Calendar function

[Amy]

Please Mr Webmaster sir...

Is there a calendar function on the forum? I've been talking to a couple of members and we were mulling this over. I'm told that forums often have this functionality, and it would certainly be handy to have a forum calendar where members can post events, that kind of thing, and it would be really nice to have all that info in one place.

Failing that, I'm happy to sort out a Google calendar which we can link to.

Also, whilst we're on the subject - would it be possible to have an "Events" section of the forum please?

Thank you, payment in beer will be made to the webmaster following compliance with requests
Amy.

[Forumadmin]

I think there is an events section for each area and each section.....
The principal is that each section sec posts their events calendar into their section area. They can update the post to delete past events and make it sticky to put at top of postings.

Do you want a national, international, or section calendar?

[Jack]

I think there is an events section for each area and each section.....
The principal is that each section sec posts their events calendar into their section area. They can update the post to delete past events and make it sticky to put at top of postings.

Do you want a national, international, or section calendar?

Personally, I want to be able to go into a calendar and see everything that is happening on any given month - given a bit of notice we could easily go to an event in the South West from here over a weekend, or to one of the Northern Sections (Scotland might be pushing it for a weekend) - if there's events going on plenty of people may want to travel. I don't see a reason not to include even the international events, there's not thousands of events to track, usually one in any given weekend at most. Perhaps having a label for each post in the calendar so members can see at a glance what is local for them?

From posts around the "boundaries" between sections, it seems that many feel much more affiliated to the central club than their section per se, so if sections are organising events they should be advertised to all in my opinion.

Finding events in each section is a recipe for missing what is going on, a calendar like this would be ideal with links to specific events: http://www.yorkshire-divers.com/forums/calendar.php I don't know if this forum can do a similar thing, have a link from the front page of the website and the forum, then if someone is interested in the club or Jowett in general they can pootle along to something in the next few weeks wherever it is happening.

Jack.

[Chris Spencer]

Jack - Good idea - and it would work - Keith can it be done ? Thanks - Payment in the form of a pair of reshaped and repainted black rear wings for a Javelin !

[Amy]

Jack - Good idea - and it would work - Keith can it be done ? Thanks - Payment in the form of a pair of reshaped and repainted black rear wings for a Javelin !

*ahem*

I know you boys stick together, but credit where it's due, please...

Dad - what Jack said.

[Forumadmin]

You need credentials to log into the dive site!
All events are posted in the Jowetteer and so if someone wants to arrange those into chronlogical order and post them into JowettTalk .....

The problem is many entries have little information about where they are unless you are good at local geography, so any national calendar would need to add more info such as post code. We could then pin on Google maps.

I could set up a form that asked date, postcode, type of event, public/private, contact and then this could be used to populate a table . Quite frankly a five minute search of the Jowetteer would yield what you want, as would the same time if the same info was put in the sections pages.

I am looking at a portal to front JowettTalk , but I do not have time to progress at the moment. That could have the above table which was extracted from the database. But it would only be as good as the info that was put in it.

People could simply post that they are going to an event and would anybody like to join them. Section meetings could still be more prominently displayed. There are hundreds of events across the country we could go to, some we should and do not, and some we do and are best missed. That is why sections lay out their calendar of events.

But hey, always welcome suggestions.

[Jack]

You need credentials to log into the dive site!
All events are posted in the Jowetteer and so if someone wants to arrange those into chronlogical order and post them into JowettTalk .....

The problem is many entries have little information about where they are unless you are good at local geography, so any national calendar would need to add more info such as post code. We could then pin on Google maps.

I could set up a form that asked date, postcode, type of event, public/private, contact and then this could be used to populate a table . Quite frankly a five minute search of the Jowetteer would yield what you want, as would the same time if the same info was put in the sections pages.

I am looking at a portal to front JowettTalk , but I do not have time to progress at the moment. That could have the above table which was extracted from the database. But it would only be as good as the info that was put in it.

People could simply post that they are going to an event and would anybody like to join them. Section meetings could still be more prominently displayed. There are hundreds of events across the country we could go to, some we should and do not, and some we do and are best missed. That is why sections lay out their calendar of events.

But hey, always welcome suggestions.

Hi Keith,

Apologies, I'd forgotten you need access to be able to see the Calendar on that site. An alternative is here (I don't know about the software on that though): http://www.dacorumsac.org.uk/Diary/Diary.php

I am happy to get my copy of the Joweteer and post up any events that are shown in the info on there, and who to contact etc.

As long as it has what it is, and what region it is in, and who to contact, that is enough. For example I can look at my diary and know that right now August Bank Holiday I have no plans - so I can look in a central calendar and if there is a Jowett event anywhere nationwide contact the organiser or section representative, and book me and Amy into a B&B or stay with a local Joweteer, perhaps even take the car if a reasonable distance.

I appreciate there are lots of things you want to do with the website, probably this is one thing we include if possible when doing the next round of work, and is very much a "nice to have"

Jack.

[Chris Spencer]

Amy - Sincere apologies - I did not mean to hi-jack your very original idea - return payment in a couple of polished panels on a Jupiter SA ??

[Amy]

Right, I've had a bit of a play with my friend Google, and this is the result:

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?sr ... MJKHfXqpdw

You can get the HTML code to embed it in sites, so could be on the front page of Jowett.net / other sites if people wanted. I have basically had a bit of a play when setting it up, just to see what it's capable of. I think you can link events to Google Maps as well (haven't tried this yet) so that people could get directions to events, etc as well. It's easy enough to put on contact details etc too.

I can add people as administrators, so if we did want to use this, and people wanted access, they could just let me know - all I need is an email address and I can add people in.

My thought is that public events which Jowetts are going to be attending could be added to this. If it is a club- or section-only event then these are in Jowetteer and keep it so that only club members know about them if that is something that is of concern to people.

Thoughts?

Amy.

[Forumadmin]

Well done Amy.
1. We do not want another set of logins and administrative access control.
2. This sort of display is Ok if there are only a few events on one day, but sometimes a dozen events could pop up on popular car weekends. I know this because of outlook calendars when they are used for team hooliday planning! Thus I prefer the sequential list method in a scroll bar at the side of a page, or simply a post with the events in date order.
3. First let us see if we can maintain a list of events on JowettTalk. If we want to reformat it I can do that.


Step 1 collect all events from the magazines and other places and enter in a post.
Step 2. Give access to some administrators to alter that post. Suggest all section secs plus Amy.
Step 3. Admins delete past events and update every month.
Step 4. Pms or emails or posts on JowettTalk can inform of new events and admins can add if appropriate to event calendar.
Step 5. When this has been working for a few months and we have our new Jowett portal operational , add an area on the front page to bring events to the attention of the portal viewers. The portal is likely to be the jowett.net home page; but with links to the jowett.org home page. the portal will focus on displaying latest forum posts and gallery pictures with other club communications (such as the calendar).

[Forumadmin]

We should have some standardisation for calendar events using a simple form to prompt for certain data about the event.
JowetTalk can have a form added with a bit of help from a mod.
1. Date of event.
2. Location of event,- country, county, town, postcode.
3. Type of event- national show, local show, section meeting, technical gathering,
4. Orgniser contact- telephone, email, website
5. JCC contact
6. List of members and cars attending.
7. JowetTalk post link for more info and write up from those who attended.