Editing the Event Description

The description of your event is one of the most important portions of content on your event page. It should give the prospective attendee all the information (e.g. who, what, when, where, how) not already provided about date/time, location, etc. from the other sections on the event page.

Of course, additional information can be placed in the description regarding these sections (e.g. agendas with multiple times and locations, what the admission cost gives attendees).

Using the WYSIWYG Editor

The description section needs all the information it can get, so it uses a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, much like what you use in any word processing software (e.g. Microsoft Word). There are some elements you can use and others that are not functional, per our web template and accessibility guidelines:

WYSIWYG Buttons No Longer Used

  • Underline: Underline is only meant for links, and those are already underlined by default in the web template style.
  • Align left, center, or right: Alignment is set by default in the web template style to be left, so no adjustments are needed.
  • Increase/Decrease indentation: This may cause some accessibility compliance issues for readability, along with text wrapping issues in case images are displaying for the event.

Additionally, images cannot be added into the description. These are only added into the main event page. The text of the description wraps around the image or slideshow (if using more than one image).

If you need to add a video into the description, please contact Web Operations. Videos are often used for archival purposes (e.g. lectures, performances) after the event has passed.

Formatting Basics

No accessibility compliance checker is built into the LiveWhale calendar system currently, so please check over your own content for the following:

  • Use uppercase only on acronyms/abbreviations and products/events that are required to be spelled out with uppercase letters. Do not uppercase all letters in a sentence.
  • Do not add additional spacing to “line text up” or “make it look bigger”. These cause unintended readability issues.
  • Use headings to set off main topics (e.g. Check-in, Admissions/Costs, What to Bring, What to Wear). Do not use headings to make to “make it look bigger”.
  • Use bulleted and numbered lists for lists. Do not use special characters or spaces to denote list items in paragraphs.
  • Use tables for tabular data. Do not use special characters or spaces to denote columns and rows. Request assistance from Web Operations to clean up tables and add table headers to either the column heading or row heading.

Adding Links to the Description

Links provide additional information. Your most important link (e.g. registering) should be used in the Call-to-Action button. If you have a couple links, you can add those in the Related Content. However, too many links over on that side of the event page brings the rest of the content down in an awkward way. The description may be the best place those links.

Link to a Tarleton webpage or other “external” content

If you need to link to a Tarleton webpage or content on another website (e.g. Board of Regents Agenda in PDF form), you will want to use the “Link to an outside URL” option.

  1. Highlight the text that needs the link.
  2. Select the chain link icon to Insert a link.
  3. Select “Link to an outside URL” from the dropdown menu.
  4. Copy/paste the link into the “Outside URL“.
  5. Select “Make this link“.

Link to a map location

The “Link to an outside URL” option is also good for linking to the Tarleton campus map to help attendees find a location or get directions to the location.

  1. Go the map.tarleton.edu to view the interactive campus map.
  2. For easy viewing of the building location map pins, check the boxes for categories like “Academic Buildings” or “Administrative Buildings & Services”. Find the building that you need to link to and select that map pin on the map.
  3. When the dialog box pops up with the “Directions” and “Share” buttons, select “Share“.
  4. Copy the link off “Link to Location“.
  5. Go back to your event in LiveWhale, and in edit mode, go to the Description.
  6. Highlight the text that needs the link.
  7. Select the chain link icon to Insert a link.
  8. Select “Link to an outside URL” from the dropdown menu.
  9. Copy/paste the map link into the “Outside URL“.
  10. Select “Make this link“.

Link to a file (PDF recommended)

Need to hand attendees instructions? A custom map to print out and bring with them? Agenda? Parking pass? All these items can be added as links within the description as long as they are PDF documents. If it isn’t just for printing, see accessible documents before adding to your event.

  1. Make sure your PDF documents are prepared for web use or are distinguishable as print-only documents.
  2. Highlight the text that needs the link.
  3. Select the chain link icon to Insert a link.
  4. Select “Link to one of your files” from the dropdown menu.
  5. Select “Choose a file…“.
  6. If it isn’t in the list on your calendar group, select “Upload a new file to [your calendar group]“.
    1. After browsing for your file, change the file name to a normal description of the document (e.g. from “texan-tour-agenda.pdf” to “Texan Tour Agenda”).
    2. The file description is optional, but it helps you search through your file contents in LiveWhale.
    3. Once done, select “Save this file“.
  7. When your file is highlighted in your calendar group’s listing, select “Insert this file“.
  8. Typically you do not need to open a link in a new window, since the applications do it by default, and it may be unexpected by your attendees, so uncheck “Open link in new window“.
  9. Select “Make this link“.

Link to an email address

If the email address isn’t written out, like [email protected], then you will need to add a link to it (e.g. contact Web Operations).

  1. Highlight the text that needs the link.
  2. Select the chain link icon to Insert a link.
  3. Select “Link to an email address” from the dropdown menu.
  4. Type in the Email address (e.g. [email protected])
  5. Select “Make this link“.

Link to a phone number

The great thing about our new web template is that is works well with any device, including phones. So you can link to a phone number, and your attendees can call straight from the webpage!

This is done automatically for some phone numbers. If you are displaying the telephone number, we recommend you use the format ###-###-####, so it functions correctly. Otherwise, you can type in a call-to-action, like call Web Operations, and use the following instructions:

  1. Highlight the text that needs the link.
  2. Select the chain link icon to Insert a link.
  3. Select “Link to a phone number” from the dropdown menu.
  4. Type in the Phone number (e.g. 254-968-1819)
  5. Select “Make this link“.