A key part of any web site is a schedule of events.  This is accomplished by creating a free, online calendar and embedding it in a page on your site.  Below are instructions for Google Calendar.  You are free to use any online calendar service you wish.

1. Browse to http://www.google.com/calendar.
2. Sign-up or sign-in.  If you have a Gmail email address, you already have a Google Account.  Otherwise, sign-up for a Google account using your current email address.
3. Once logged in, you should see your personal calendar.  Now it’s time to create a new calendar for your Council.
   1. At the bottom of the My calendars section on the left, click the Add link.
   2. Enter the Calendar Name, Time Zone, and place a check next to Make this calendar public.
   3. Click the Create Calendar button at the bottom.  All of the calendars you create will be listed under My Calendars on the left side of your page. For each of the calendars, you can add, delete, and edit events any time you like.
4. Create the HTML to embed the calendar in your web site:
   1. In the calendar list on the left, click the down-arrow next to the calendar you want to embed, and select Calendar settings.
   2. In the Embed This Calendar section, click the Customize the color, size, and other options link.
   3. Modify the settings as you wish.  We suggest use a height of 700 pixels.
   4. In the top-right corner, click the Update HTML button.
   5. Copy the iframe code displayed in the top center.
5. Embed the calendar in a page within your web site.
   1. Login to your web site’s Dashboard.
   2. Click on Pages in the navigation bar.
   3. Look to see if there is already a page for your calendar.  If so, click the page name to begin editing an existing page.  If not, click the Add New button near the top of the screen.
   4. Enter a page name called “Calendar” (without the quotation marks).
   5. In the Custom Fields section, look for a custom field named “EmbedCalendar”.  If it doesn’t exist yet, click the Enter new link and enter “EmbedCalendar” (without the quotation marks).  Move to the box on the right and paste the embed HTML (from step 4.5 above) into the box.
   6. Click the Update button back on the left below the words “EmbedCalendar”.
   7. On the right side of the page, select the Template named “Calendar”.
   8. Also on the right side of the page, click the blue Publish or Update button.

To see a live example of the type of web site that your council could have, please view the web site we recently launched in Tuscaloosa.  We’re using the custom header graphic in lieu of one of the pre-installed header graphics.  The calendar is powered by Google Calendar and is embedded in a page without the sidebar.  The photos page displays photo galleries of our recent events.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Vivat Jesus,
Ryan Marks
Member of Council 4083 & Assembly 2527