WiscWeb - WordPress UW Theme - Using the Events Calendar Plugin

WiscWeb uses the The Events Calendar plugin to allow users to create and display events on their pages. This document will walk you through inserting the calendar on a page, adding events, and using shortcodes to change the display of your events lists.

In this document:

Activation

The Events Calendar plugin can be activated by Administrators using the instructions in WiscWeb - WordPress UW Theme - Self Service Plugin Activation / Deactivation. 

Usage

The "The Events Calendar" plugin is a useful tool to use to schedule and display events that you want to make your audience aware of. You can use categories and tags to differentiate your events, and use shortcodes to have those events displayed in different ways.

Please note that by default, this plugin will post an events calendar on a page that has been given the slug (file name) /events. This means that if you were to create a page and title it Events, your calendar items will be displayed there. Later on in this document, the shortcodes will show you how to display events in different ways and on different pages.

Creating an Event

  1. Click on the Events menu option on the left.

    Events menu when hovered over

  2. You are presented with a list of all of the events that you have created. From this list you can edit any of those events, or click on the Add New button at the top to create a new event.

    Events List Page

  3. On the Add New Event page, you should add an event Title, the general event information, the event date and time, set recurrence, create a venue / location or use a saved one, create an organizer or use a saved one, enter an event website, enter event costs, and enter an excerpt (displayed summary) of the event.
  4. Once you have that information entered, scroll up to the top and in the right side of the screen you have several more setup options. At the top, you can Publish, Save Draft, or Preview the event. You can also add tags and categories to further differentiate an event.

    Tags and Categories Options

  5. Once you are ready for this event to be active, click Publish.

Displaying Events In-Page

Events built using the Events Calendar plugin can be displayed in a Text Block by using shortcodes. Again, by default your events will display in a monthly calendar view on a page that has the title Events.

Full Events Calendar Default View

Shortcode Overview

To view a list of the various shortcodes available for this plugin, you can visit this page. A few examples are displayed below, and you can learn how to display an individual event on a page by following these steps.

To insert a short code, go to an already created page (or create a new page) and within the Text Area, insert the shortcode that you'd like to use:

Shortcode being used in a Text Block

This shortcode will post the events that were created in a list view (tribe_events_list), remove the top bar of the calendar (tribe-bar="false"), and limit the items displayed to only this with the Category value set to training (category="training").

 Example Shortcodes

Below you will find the most popular shortcodes for this plugin. For a full list of available shortcodes, please visit the vender website. 

Calendar View: [tribe_events] 

Mini Calendar View: [tribe_mini_calendar]

List View: [tribe_events_list] 

List Restricted to Specific Number of Items: [tribe_events_list limit="3"] *change the number to whatever number you need*  

List Restricted by Category: [tribe_events_list limit="5" category="category"] *for multi-word categories, use dashes (-) to separate words

Accessibility Info

For accessibility information, please see the Events Calendar vendor information.

Vendor Info

The Events Calendar plugin is built and supported by ModernTribe. 

Vendor documentation for this plugin can be found on the Events Calendar Website. 

Troubleshooting/Known Issues

The following are known issues with the Events Calendar plugin:
  • Google Maps:
    • On June 11, 2018, Google announced that as part of a number of other changes, they will no longer be supporting keyless access to their maps. Users will need to have a valid API key and enter their credit card information for all projects.
    • Users can request their own API key via Google and use a free pricing tier if they desire. The Events Calendar site has a walkthrough to assist with this process.
    • Map functionality can also be disabled with The Events Calendar by following this path: Events --> Settings --> General, scroll down to the Map Settings section, and uncheck the option for "Enable Google Maps."
  • Downloading/exporting events:
    • We are aware that downloading an ICS file of your events and importing into Outlook will result in a new/duplicate calendar getting created in Outlook.
    • We have alerted the vendor of this issue and have requested a fix. 

See Also: