An approachable, theme‑friendly events plugin for WordPress. It adds an Event post type, useful taxonomies, ACF‑powered fields, and accessible front‑end templates (archive, single, and a calendar page template). Everything can be overridden from your theme when you need custom markup.

What you get

Event post type with archive at /events.
Two taxonomies: Event Types (hierarchical) and Event Tags (non‑hierarchical).
Event details via ACF: date/time, cost, location (online URL vs in‑person address).
Front‑end templates: archive list, single view, and a calendar page template.
Theme overrides for templates and styles with simple folder conventions.
Sensible defaults: admin column for date, sortable by event date; taxonomy views sort upcoming first; main events archive sorts newest first.

Requirements

WordPress 5.8+ (uses modern APIs like wp_date() and template filters).
Advanced Custom Fields (free) is required for the event fields. The plugin will load without ACF, but the Event fields and related UI will not be available until ACF is active.

Installation

Copy the aa-events folder into wp-content/plugins/.
(Required) Install and activate the “Advanced Custom Fields” plugin.
In WordPress Admin → Plugins, activate “AA Events”.
Visit Settings → Permalinks and click Save if your events archive doesn’t appear (activation also flushes rewrites).

Quick Start

Create events: Admin → Events → Add New.
Fill in the “Event Details” fields:
- Event Date & Time (required)
- Event Cost (optional)
- Online/In‑Person toggle (required)
- Event URL (required when Online)
- Event Address (required when In‑Person)
View your list of events at /events and single event pages at their permalinks.
For a calendar view, create a new Page and choose the “Events Calendar” template, then publish.

Content Model

Post type: event
- Public, has archive (/events), supports title, editor, author, thumbnail.
- Default sort:
  - Admin list: ascending by Event Date & Time.
  - Taxonomy views: ascending (upcoming first).
  - Main events archive: descending (newest first).
Taxonomies
- event_type (hierarchical, slug event-type)
- event_tag (non‑hierarchical, slug event-tag)
Admin UX
- Adds a “Date & Time” column on Events list, sortable by the event date.

Front‑End Views

Archive: /events uses templates/archive-event.php.
Single: each event uses templates/single-event.php.
Calendar page: Page → Template → “Events Calendar” renders templates/template-calendar.php which includes templates/calendar.php.
Calendar navigation: query args ?month=MM&year=YYYY change the visible month; “Today” jumps back to the current month.

Theme Overrides

The plugin is designed to be theme‑override friendly. Copy any template into your theme under your-theme/aa-events/ and it will be used instead of the plugin version.

Templates you can override:
- archive-event.php
- single-event.php
- template-calendar.php (page template)
- calendar.php

Example: to override the archive, create your-theme/aa-events/archive-event.php.

Page template in a theme: the “Events Calendar” page template also respects theme overrides at your-theme/aa-events/template-calendar.php.

Styling

Default CSS ships with the plugin and is enqueued automatically.
To replace it, add your-theme/aa-events/aa-events.css. If present, the theme stylesheet is loaded instead of the plugin’s.

Note: The bundled CSS is intentionally minimal. Use the override to match your theme.

Developer Notes

Template loader helpers:
- events_get_template( $template_name, $args = [], $template_path = 'aa-events/', $default_path = AA_EVENTS_PLUGIN_DIR . 'templates/' )
- events_locate_template( $template_name, $template_path = 'aa-events/', $default_path = AA_EVENTS_PLUGIN_DIR . 'templates/' )
Filters/actions:
- events_get_template (filter: final located path)
- events_locate_template (filter: path resolution)
- events_before_template_part / events_after_template_part (actions around includes)
Page template registration (no theme file required):
- Registered as “Events Calendar” and loads from the plugin when selected.

Screenshots

Admin Event List

Event Edit

Events Archive

Calendar Page

Override Examples

Below are minimal examples showing how to override templates and styles from a theme. Copy into your theme under your-theme/aa-events/.

Example: override archive layout at your-theme/aa-events/archive-event.php:

<?php
/* Template: Events Archive (Theme Override) */
get_header(); ?>

<div id="primary" class="content-area">
  <main id="main" class="site-main">
  <?php if ( have_posts() ) : ?>
    <header class="page-header"><h1>Upcoming Events</h1></header>
    <?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
      <article <?php post_class('aa-event-item'); ?>>
        <h2 class="aa-event-title"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
        <p class="aa-event-when">
          <strong>Date:</strong>
          <time datetime="<?php echo esc_attr( get_field('event_datetime') ); ?>">
            <?php echo esc_html( get_field('event_datetime') ); ?>
          </time>
        </p>
        <div class="aa-event-excerpt"><?php the_excerpt(); ?></div>
      </article>
    <?php endwhile; the_posts_navigation(); ?>
  <?php else : ?>
    <p>No events found.</p>
  <?php endif; ?>
  </main>
 </div>
<?php
get_sidebar();
get_footer();

Example: tweak the event card at your-theme/aa-events/single-event.php:

<article <?php post_class('aa-event-item'); ?>>
  <h2 class="aa-event-title"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
  <p class="aa-event-when">
    <strong>Date:</strong>
    <time datetime="<?php echo esc_attr( get_field('event_datetime') ); ?>">
      <?php echo esc_html( get_field('event_datetime') ); ?>
    </time>
  </p>
  <?php the_excerpt(); ?>
  <p><a class="button" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">View details</a></p>
 </article>

Example: replace styles by adding your-theme/aa-events/aa-events.css:

/* Theme override for AA Events */
.aa-events-calendar th,
.aa-events-calendar td { border-color: #ddd; }
.aa-events-calendar .today-cell { background: #e6f7ff; border-color: #1890ff; }
.aa-event-title { font-size: 1.25rem; margin: .25rem 0 .5rem; }

FAQ

The “Events Calendar” template doesn’t show up?
- Ensure the plugin is active. The template is registered by the plugin and appears in the Page Template dropdown. If you still don’t see it, check the Page sidebar and expand the Template panel.
Calendar shows no events?
- Make sure you created Event posts and set the “Event Date & Time”. The calendar shows events within the selected month using site timezone.
Can I use only the archive without the calendar?
- Yes. The archive at /events works independently of the calendar page template.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later. See LICENSE or the plugin header for details.

README.md Unescape Escape

AA Events