calendar view of your event calendar using event tags. For more information, click here.
Customizing the event details system page
You customize the system page used to display individual event details. The event details page appears when a visitor clicks the Show details button within the event calendar.
To customize the event details system page, follow these steps:
- Within the Website module, select the System pages option.
- Within the system page list, select Event details.
- Click the Edit button.
Now, you can modify the system page in a number of ways. You can:
- Change the page template from the page settings on the left.
- Hover over the blue box – the system gadget that displays the actual event details – and click the Settings icon to display the settings for the system gadget.
- Click the Gadget or Layout drop-downs to insert gadgets and layouts above or below the system gadget.
When you are finished modifying the event details system page, click the Save button.
Using the event calendar
A visitor to your site can view individual event details, change the calendar view, and subscribe to event calendar updates.
Viewing event details
To view details for a particular event, a visitor can either click the event title or the Show details link.
Switching between views
To switch from the list view of the event calendar page to the calendar view, a visitor clicks the Switch to calendar view link.
From the calendar view, the visitor can switch between – and scroll through – week, month, and year views, and switch back to list view by clicking the Switch to list view link.
Subscribing to event calendar updates
Unless you have disabled it within the event calendar gadget settings, an RSS icon will appear on each event calendar page.
By clicking on this icon, visitors to your site subscribe to your calendar and automatically receive updates through an RSS reader.
If your visitors are using Google Chrome, they may need to add a RSS subscription extension to their browser.
If you added your calendar to a restricted page, the RSS feed will not be accessible to any external reader software (as they cannot supply the appropriate username and password to access the RSS feed). A hidden calendar page can only be read within your site as a regular web page.
Troubleshooting
If an event does not appear on your event calendar, check the following:
- Check whether the event has been restricted to certain membership levels, member groups, or admin only
- Check whether the event calendar gadget has been set to filter events by event tags