Hide event dates

Some events should not advertise a date: a programme still being confirmed, an ongoing activity, an entry that exists for information rather than for attendance. Two controls handle this — one per event, one site-wide.

Per event

Events settings → Date & Time → Hide event date, described as: This setting affects the single and feeds.

Enabling it removes the event's dates from:

• the date block on the single event page;
• the date line in the details sidebar;
• the date panel in the event list item.

Site-wide

Settings → POM Events → Archive → Hide events date removes the date from event list items across the site.

The two work together: an event whose dates are hidden per event has no dates anywhere, and a site that hides list dates still shows them on the single event page unless the per-event switch is also on.

The dates still exist

Hiding is presentation only. The stored dates keep doing their work:

• the event is still ordered by its start date;
• it still leaves upcoming lists when its end date passes;
• the date picker still finds it;
• the calendar still places it;
• the registration button still switches to its finished label after the end datetime.

So an event with hidden dates still needs correct dates. Hiding them is not a way to avoid setting them.

When to hide

• A programme not yet confirmed. Publish the event, hide the date, announce it when it is fixed.
• A permanent or ongoing activity that has an end date only for housekeeping.
• An information page that lives in the events section but is not an occasion.

When not to hide

• To work around a wrong date. Fix the date.
• To keep an old event visible in upcoming lists. That is what the end date controls, and hiding does not change it.
• As a way to make the page look tidier. Visitors reading an event page expect to find out when it is.

Tell visitors instead

An event with hidden dates should say something about timing in words. Use the introduction for one line — Dates to be confirmed; subscribe for the announcement — so the page does not simply lack information.

Verify

1. Enable the switch and save.
2. Open the event signed out; confirm the date block and the sidebar date are gone.
3. Open a list containing the event; confirm the date panel is gone.
4. Confirm the event still appears in the right position in the list.
5. Confirm the date picker still finds it on a day it runs.