Event calendars for community groups

Why the calendar matters

For many community groups the calendar is the most visited page on the site. Neighbors check when the next meeting is, parents check game days, and volunteers check when they are needed. When the calendar is out of date, people stop trusting the rest of the site too. So we build it to be easy to read and, just as important, easy for a volunteer to keep current.

Month view and list view

A month grid is good for seeing the shape of a month on a laptop. On a phone, or with a screen reader, a list is easier: one event per line with the day, the type and the name. Every calendar we build has both, drawn from the same events, so nobody enters anything twice. The concept above shows the idea; open "Show as a list" under it to see the second view.

Color plus shape

Event types get a color and a shape: a circle for volunteer shifts, a diamond for fundraisers, a square for meetings and a triangle for public events. Color alone fails people with color vision differences, and it disappears when someone prints the page in black and white for a bulletin board. Shapes and labels keep the meaning in both cases.

What each event page holds

• Date, start and end time, and the place, with transit and parking notes
• Who it is for, and whether it is free or needs a ticket or registration
• An add-to-calendar link, so people can save it to their phone
• Access notes: step-free entry, seating, interpretation, or who to ask
• A registration or volunteer link if the event needs one

Where the events live

If your group already keeps a shared calendar, we can show it on the site so the board updates it in one place. If you sell tickets or take registrations through an event tool, each event links to it. For groups that want everything on the site, we set up a simple event editor with fields for the details above.

Questions