Maybe a better idea would be a Google Forms instance to submit listings, then some manual validation and normalisation, and s script to pull it from the Google Docs spreadsheet and generate a static web page. Makes for cheap and easy hosting, and you could easily map the events and companies on Google Maps or OSM if you add a lat/long field.

That way, it'd be easy to submit and even easier to consume the data.

And if you kept the dataset open, people could reuse it in a bunch of useful ways.

Did you have any comments on https://opentechcalendar.co.uk/ ? We are not static* or Google Docs but we do the rest - people can add, we work with lat/lngs on maps and have many Open Data feeds that already have lots of users.

* Tho last year we did start playing with a static site generator for fun, tho it's not production ready yet.

I incidentally found Open Tech Calendar for the first time a few days ago and really like it.

Besides a few small design niggles, I think it's great.

The data export (and the fact the data is in the public domain) is really useful. The lack of adverts (besides a little sponsor shout out) makes me much more comfortable contributing data here. I appreciate the OSM maps.

Honestly, you really don't need to go the static route. That was perhaps a more useful suggestion for the OP as they don't have any dynamic web infrastructure in place and it would offer a quick win in terms of usability. Same goes for Google docs - it was a good for the OP's situation but it's not necessary in your case, especially with your strong export functionality. Stick with dynamic, you've done a good job there!

If I could make a couple of little suggestions:

1. A few wee design tweaks might help: on desktop browsers the font size is really big in places (24px in the header explanation text), the background image is a little distracting and difficult to make out, and the max width of 1200px reduces readability a bit for some users). Nothing major, just some little tweaks.

2. I only found the site recently and wish I'd come across it before now. Do what you're doing here - keep reaching out to people in the community.

3. Slim down the terms and conditions a bit and adopt an open license. The footer says that event data is in the public domain, but this term is a little fuzzy and the legal meaning isn't always clear. On the terms page, you talk about a limited license. I'd suggest going with CC0 [0] for event data (it's like public domain, but with specific and universally understood legal meaning). And perhaps just state that all rights are reserved with regards to site name and logos. It makes things clearer for people who might want to use the data.

[0] https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Hello. Thanks for your comments :-)

Don't worry, Open Tech Calendar will never go Static - there are to many features that just won't work. However, the static site was something we tried as an experiment to make us look afresh at this problem. We may carry on with it someday, but it has already driven a bunch of code quality improvements in the main app which is great.

If you are interested, could you join https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/openacalendar ? This is for the Open Source software, and we discuss features and design issues there. Very happy to have any constructive criticism discussion there! But let me try and address some points very quickly now, tho it's late and I'm off to a hackday tomorrow! (That's the Excuses in :-) )

1. I want to recheck all font sizes - they've all been picked piecemeal. I do want to make sure the fonts are slightly large tho - while I have no problem with lower size fonts I know some people with vision problems do.

For the max width, do you want it wider than 1200px? We actually have just done some design work that touches on this: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/openacalendar/HvsKB3...

The image isn't really meant to be fully detailed, it's just to add a bit of texture. I was thinking of trying some different images, maybe it's time to!

2. Thanks! :-)

3. I would like to be clearer on the legal side, but I have some questions of my own about legal points and could really do with a discussion with a friendly lawyer! But rest assured I want the data to be open for all sensible uses.

Anyway, hopefully this makes sense. Please do join the email list or email hello at the site domain with more points. Thanks, James

Hi, well thanks for listening :)

I'll take a little look at the Google Group tomorrow and would like to give some feedback! I think the project is fantastic.

I've got a couple of little follow-up comments on accessibility...

One important thing to remember about visually impaired users is that they almost always have their base font size in their browser set high already, or are using a magnifier. So 150% of an already large font becomes an unusably ginormous font. While the intention is definitely good, it can have the opposite effect (I speak from experience working with both technical and non-technical family members who are partially sighted). A base size of 14-16px (depending on font), increasing to 1.5em or 2em for headers works really well, and doesn't overcompensate when visually impaired users have their own font magnifying solutions in place (as they most often do because they're needed for the vast majority of websites).

And in terms of the max width, I'd definitely take it down from 1200px. Long lines are harder to read [0 (also a really good example of readable width)]. Playing with the site in Chrome dev tools, "max-width: 54em;" works really well. It stops the right-aligned/floated elements being across a wide chasm from the left-aligned elements, and it keeps line lengths at a really readable limit. And by using ems instead of pixels, if visually impaired users have a higher base font size (which doesn't scale non-text elements with sizes in pixels), it won't distort the page layout.

[0] http://baymard.com/blog/line-length-readability

> almost always have their base font size in their browser set high already

I've come across people who don't - but still, maybe this is generally the way to go.

Thanks for your detailed feedback and encouragement. I've made 2 issues at https://github.com/OpenACalendar/OpenACalendar-Web-Core/issu... and https://github.com/OpenACalendar/OpenACalendar-Web-Core/issu... - but if you had time to comment on the Google Group that would be great :-)

Many thanks for the offer. I'd like it as a website (I'm recommending my spouse does that for a Scots[TBD_which_specific_branch_of_Creatives]Map she's working on) but for now I want it as easy to edit as possible.

I think it would be pretty easy for people to add their info. Let me make a sample tomorrow.

I suspect there's so many people browsing that it doesn't allow simultaneous editing by them all. They're normally all editable. It was editable a few minutes ago with ~ 77 users.

I don't see the edit buttons at all, even using a different browser. I'll try later.

There aren't any - normally you click in a cell and can edit it immediately.

Try this form to add a company: http://goo.gl/forms/5OEg6TahHdLrPmaG3

And this form to add an event: http://goo.gl/forms/LI36LptYhqbuudY83

I was able to get in and add Newslines. Thank you!