Calendar Software

I use google calendar, and I like calgoo as an off-line google-calendar app. Calgoo currently works pretty well, though they are going through some growth from a beta-app to their for-fee model. Their free version works fairly well at the moment.

For non shared calendars: Mozilla Thunderbird with the Lightning extension is pretty good. It can subscribe to iCal calendars as well.

For shared calendars: Zimbra Collaboration Suite if you can host, if not then I recommend Gmail. You can configure it to receive/send mail for your domain for free, with almost 3gb of storage and shared calendars, documents, etc.

-n8

For several months, I have actually been using Mozilla's Lightning Calendar extension for Thunderbird. It has significantly improved somewhere around 6-9 months ago. It's pretty usable for personal use. While today it is not ready to challenge Outlook in the enterprise, but I have high hopes for Lighting/Sunbird and Chandler in the next 12-24 months.

I have been using Localendar for 5 or 6 years now and suddenly...IT'S GONE. I'm hoping they are either updating or having server issues. Does anyone know? They haven't gone out of business have they?

Hmm, a quick Google search didn't show anything about them going out of business. Some links on their site worked fine, but the search went really slow, which leads me to think that they might just be having server or site issues.

--Megan

Thanks for your reply. I also tried viewing their "cached" copy from Google and it looks like they are doing a MAJOR site overhaul. I now have my calendar back on my website, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
NC

We have been using a Free Open Source Calendar called "Web Calendar"
http://www.k5n.us/webcalendar.php

It is great for scheduling events and avoiding room conflicts.  It is a pretty serious calendar and used by School systems, fire departments.  So this is not appropriate for a four person organization.  Here is a Church that uses it:

http://www.southchurch.com/calendar

Pros: 

• Free
• View calendars by day, week, month or year
• Multi-user support
• View another user's calendar
• View one or more users' calendar via layers on top of your own calendar
• Add/Edit/Delete users
• Add/Edit/Delete events
• Repeating events including support for overriding or deleting (exceptions)
• Configurable custom event fields
• User-configurable preferences for colors, 12/24 time format, Sun/Mon week start
• Online help
• Checks for scheduling conflicts
• Email reminders for upcoming events
• Email notifications for new/updated/deleted events
• Export events to iCalendar, vCalendar or Palm
• Import from iCalendar, vCalendar or Palm
• Optional general access (no login required) to allow calendar to be viewed by people without a login (useful for event calendars)
• Users can make their calendar available publicly to anyone with an iCalendar-compliant calendar program (such as Apple's iCal, Mozilla Calendar or Sunbird)
• Publishing of free/busy schedules (part of the iCalendar standard)
• RSS support that puts a user's calendar into RSS (WebCalendar 1.1+)
• Subscribe to "remote" calendars (hosted elsewhere on the net) in either iCalendar or hCalendar formats (WebCalendar 1.1+)
• User authentication: Web-based, HTTP, LDAP or NIS

Cons:

• You will need a web site that supports PHP and a database like MySQL
• Your web site must allow you to install PHP applications.  Most do.
• Requires medium web site proficiency.
• You will spend a few hours setting it up.
• It is up to you to maintain it.  Not a lot to do, but somebody needs to be appointed.

Hi everyone,

We've updated our article on adding a calendar to your website. I outlined what's new in this version on the blog.

Cheers,
Elliot

Glad to see this updated! One consideration that wasn't addressed in the article was the accessibility of different calendar software options. I know this is a huge consideration for many nonprofits (including TechSoup). I know Google calendar for example has an embed code that includes an iframe that is not accessible. Anyone know about the accessibility of other calendar options (i.e. Drupal, 30boxes, etc.) or an accessible calendar option not mentioned in the article?

Best,

Megan

KeepandShare.com provides an excellent group web calendar that provides both secure private and public access.  It is also highly customizable and embeds in your website.  It's a new comer, with superb PDF-based printing.  Would suggest you consider adding it to your 3 you cover in the article.   

Thanks for your support, I'm finding this software to add into my site.

InstantCal.com is an embeddable calendar for websites (and blogs) that uses existing calendar data. It has custom display widgets, including wall calendars (grids), datepickers, lists, and tickers. It is not a calendar management application (such as the ones you have reviewed), but a way for website visitors to share calendar events. It also has event Reminders, and is free for low volume use.