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Stanford
Events Help Documentation for the Stanford Events Calendar

Channels

A Channel is a way to set up a customized landing page for a group of related events. This feature includes a number of different components, described below, that can be added to and rearranged within the content area of the page. As explained by Localist,

Channels are a Promotion tool that pull your events based on already existing Classifications (or date ranges) to showcase them in one place. Channels were designed for short-term events like festivals or topics that have many different components but one theme. Channels are highly customizable with drag and drop components so you can make them have a different look and feel than the rest of your platform.

Localist documentation

To gain the ability to create a Channel in the system, you must first reach out to the team and request the appropriate access; provide a description of your use case in order for us to determine whether a Channel is the best solution for you.

Channel Settings

The Edit Settings page provides the following fields for setting up your Channel.

  • Page Title: A title that appears in the browser tab and in the breadcrumb element (below the site navigation) on the page.
  • Header Text: The page heading that displays large at the top of the page.
  • Custom URL: The part of the URL after events.stanford.edu. Use an underscore (_) to separate words – for example, my_custom_url
  • Visibility: A select list with Visible, Hidden, and Disabled as the options. If you’re just setting up the Channel, Hidden is the best choice. Once everything is set up, and before you start to promote the page, be sure to switch this to Visible.
  • Cover Photo: An image that will display at the very top of the page, below the breadcrumb (Page Title), and above the Header Text. A wide rectangle is best – a general recommended size is 1440 pixels wide by 633 pixels tall.
  • Lock Navigation to Channel: Keep this checked to ensure that any navigation (see the Filter Events component below) works specifically with the events listed on your Channel page and not the entire system of events.
  • Custom CSS: We don’t recommend using this and cannot offer support for issues related to customized styling. If you choose, proceed with caution. University Communications reserves the right to remove any customizations that contradict Stanford’s Brand Identity or any official university policies.

Channel Layout

The Edit Layout page is where you add components and content and arrange your page layout. Each available component is detailed below.

Add Event Block

This component is titled Share Events and includes text with some links to the Widget Builder and Digest Emailer. No customization is available.

App Store Button

This component renders nothing on the page. We assume this is an orphan of the system. Don’t expect to see anything if you add this to your Channel.

Channel List

This component includes a customizable Title with the ability to select other available Channels in the system as links. The page displays the title with a list of text links to those Channel pages.

Department List

This component displays a list of ALL the departments in the system – and we’ve got A LOT. Initially, a link to an All Departments list page, the first 5 departments as links to their pages, and a Show More link appear. The Show More link behaves like an accordion, and ALL departments are revealed when clicked. No customization is available.

Description

This component includes a customizable Title and Description field. The page will display the Title as a serif font heading and the description as a sans serif font paragraph below. No text formatting is available. Consider the HTML component below if you need similar content on the page with more customized formatting.

Event List

This component allows you to present a customized list of events on the page. Like the Widget Builder, you can tweak all aspects of the filter, from the date range to the number of events displayed to included and excluded tags, departments, etc. Visually, the events are presented in the same style they are throughout the rest of the site.

In many cases, you’ll want to use a special tag or keyword for all of the events you want to be displayed in this list on your page. Doing this will make it much easier to know that only your events show up in the list and other potentially unrelated events don’t sneak in.

The Name field does not display on your page; it is only for admin purposes in this case. If you need to introduce the list with a heading, add a Header component before this.

Event Spotlight

A good way to feature a single event, this component allows you to choose any event in the system by title and presents a large display of the event’s image and its details. The Name field here doesn’t display anything on the page and is only used for admin purposes.

Event Tabs

This component allows you to create a tabbed list of events identical to the tabbed event list (Trending and Upcoming) on the Calendar homepage. Each tab can be named and can present a filtered list of events. Each tab’s list is an Event List component; see above for additional details.

This component displays the name, image, and description entered in the system for any Department or Group. The title field is customizable, and a select list allows you to choose any number of Groups or Departments to highlight on the page.

This component displays featured events in a rotating carousel with play/pause and slide indication functionality. Each slide displays similarly to the Event Spotlight with the event’s image and details. If you need to feature more than one event, this would be useful; otherwise, choose the Event Spotlight component if you only feature one event.

For events to display, your Channel must include this component, and your Channel’s Featured Slide must be selected on each event – this is the very last field on your Event’s edit form.

Similar to the Featured Groups component, this one allows you to select users in the system and to feature on the page. Their profile image, name, bio, and a link to their Twitter profile display if that information is entered in their profile.

Filter Events

This component puts the filtering button and overflow menu on the page. This will work in tandem with an Event List component that is also on the page and works exclusively with the events you have displayed in that Event List.

This component provides a customizable Title and Subtitle field, which displays exactly that on your page. The Title is larger and in a serif font, and the Subtitle is slightly smaller and in sans serif font. The subtitle is not required, so if you only need a heading, you can leave the other blank. This is good for introducing an Event List with a heading, if necessary.

Hero Image

This component provides customizable Photo (upload or choose one in the system), URL, Header, Description, and Call to Action fields. On the page, the Header displays as a larger serif heading, the Photo displays the full width of the content area (approximately 1000px wide at the largest screen width), the Description displays as in sans serif font, then the Call to Action displays as a button. The link added to the URL field is used to make hyperlink the photo and call to action to that destination. A wide, rectangular photo is best; the recommended size is 1440 pixels wide by 633 pixels tall. The Name field does not display on the page and is used for admin purposes only.

HTML

This component provides a plain text field into which HTML markup can be entered. Knowledge of HTML and how to write it is important as no buttons are available to aid you, and best practices should be followed to ensure proper display and accessibility. The Name field does not display on the page and is used for admin purposes only.

Map

This component adds a Google map to your Channel, including pins for each event displayed (on the Channel page) with a location added. There is no configuration offered. The Name field does not display on the page and is used for admin purposes only.

Platform Nav

This component adds button links to:

  • All Events: A list of events filtered to the Event List on your Channel.
  • Places to Go: An alphabetic listing of all places registered in the system.
  • Departments: An alphabetic listing of all Departments registered in the system.
  • Groups: An alphabetic listing of all Groups registered in the system.

RSS

This component includes a customizable Name field, Feed URL, and Number of Items fields. When a valid RSS feed URL is added, a text-based list of hyperlinked titles and their published dates will display on your Channel page with the number you’ve entered in the Number of Items fields. If you have a feed of news stories or content that includes related content to your events being displayed on the Channel, this is a nice way of including that on the page.

This component includes a customizable Name field and fields for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram URLs. For each platform, entering a URL displays a button link to that platform.

Submit Event Button

We have disabled anonymous event submissions for the Events Calendar, so this component displays nothing if added to your Channel.

This component includes a Title and URL field. On your page, a button that links to the URL field is displayed with the Title as its button text.

*Note*

All components listed include a Container CSS Classes field. This can largely be ignored as the site’s theme provides no special style customizations based on additional CSS classes, and we are unable to provide the ability to link to external stylesheets. However, within the “Edit Settings” page for your Channel, there is a Custom CSS field where styles to be referenced could be added, but the necessary understanding is required, and we cannot provide support for issues due to customized styling done in this way.