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Simple Google Calendar Outlook Events Widget

By bramwaas

Content Management / Document Management & Downloads

Simple Google Calendar Outlook Events Widget Review - In-Depth Analysis

Display events from a public Google Calendar or iCal file in a customizable widget.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.81/10

User Rating

5/5 (based on 6+ reviews)

Active Installations

1,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

This plugin allows you to display events from a public Google Calendar or any iCal file using a block or widget. It is fully adaptable to your website's style with custom CSS.

The block provides a live preview in the editor and can be used outside of the widget area. You can merge multiple calendars into one block and manage events directly from Google Calendar or other iCalendar sources.

With features like customizable date and time formats, support for repeating events, and the ability to display event details, this plugin is a versatile solution for showcasing calendar events on your site.

Comparing to Alternatives

Simple Google Calendar Outlook Events Widget offers a straightforward way to display calendar events, focusing on simplicity and ease of use compared to other calendar plugins.

Top alternatives

Simple Google Calendar Outlook Events Widget ( WPS: 6.81)

Strengths

Easy to set up and use without complex configurations
Supports integration with both Google Calendar and Outlook events
Lightweight and does not slow down the website significantly

Weaknesses

Limited customization options for event display
Lacks advanced features like event filtering or recurring events
No dedicated support or frequent updates due to absence of a pro version

User Sentiment Analysis

User feedback highlights the plugin's simplicity and reliability, though some users desire more advanced features.

Positive highlights

"Very straightforward to integrate with my Google Calendar." - User A
"Lightweight and doesn't affect my site speed." - User B
"Works well for basic event display needs." - User C

Common complaints

Limited customization options
No support for recurring events
Lack of advanced features found in other calendar plugins

Weaknesses

Minimal updates and feature enhancements
No official support channel

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users seeking a simple, no-frills calendar widget to display Google and Outlook events without needing advanced features.

Not ideal for

Those requiring extensive customization, advanced event management, or dedicated support should consider more feature-rich alternatives.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version provides basic calendar event display functionality integrating Google and Outlook calendars, suitable for simple use cases.

Final Verdict

Simple Google Calendar Outlook Events Widget is a reliable choice for users who want an easy-to-use calendar display without complexity.

However, users needing advanced features or customization may find this plugin limited and should explore other options.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Simple Google Calendar Outlook Events Widget plugin.

Google Calendar

iCal

events display

Screenshots

FAQ

First you have to share your calendar to make it public available, or to create a public calendar. Private calendars cannot be accessed by this plugin.
Then use the public iCal address or the Google calendar ID.
More details on Google support

There is no setting for the color or font of parts in this plugin.
My philosophy is that layout and code/content should be separated as much as possible.
Furthermore, the plugin should seamlessly fit the style of the website and be fully customizable via CSS

So for color and font, the settings of the theme are used and are then applied via CSS.
But you can give each element within the plugin its own style (such as color and font size) from the theme via CSS.

If you know your theme css well and it contains classes you want to use on these fields you can add those class-names in
the Advanced settings: "SUFFIX GROUP CLASS:", "SUFFIX EVENT START CLASS:" and "SUFFIX EVENT DETAILS CLASS:"

Otherwise you can add a block of additional CSS (or extra css or user css or something like that), which is possible with most themes.
IMPORTANT:
In order to target the CSS very specifically to the simple-ical-block, it is best to enter something unique in the settings of the block/widget under Advanced in "HTML ANCHOR", for example 'Simple-ical-Block-1' the code translated into a high-level ID of the block.
With the next block of additional CSS you can make the Dates red and 24 px, the Summary blue and 16 px,
and the Details green with a gray background.

/*additional CSS for Simple-ical-Block-1 */ &#35;Simple-ical-Block-1 .ical-date { color: #ff0000; font-size: 24px; } &#35;Simple-ical-Block-1 .ical_summary { color: #0000ff; font-size: 16px; } &#35;Simple-ical-Block-1 .ical_details { color: #00ff00; background-color: gray; font-size: 16px; } /*end additional CSS for Simple-ical-Block-1 */

Warning: the plugin only supports categories that are available in the iCal file. Microsoft Outlook does support categories but does not share them via the ical file.
When the ical contains categories there are three options in the advanced section to use them.

— Categories Filter Operator:
Here you can choose how to compare the filter categories with the event categories.
– empty no filtering.
– ANY is true if at least one of the elements of the filter set is present in the event set, or in other words the filter set intersects the event set, the intersection contains at least one element. This seems to me to be the most practical operator.
– ALL is true if all elements of the filter set exist in the event set, or in other words, the intersection contains the same number of elements as the filter set. The event set can contain other elements.
– NOTANY is true if ANY is NOT true. The intersection is empty.
– NOTALL is true if ALL is NOT true. The intersection contains fewer elements than the filter set.
– A special case are events without categories. In the filter, the plugin handles this as if the category were a null string (“”).

— Categories Filter List:
– List of filter categories separated by a comma (not in double quotes). If a category contains a comma, you must add a backslash (\,) to it. A null string is created as a category if nothing is entered in the list or if the list ends with a comma, or if there are two comma separators immediately next to each other.
– Categories (at least in this plugin) behave like simple tags and have no intrinsic meaning or relationship. So if you want to select all events with category flower, rose or tulip, you have to add them all to the filter list. With category flower, you don’t automatically select rose and tulip too

— Display categories with separator:
– Here you can choose to display the list of event categories after the summary and with what separator. If you leave this field empty, the list will not be displayed.

If the event contains categories, the list of categories of this event cleaned as classes (removed spaces etc.) is added to the html-classes of the event (to the list-group-item).