EventON is a CodeCanyon premium plugin ($25 one-time) for WordPress events management. Its main differentiator from The Events Calendar is visual design: EventON’s calendar displays are more polished out of the box, with an accordion-style event list, tile grid, and month calendar that look professional without theme-level CSS customisation. This guide covers the complete setup from initial configuration to a publicly visible calendar.
EventON’s Design Approach
Where The Events Calendar follows WordPress conventions (custom post type, archive templates, standard calendar layouts), EventON takes a more frontend-framework approach. The calendar renders via JavaScript and Ajax rather than server-side PHP templates. This produces smoother interactions (clicking a date shows events without page reload) but can create compatibility issues with aggressive caching configurations and some page builders that interfere with JavaScript initialisation.
The trade-off is real: EventON’s calendar looks better by default, but debugging JavaScript conflicts requires more technical knowledge than debugging a server-rendered template. On well-configured sites the JavaScript approach works smoothly; on sites with conflicting JavaScript from multiple plugins, EventON requires more troubleshooting.
Step 1: Install and Create Your First Event
Purchase from CodeCanyon, download the ZIP, and upload via Plugins -> Add New -> Upload Plugin. After activation, go to EventON -> Add Event. The event editor includes standard post content plus EventON-specific fields in the sidebar and below the editor:
- Start and end date/time – date pickers in the EventON meta box
- Event location – text address. EventON geocodes this to show on an integrated map.
- Event type – EventON’s category system. Create event types with assigned colours in EventON -> Event Types.
- Event label – a short badge text (SOLD OUT, FREE, NEW) displayed on the event in calendar views
- Event colour – individual event colour override, separate from event type colour
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Step 2: Configure Event Types and Colour Coding
Event Types are EventON’s equivalent of categories, but with colour assignment. Go to EventON -> Event Types -> Add New Type. Create types like Workshop, Conference, Social, Webinar. Assign a colour to each. This colour appears as a bar or indicator on the event in calendar views, giving visitors an immediate visual distinction between event categories without reading the category label.
This colour coding system is one of EventON’s practical advantages for sites with multiple event types – a music venue with concerts, club nights, and special events benefits from colour-coded visual distinction more than a community centre with a single event type.
Step 3: Add the Calendar to Your Site
EventON calendars are added via shortcode. The basic shortcode displays all events in EventON’s default accordion view:
[add_eventon]Customise the output with shortcode parameters:
[add_eventon number_of_months="3" ft_event_style="style1" show_et_ft_img="yes" event_type="3"]- number_of_months – how many months of events to show initially
- ft_event_style – style1 (accordion), style2 (tile grid), style3 (month calendar)
- show_et_ft_img – whether to show the event featured image
- event_type – filter to show only a specific event type (use the type ID)
Step 4: Recurring Events Configuration
EventON has basic recurring event support built into the free plugin. In the event editor, find the Repeat Event section. Set the repeat frequency (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) and the end date for the recurrence. Recurring events create individual event instances rather than a single recurring event entry, so each occurrence is a separate entry in the database.
For events with complex recurrence rules (every second Tuesday, monthly on the last Friday), EventON’s recurring options are limited compared to The Events Calendar Pro’s recurrence engine. For simple weekly or monthly recurrences, EventON’s built-in options cover the requirement.
Filtering Events With URL Parameters
EventON supports URL-based event filtering that lets you link directly to a filtered calendar view. Append query parameters to the page URL containing your EventON calendar shortcode:
yoursite.com/events/?eventtype=3&month=6&year=2025The eventtype parameter filters to a specific event type by its numeric ID. The month and year parameters open the calendar at a specific month. This is useful for creating direct links in navigation menus or marketing emails that drop visitors into a pre-filtered calendar – a menu link labelled “Workshops” pointing to /events/?eventtype=3 shows only workshop-type events immediately.