Troop 
50-year Veteran

Calendar Help
Last Updated 11/02/2006 02:35 PM

Welcome to the new Troop 186 / Venture Crew 2286 calendars!  We hope you like the new format for these calendars, and come back here often for the very latest information on Troop and Venture Crew events!  The following should help you with some of the more common issues when using these new calendar formats.

 

 Google Public Calendars

The calendars utilize Google's public calendars, which are then embedded within the Troop's website.  By viewing the calendar from our website, you DO NOT have to have a Google account to access these calendars!  However, the calendars can also be viewed from a Google account by searching for "Troop 186" or "Venture Crew 2286" in the public calendars search box on the Google Calendars webpage.

Please remember that Google Calendars (like most things on the Google website) is a free product, and it is in its early stages of development.  Google Calendars do not generate Google ad revenue, so it is unclear as to how much support and enhancement this product will have over time.  However, many user community posts indicate that Google continues to improve the product and it fully integrates with other features that we'll utilize in the future to enhance the Troop's website.  Mostly, it'll allow us to more quickly and easily update the Troop calendar, so we can keep it more timely and informative.  Check back here often for the very latest information on Troop activities.

 

 Navigation

The calendars themselves have two sets of navigation buttons/tabs at the top of each calendar.  The left set of arrow shaped buttons will navigate backwards and forwards through the months.  The calendar begins in late October, 2006 (it is blank prior to this period).  It will be updated regularly to always include at least the next three months worth of planned activities.  There is also a button to return you to the current date (the "Today" button), which can be useful if you scroll several months forward or backward from today's date.  The page always refreshes to today's date when you leave the Calendar webpage and later return to the calendar.

The second set of navigation aids are the two tabs on the upper right side of the calendar.  The "Month" tab allows you to view the selected month's events in a "calendar" format.  The "Agenda" tab allows you to see the month's events in a list format.  The "Agenda" tab shows the date and time of the event, as well as the full name of the event.

There is also a separate button on the very top of the webpage that will allow you to switch between the Troop and the Venture Crew calendar.  The button will be light green when viewing the Troop Calendar, and tan when viewing the Venture Crew calendar.  This gives you  a visual aid to identify which calendar will be selected when the button is pressed.  Note that the calendar background changes colors to either tan for the Troop Calendar or light green for the Venture Crew calendar.  This more readily identifies which calendar you are currently viewing.  Note too that the Venture Crew calendar is on a light green web page (as opposed to the tan pages found on the rest of the website).  All of the Venture Crew web pages throughout the website will feature this light green background theme.  This will allow you to more easily identify Venture Crew information from other Troop information throughout the website.  Of course the "Calendar Help" button on the top right of the Calendar page is how you got to this web page.

 

Printing

You can print either the "Calendar" view or the "Agenda" view by right-clicking anywhere on the calendar itself and selecting "Print" from the shortcut menu.  The "Calendar" view will print just like a monthly calendar, so make sure your printer is set to "Landscape" mode when you print (otherwise the calendar will scrunch up real small when printed in "Portrait" mode).  The "Agenda" view will print a list of that month's events.  Note that you can only print one month at a time while in both "Calendar" and "Agenda" view.  Either Troop 186 or Venture Crew 2286, as applicable, will appear on the printed copy of the calendar.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Can you export calendar events to Outlook? - The short answer is "not really".  At present Google only supports this through a complicated process to program your Outlook to interface with Google's calendars.  It requires a thorough understanding of Outlook's programming language, and most people would not be able to take advantage of this feature.  If you're brave enough, take a look at the help screens from Google's Calendar webpage (Note: Access to Google calendar web pages requires you to have a Google account).

  • Can you wrap the text within the calendar boxes? - No.  Google does not allow the font or other display characteristics of the calendar (like text size or wrapping) to be changed within an embedded calendar.

  • Can you add "Icons" or other little graphics to distinguish "important" dates? - A limited set of "icons" can be added to the Google calendars within Google's website, but not from within an embedded calendar.

  • Can you color code the events? - No.  Google's Calendar website supports color coding events when viewing multiple calendars simultaneously (not individual events within a given calendar), but color coding events is not available within an embedded calendar.

  • How can I print a calendar where the entire event name can be seen? - You must view the calendar in "Agenda" mode and then print the list of events.

  • What other features are available by accessing the calendars from the Google Calendars website? - There are several limitations in Google's embedded calendars, so accessing the calendars from your Google account will allow you to do more things than are available to the Calendars from within the Troop's website.  For instance you can view both the Troop and the Venture Crew calendars simultaneously, as well as viewing these calendars along with your own personal calendar (if you have set up a personal calendar for your Google account).  You can add events from the two calendars to your own personal Google calendar, and set up a reminder for that event.  The two calendars' events can also be color coded when viewed from your Google account, as well as being able to view other features that Google does not include in an embedded calendar (like viewing weather alerts while in "Calendar" view, or locations on the "Agenda" view of the calendar, enhanced navigation aids, etc.).  Google accounts are free, so feel free to check out the Calendars within Google's Calendar website if you like.  And, yes, the calendars contain the very same events when viewed either within the Troop's website or within Google's Calendar website.

  • What other features will be added to the Troop calendars? - Soon appropriate Troop members will be able to update the calendar themselves without having to submit those events to the Webmaster for inclusion in the website.  This will allow for even more events to be added to the calendar, such as Eagle project activities, Eagle Courts of Honor, service opportunities, etc.  And, ultimately the calendar will be tied into Google's Gmail product so you can sign up or cancel participating in a Troop event, with an appropriate notice going to the event organizer.  We'll also take advantage of additional Google calendar features as they become available.

 

Please E-mail any other questions about the Troop or Venture Crew calendars to the Webmaster.