Tuesday, October 11th 2008, by Adam Barger

In this article I will tell you step by step how to add a fully updateable calendar you can publish on your website.

1. Sign up for Gmail or a WebStarts Pro account.

I've pretty much searched the internet high and low for a good calendar and to date the best one I found is the one made by Google. In order to use the Google Calendar however you must either have a Gmail account or be signed up to use Google's hosted solutions. If you sign up for a WebStarts Pro account you'll automatically be setup with Google's hosted solutions. This means you'll have access to your very own Gmail, Google, Docs, Calendar, and more. It's really a complete suite of applications that replace your need for Microsoft Office. So if you haven't already done so I highly recommend upgrading to a WebStarts Pro account.

2. Create your calendar.

Once you've setup your Gmail or WebStarts Pro account you'll need to create a calendar. You do this by clicking on the calendar link in the upper left hand corner after logging into your Gmail account. Google let's you manage multiple calendars from the same account all at the same time. So you can have a private and a public calendar for example. On the left side of your screen below your monthly calendar preview pane you'll see an area labeled 'My calendars'. Click on the link labled 'Create' just below that pane to create a new calendar. You will then be able to give the calendar a name as well as choose whether you want the calendar to be public or private along with several other options.

3. Enter your events.

Now that you have created your calendar go ahead and begin scheduling your events. To schedule an event click on the day and time you would like to schedule the event. Click on the 'edit event details' link to provide a detailed description of the event, setup event reminders, and invite guests to the event. You can even schedule event reminders to be sent via email and as a text message to your cell phone. Please note you'll have to confirm your phone number in order to use the text message feature.

4. Copy and paste your calendar onto your webpage.

After scheduling your events you'll want to publish your public calendar on your website. To do this you click on the 'Settings' link in the upper right hand corner of your calendar view. Next you'll want to click on the 'Calendars' tab and choose which calendar you would like to publish to your website. Click on the name of the calendar you want to publish and you'll notice some HTML code under the section labled 'Embed This Calendar'. Select the code, right click, and choose to 'copy' from the drop down menu. Navigate your way back to your WebStarts page editor view and click 'Insert' and then 'HTML Code'. Paste the code provided in the Paste Code window and click 'OK'. Your calendar should now appear on your web page. You can drag and drop it to the exact location you want it to be placed on the page. Click save and you've successfully added a calendar that is fully editable to your website.

You can make changes to your calendar by logging into your Gmail account and make direct changes to that calendar. The changes will automatically appear on your website.