How to Add Calendars to Different Websites in WordPress

While it’s not hard to add a basic calendar to your WordPress website, it can be tricky to do so in a way that makes the most of the platform. A calendar is an essential part of any business or enterprise website, and while there are many free calendar plugins or services available, nothing beats the versatility and functionality of a corporate website.

What if you could take a WordPress site, and expand it to include calendars on other domains? That’s what we’ll teach you in this tutorial. It won’t take long, and in the process, you’ll learn a lot about WordPress development and site customization.

Set Up Your Test WordPress Site

Before we get started, you’ll need to have a WordPress website. If you don’t have one already, you can use one of the many free hosting providers out there, or you can download and install WordPress onto your PC.

Once you’ve got WordPress installed, it’s time to set up the test site. You’ll want to choose a simple yet effective theme for your test site, as well as pick a custom domain for it. You’ll also need to install and configure the Simple calendar widget to your liking. (If you’re unfamiliar with WordPress widgets, they’re essentially mini-applications which can be placed on your site to perform a specific task. In this case, we’ll use the Simple calendar widget to display a monthly calendar on your site, so you can see how it works.)

Add The Simple Calendar Widget To Your Website

The best way to add a calendar to your website is through a widget. A widget is simply an application or resource designed to perform a specific task on your site. For example, you can have a LinkedIn widget which displays your activity on LinkedIn, or a PayPal widget which processes payments through PayPal. Once you’ve got your test site set up with a working WordPress installation, it’s time to begin adding widgets to it.

The advantage of using widgets is that you can configure them to suit your site’s needs and layout. Plus, since they’re essentially just HTML and CSS, anyone familiar with either one of those languages will be able to edit and customize them easily. (If you’re not familiar with HTML, it’s essentially just the technical language used to describe mark-up on a web page. Many people use plain text editors like Word to create HTML documents, so it’s not rocket science.)

To add the Simple calendar widget to your site, go to Dashboard → Appearance → Widgets and click the Add New button. A popup will appear with a variety of widgets, select the Simple calendar and click the Add button to add it to your site. You can now go back to the Dashboard and navigate to Content → Blog. You’ll see that we’ve now added a calendar to our blog.

Configure The Calendar To Your Preferences

The Simple calendar widget is pretty self-explanatory. All it takes is for you to configure it to your liking. The best thing about it is how straightforward the process is. You don’t need to be a coding expert to customize it. (If you are, though, then this is surely the best place to be.)

Go to the Simple calendar’s settings and make sure that the following are checked:

• Show next month’s events
• Show previous month’s events
• Show annual events
• Show unconfirmed events
• Full calendar

Then, click the Save Settings button to save your changes.

Curate A Calendar List For Your Website

A calendar list is essentially a spreadsheet which contains all the events and activities for a particular month. (Think of it as an events calendar in the shape of a tree.) You can download a free Google Calendar list for your domain and import it into your WordPress site. (Note: You’ll need to have Google Calendar set up on your phone or tablet in order to access this option.)

Once you’ve got your calendar list imported, it’s time to start utilizing it. First, you’ll want to add a new page to your site and call it something like Calendar List. Next, you’ll want to add the Events Calendar Widget to it. (You can find it by going to Dashboard → Appearance → Widgets and clicking the Add New button.) Then, simply drag and drop your calendar list into the Events Calendar Widget. (Tip: Use the back arrow on your keyboard to undo changes you’ve made. This way you’ll always end up with a clean slate.)

Add More Calendars To Your Website

Since we’ve already gone over how to add a calendar to your website, it’s only fair that we discuss how to add more than one. Essentially, the process is the same, but a bit more involved. First, download and import another Google Calendar list for your domain. Then, add another Event Calendar Widget to your site, and this time, drag and drop your two calendars into it. (Tip: Use the back arrow on your keyboard to undo changes you’ve made. This way you’ll always end up with a clean slate.)

If you want, you can add a calendar to your navigation menu by adding another Event Calendar Widget to your site. Then, navigate to Dashboard → Appearance → Menus and click the Add New button. A popup will appear with a variety of widgets, select the Calendar option and click the Add button to add it to your site. (Repeat as necessary.)

Adding a calendar to your site isn’t difficult, but it can be tricky to do so in a way that makes the most of the platform. A calendar is an essential part of any business or enterprise website, and while there are many free calendar plugins or services available, nothing beats the versatility and functionality of a corporate website.