TLDR: Use microdata/microformats to add more meaning to event listings on your website, enabling users to easily add events to their calendars and providing a better user experience.
Many websites have lists of events which they in the best intention want their users to know about. But maybe they could get feedback from users like this:
Hey, love the event listings! But adding them to my calendar is a pain. Can you please add a 'Add to Calendar' feature? It'd make my life so much easier!
Cause text links are nice for the brain, but not good for the user to easily add to her calendar. Microformats/Microdata + some javascript can change that!
The overlooked HTML feature: Microformats/Microdata
The microformats/microdata used in this example is based on the h-event vocabulary, which is a standardized way of marking up events on the web.
Microformats/microdata is a way to add additional semantic meaning to HTML elements, making it easier for search engines and other machines to understand the structure and content of a webpage.
The h-event vocabulary is part of the Microformats 2 specification, which is a standardized way of marking up common data structures on the web.
Here is an example of the microformats used in this example:
<li class="h-event">
<time class="dt-start" datetime="2024-11-05T12:00:00">11/5</time>
<span class="p-name">Tennis Band på Nytorv</span>
<time class="dt-start" datetime="2024-11-05T12:00:00">kl. 12.00</time> -
<time class="dt-end" datetime="2024-11-05T13:00:00">13.00</time>
</li>
In this example, the h-event class is used to indicate that the element represents an event. The dt-start and dt-end classes are used to indicate the start and end dates and times of the event, respectively. The p-name class is used to indicate the name of the event.
You can find more information about the h-event vocabulary and Microformats 2 in general on the official Microformats website:
Additionally, you can find more information about microdata on the W3C website:
Using javascript to dynamically add link "Add to Calendar"
Adding an 'Add to Calendar' feature to your event listings is easier than you think!
With a bit of JavaScript magic, you can add a link to your microdata-extended HTML that allows users to easily add events to their calendars.
Together with GROK i've generated a script to demonstrate this, and you can see it in action on CodePen. With just a few lines of code, you can give your users a seamless way to add events to their calendars, making your event listings even more user-friendly. So why not give it a try and take your event listings to the next level?
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