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How to creating an event on your website


In this tutorial, we will learn how to create an event. The event content type includes a calendar so that site visitors can view events in a list. Visitors can also view events by day, week, month and year. Posting event pages to the front page makes it easy for users to see upcoming events.

Step 1: Creating Your Event


Using the menu bar at the top of the page, hover over the "Content" tab and select "Event" from the "Add Content" menu (Note: your menu may look slightly different):

Screenshot showing how to create an event in Luggage

 

Step 2: Add Information to Fields


The first field is the "Title". This is what will appear at the top of my Event page. The title is also the largest heading. Instead of just typing "Introduction", I added "to Luggage" to give the title some uniqueness to help with search.

Screenshot showing how to create an event title

Next, is the "Event Type" field. This is a drop-down list that describes the kind of the event. Each website may have its own set of event types. I selected Meeting. However, to select multiple types use Command key (on Macs) or the Control key (on Windows machines) and then select as many options as are applicable:

Screenshot showing how to create an event type

The next required fields are category and tags. Choose the category that best describes your event. Multiple categories can be selected by holding down either the Command key (on Macs) or the Control key (on Windows machines). Tags are descriptive words that enable users to search for pages more easily. They also create a relationship between pages that have similar tags. I selected Careers as my category with  the tags content types, Drupal 7x, training and site creation:

Screenshot showing how to create a category

Next, is the date and time of your event. You must enter your event time in the exact format that is given in the event time field: 14 Jan 2015 - 2:45pm. Start time is required, but you do not have to enter an end time. If you do not have an end time, make sure the "Show End Date" box is unchecked.

I decided to use both the start and end date:

Screenshot showing start and end dates

Below is an example event with only a start date:

Screenshot showing just starting date

The body text is the next field. This should contain the main descriptive text of your upcoming event. You can format the text and add images or links. I have already listed the title, event date, and event time, so I do not need to list those items again in the description. Click on the image below for a larger size.

Screenshot showing body summary text

If you have a lengthy event description, you can add a summary that will be used for search results and the "Event" tab of your website. More about summaries can be found in the News tutorial.

 

Step 3: Publish Your Event


After adding and double-checking my content, it is time to publish. Above the "save" button at the bottom of the page, you should find a menu system that looks similar to the one in the screenshot below. Click on the "Publishing Options" tab and make sure that the box next to "Published" is checked. Then click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page to submit your event.

Screenshot showing publishing options

 

Step 4: Double-Check Your Content


I always double-check the content I create to make sure that all of the information is accurate, links go to the right places, and formatting looks correct. Usually, events are published to the front page. The event created in this example would look like this on the front page:

Screenshot showing event on home page

In a search result and in the list of events under the "Events" tab in the main menu (if your site has this menu item), your event will be previewed with a shortened version of your event's description. Here is what my event looks like:

Screenshot showing event on events page

If you click on the title of your event, you will be brought to the event's page. This view will show a full version of the body text. Because my event's body text is within 600 characters, it doesn't look any different:

Screenshot showing published event

 

Addendum: Calendar View


Let's take a look at the list of events. You will notice, above the events, that there are tabs that say "Month," "Week," "Day," and "Year."

Screenshot showing event on events page

If you click on any of these tabs, you will be brought to a calendar that shows your events. Here is the monthly view:

Screenshot showing month view for events

If you click on the "Week" tab, you will get a view of all the events occurring in a week, beginning in the current calendar week. The columns are days of the week while the rows are hours of the day in 24 hour format:

Screenshot showing week view for events

If you click on the "Day" tab, you will be shown a view of events on a certain day. This is also shown in 24 hour format:

Screenshot showing day view for events

Note: you can also click on the date in the "Month" and "Year" views to be taken to a view of that day's events. Here is the month view:

Screenshot showing event in calender

Here is the month view:

Screenshot showing event in a month

Finally, there is the "Year" tab. With this, you can see which days have events scheduled.

Screenshot showing year view for events

You can click on the date text at the top of each calendar month to be taken to a view of that month.

Screenshot showing event in a year

In summary, the events view is very useful for showcasing upcoming events. Users can easily see how many events are occurring throughout the calendar year. 

And that's it! Hope you enjoy creating events!

If you have problems with creating an event or have more questions, please contact websupport@iastate.edu for help.

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