Web Based Calendar Information
What is this page about?
I recently undertook a project to create a web based event calendar for a church group.  I spent something over 20 hours trying to find calendar related resources and get them put together.  I'd like to believe that someone may profit from my documenting my findings and favorites.  Perhaps it will be me!
Calendar Software
I searched high and low for a web based calendar program that was free, configurable, reasonably simple to administer and dead simple for users to add events.  The closest I could find was iCal 3.5 from Brown Bear Software.  This gives very nice looking weekly and monthly calendars using standard html.  There is a free trial version with an inconspicuous link to the vendor, a $55 personal version limited to one calendar, and a $395 professional version that provides unlimited calendars and unlimited users.

That was 2001 and things have changed. iCal is now in version 4.0, and the unlimited version of the program is $1995. The new functions in version 4.0 still make iCal the vest calendar program around -- hopefully you purchased an unlimited copy of 3.5+ and you can upgrade to the unlimited 4.0 version for only $395.

If you'd like to try this software out on someone else's server, go to www.calendars.net .  These folks have the professional version of Brown Bear's iCal and offer a free service over the web to anyone who wants it.  They also provide "upgraded" capabilities for moderate monthly fees.

You can look at a Tutorial for iCal, or go to the OurWebCal Calendar FAQ.
OK, but now the calendar's empty!
There are three basic ways to load dates into an iCal based calendar:
  1. Add the events manually over the web.  This is really easy if you have a handful of events to enter.  It's somewhat cumbersome if you have several hundred.  iCal 3.5 provides good mechanisms to do continuous events ("I'm going on vacation from the 6th through the 24th") as well as periodic events ("My birthday is January 31st each year", or "The meeting is the 2nd Tuesday of each month").
  2. Use the Import function for CSV MS Outlook format files, or standard "iCalendar" format files.
  3. Load events into .IDT files which are based on the WIN.INI format.  This works really well for events that repeat at irregular intervals such as full moons, or Easter.
  4. Load events by directly editing the calendar database or .CAL file.  This is not for the faint of heart.

 

Web Based Calendar Resources
The church group that I built the calendar for is fond of planning special events at the last minute.  I wanted the calendar to be a useful tool in supporting this planning, so I wanted it to include as much useful information as possible.  This is a church group, so ecclesiastical holidays were required.  It's primarily US based, so I wanted to include federal holidays.  There are several folks in the group with strong science oriented jobs and hobbies, so I thought lunar phases and eclipses would be nice.  There are also a few folks with strong interests in marine biology and SCUBA diving, so some annual, local tide information might be fun.

The following web resources are the ones I actually used to create my calendar.  After looking through several dozen, I found these particularly helpful.

As you might have guessed, there are no good web sources for UK holidays.  Part of the problem is that there isn't really a "United" Kingdom in terms of Holidays.  England and Wales share holidays, but Northern Ireland and Scotland are responsible for setting their own.  Unlike U.S. holidays (which are defined by law to be some specific date or some formula such as the last Monday in May), UK holidays have traditional dates, but must be confirmed by proclamation or executive decree.  Many of the UK holidays are only thus confirmed one or two years in advance. 

My .IDT Files
IF YOU ARE USING THESE DATES TO PLAN TRAVEL, MEETINGS, OR ANY EVENT REQUIRING THE EXPENDITURE OF MONEY, PLEASE CONSULT OTHER SOURCES TO VERIFY THE DATES OF THE VARIOUS HOLIDAYS.  Neither John Brawn nor anyone who owns the hardware or manages the host machines of this home page may be held financially responsible if these dates are wrong.
  • Christian Holidays (2000-2020) christho.idt
  • United Methodist Lectionary (2001-2004) umlect.idt
  • US Holidays (1999-2020) ushol.idt - updated for change in Daylight Savings
  • Moon Phases (2001-2020) moonphas.idt
  • All Moon Phases (2001-2020 with 1st quarter and 3rd quarter) smoon.idt
  • Equinoxes, Solstices, etc. (2001-2020) solar.idt
  • UK Holidays* (2001-2010) brithol.idt

These files will work without modification on any version of iCal.

*Note on UK Holidays:  Some England and Wales dates in 2003 and subsequent years are still subject to Royal Proclamation; some Northern Ireland dates next year and subsequent years are subject to Proclamation by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and are not included in the Royal Proclamation. Also, some dates for Scotland for 2 years from now and later are a matter for the Scottish Executive.  Consequently, all UK holidays for future years should be verified at the beginning of that year to ensure that various proclamations and executive decisions have not altered the "normal" dates.
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