Title, content and image

These are the parts of an event that behave like an ordinary post — and the parts visitors see first, in the list, in the calendar and on the page.

The title

Used in five places: the events list in the admin, the public list, the calendar entry, the page subheader, and the Add to my calendar link.

Practical guidance:

• Keep it short enough for a calendar cell. A month calendar shows very little text per day.
• Front-load the distinguishing word. Autumn tasting — Rioja reads better in a narrow cell than A special evening of Rioja tasting in autumn.
• Do not put the date in the title. The date is already stored, printed and used for sorting. A title carrying its own date goes stale and duplicates what the page shows.
• Do not number editions in the title unless guests use the number. Open day repeated four times a year is four events, distinguished by their dates.

The content

The editor holds the full description, rendered in the main column of the event page, below the introduction and the featured image.

It is ordinary content: paragraphs, headings, lists, images, and the site's page-builder elements if you use them. Two notes:

• The introduction field in the Events settings panel is separate and is printed above this content as a lead paragraph. Do not repeat it here.
• The details sidebar already carries the date, place, organizer and telephone. Repeating them in the content is duplication that will drift out of step.

Write the content as what the event is, and let the sidebar carry the facts.

The excerpt

Optional. When present it is shown in the event list item, under the title and terms.

Write it if the list needs more than a title to be useful — for example when several events share a similar name. Leave it empty when the title is self-explanatory; the list is compact by design.

The featured image

The featured image does more work here than on a normal post:

Set one on every event. Without it:

• lists fall back to the Events thumbnail placeholder from the Archive settings;
• the subheader renders without a background image.

Choosing images that work

• One consistent aspect ratio across events. The list crops to a circle; the subheader crops to a wide band. An image that survives both is usually a landscape photo with its subject centred.
• Nothing important at the edges. Both crops cut in.
• Enough contrast for overlaid text. The subheader prints the title and the categories over the image.
• Upload at the size you publish. The plugin does not resize or re-shoot.

The author

Events support an author like posts. It is not printed by the supplied template, but it is useful internally when several people maintain the calendar.

Verify

1. Publish and open the event in a private window.
2. Check the title in the subheader over the image.
3. Check the thumbnail in a list page.
4. Check the calendar entry, if you use the calendar.
5. Check it on a phone, where the subheader crop is tightest.