By now, I’m guessing most people will have spotted the calendar that’s appeared at the top of the forum showing future events (if not, you may need to click http://www.specsavers.co.uk). Some of you may also have viewed the monthly page view (click the http://www.gtouk.org.uk/phpBB2/calendar.php in the menu at the very top of the page) where you can view all the events in any given month. There is also a scheduler, which can be accessed by clicking any of the dates in the cells of the weekly or monthly calendar views (also acessible by clicking http://www.gtouk.org.uk/phpBB2/calendar_scheduler.php).
Preferences
You can change your personnal settings for the calendar view by clicking the http://www.gtouk.org.uk/phpBB2/profile_options.php in the top menu. The options open to you are as follows;
[list:192accc47f]Display the calendar row on the board header opened
Number of cells to display on the board header (0 for no display)
First day of the week
Number of row per day on the board header[/list:u:192accc47f]These are all pretty self-explanatary, so we won’t dwell on them. Have a play with them for yourself and find what you like. Be warned though, setting the number of cells to display on the board header to a large number (anything over 10 really) will really mess up your browsing experience!
Adding events to the calendar
Unlike the previous calendar featured on the GTOUK website, this calendar allows registered forum users to add events to the calendar. Events are added to the calendar by starting a new topic thread in either the http://www.gtouk.org.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=8 or the http://www.gtouk.org.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=9 sections. Only the first post in a thread counts as the calendar entry - as it’s the thread title that actually appears in the calendar. Topics posted in the Future and Past events sections aren’t automatically entered into the calendar, the thread author has the options in the posting page to add an evernt date, start time and duration to the post. If the author decides not to enter an event start date (for example, someone asking people when they next want to meet up), they can leave the dates/times/durations empty. Once details have been settled on for an event, the author (or a forum moderator) can revisit the first post in the thread and, using the edit post feature, can add in the relevant information to turn the thread into a bonafide calendar entry.
It’s a good idea to keep the main text in the first post up to date, as this is the text which people will see in the pop-up box that appears when they hover over an event listed in the calendar view. It is also worth bearing in mind that the calendar cuts short the title of any event to stop the page widths being stretched, so you may want to keep the event titles as short and to the point as you can!
So, what do the extra menus/boxes on the posting page mean? Well the event start date is a no-brainer, but just to clarify, if you click the “Today” link, it will set the event date as being today! The start time uses the 24 hour clock system, so make sure your evening meet is set at 21:00, as you don’t want people turning up at 9AM :lol:. The event duration is a little more awkward, but what I would suggest doing is using the preview button to check the start and end times/dates for the event are as you intend them to be.
Final note - the Event start time is required to enter an event into the calendar. The start time is preferable too, the event duration is a nice-to-have, but use the preview to check it looks right.
Enjoy, and please ask away if you have any queries or difficulties with this at all!
Steve