Archive settings

Settings → POM Events → Archive controls how event lists behave: how long they are, what they show, and what visitors read when nothing matches.

The settings

They apply to every event list on the site.

Posts per page

How many events a list renders before the Load more events button appears.

• A smaller number — a faster first paint, and more clicking. Good for image-heavy lists on phones.
• A larger number — more scrolling, less clicking. Good for a text-dense programme.

Twelve is a reasonable default. If your list items carry large images, consider eight.

Hide events date

Removes the date panel from list items across the site, producing a more compact list.

Consider it when:

• your date format is long and dominates the item;
• the list is a teaser and the event page carries the detail;
• events have deliberately imprecise dates.

Remember it is site-wide. To hide the dates of one event, use its own Hide event date switch, which also removes them from the event page. See Hide event dates.

Events list loader

The image shown while search results load. Search results update without reloading the page, so there is a moment where the visitor needs to see that something is happening.

Use something small and neutral. A large image here makes the wait feel longer, not shorter.

Events thumbnail placeholder

The image used in list items for events with no featured image.

Set it. Sooner or later an event is published without an image, and a neutral house image is better than an empty circle. Choose a generic mark — a logo lockup, a texture — rather than a photograph of a specific event.

See Featured and fallback images.

Error message

The message shown when a filtered search returns nothing. Left empty, visitors read a generic default about no events matching their criteria.

Write your own. A good one states the situation, suggests an action and offers a route:

No events match those filters. Clear them to see everything coming up.

The field is translatable, so a multilingual site sets it per language.

Note that the calendar's empty-month message is separate and lives on the shortcode. See Empty results and error messages.

Verify

1. Save the section.
2. Open the page holding the search form, signed out.
3. Confirm the number of events matches Posts per page, and that Load more events appears.
4. Confirm an event without a featured image uses the placeholder.
5. Filter for nothing and confirm your error message appears.
6. Watch a filter change and confirm the loader appears.