First "Zap Calendar 101" Video Now Available: Google Maps Plugin
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- Created: 25 February 2014 25 February 2014
We have just released our first video, "Zap Calendar 101: The Google Maps Plugin". This video demonstrates the Google Maps plugin for Zap Calendar, one of our most popular plugins for Zap Calendar. You can follow along with the demo using the Zap Calendar demo website, so you can try out the features hands-on without needing to setup your own website. Click the video icon to watch.
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New Updates for Zap Calendar and Zap Weather
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- Created: 18 February 2014 18 February 2014
Zap Calendar and Zap Weather, Z Content's calendar and weather applications for Joomla, were recently updated. Zap Calendar version 4.0.4 includes several new add-ons, as well as enhancements to the front-end display and back-end functions. The new add-ons include:
- Comment - allow users to comment on events
- Recent Comments - A module displaying the most recent comments
- Zap Article - Link a Joomla article with an event by displaying a button link in the article to the event
- AcyMailing - If you use AcyMailing, this plugin will allow you to include Zap Calendar events in your AcyMailing newsletter
- Facebook Like - With this plugin, users can now "like" your events on Facebook
Front end enhancements include improvements to the popup event window (and switching from MooTools to jQuery libraries) and links to events shown in the upcoming events listing. Back end enhancements include RSS feeds and private iCalendar URL feeds (to use when you want to allow export of your calendar to select people only). For a complete list of enhancements and fixes, you can read the Zap Calendar 4.0 change log.
Zap Weather has also been updated to fix a "duplicate key" error when installing the previous version. A plugin was also recently released for Zap Calendar 4.0 that will show weather forecast information from Zap Weather in your calendar. Google recently dropped support for their Google weather API. This means the Google Weather plugin for Zap Calendar will no longer function and the Zap Weather plugin is now the only weather plugin supported for Zap Calendar.
You can find out more information on these products by visiting ZapCalendar.com and ZapWeather.com . While visiting, please "like us" on Facebook to receive the latest news on these products.
Zap Weather Version 9 Released
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- Created: 22 January 2014 22 January 2014
Zap Weather version 9 has just been released. This release supports Joomla 2.5 and now Joomla 3.x . Also added in this release are 700 additional weather stations to choose from and a fix displaying weather alerts from a module.
Zap Weather is a free Joomla component for displaying weather for any U.S.A. location or territory. Since its first release 8 years ago, Zap Weather has always been free and with "no commercial interruptions". That is, there are no fees, commercial advertising or links to external sites. Zap Weather uses data from the National Weather Service, a U.S.A. government organization and its services are paid for by the tax dollars of citizens. If you are not already using Zap Weather on your site, try it out today and let those tax dollars work for you!
More information about Zap Weather can be found here.
Zap Calendar 4.0.1 Released, 4 New Add-ons
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- Created: 20 December 2013 20 December 2013
The migration of add-ons to Zap Calendar 4 continues with 4 additional add-ons included with version 4.0.1. This release adds integration add-ons for JomSocial and Community Builder (pro version), and a mini month add-on (all versions), which is now a separate module. This release also contains one of the most popular add-ons for Zap Calendar, Google Maps, which provides mapping and geocoding of events created in Zap Calendar (standard and pro versions). This release also includes several fixes. With this release, there are now over a dozen add-ons available with Zap Calendar 4.
Zap Calendar 4 is the latest release of Zap Calendar that supports Joomla 3.x websites.
Zap Calendar 4 Beta Now Available, Supports Joomla 3.x
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- Created: 26 November 2013 26 November 2013
We are pleased to announce the availability of Zap Calendar 4 beta release. This release supports 3.x versions of Joomla. In addition to version 3.x support, Zap Calendar 4 also has the following new features:
- Installation of the component and all add-ons from one Zip file
- Support for multiple time zones
- Re-design of back-end screens to match Joomla 3.x interface
- Refreshed front-end design
Over 10 add-ons are included with this initial release with more add-ons coming soon. One add-on you will want to enable is the new title plugin, which displays your calendar browser buttons at the top of the calendar in the front-end. This is now an add-on so that it can be swapped out with a custom plugin for those who like to customize Zap Calendar.
A couple of names have changed with this release to better describe their purpose. Calendar "Views" are now called "Calendars", and the iCal Subscribe plugin is now called "iCal Sync".
If you are migrating your event data from Zap Calendar 3, you can create an iCalendar export file from Zap Calendar 3 and import it into Zap Calendar using the iCal import under the tools menu. This method will import your events as well as categories and locations that are associated with those events (make sure you select the "import ievents nto separate categoires" option). A table upgrade is not supported due to the changes made to support multiple time zones and other features.
Zap Calendar 4 beta is now available to all current subscribers on the Z Content web site.
Scan Events Into your Personal Calendar Using Your Smart Phone And The New QR Code Plugin
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- Created: 22 July 2013 22 July 2013
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Z Content just released its 30th add-on for Zap Calendar: The QR code plugin. This plugin allows users to scan calendar events using a QR code scanner app on their phone to easily add the event to their calendar. The QR code can contain the event title, date and time, location and the description of the event. QR codes can be printed or scanned directly from the web page.
This plugin is included starting in the 3.1.1 release of Zap Calendar Standard and Pro editions. You will need to be running version 3.1.1 or later of Zap Calendar to use this plugin.
This is the third Zap Calendar add-on released since version 3.1 and brings the total add-ons available for Zap Calendar to 30. The other recently released plugins are an e-mail reminder plugin (all versions), which automatically sends e-mail reminders to event owners prior to their event, and gravatar (Pro version only), which utilizes a user's avatar uploaded to gravatar.com (used with event owner field and with the comment and RSVP plugins). The Zap Weather plugin was also recently updated to support Zap Weather version 8 and Joomla 2.5.
Zap Calendar 3.1 Reaches Production Status
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- Created: 25 June 2013 25 June 2013
The production version of Zap Calendar version 3.1 is now available, and it provides several new features and add-ons. One exciting new feature is the ability to display a monthly or weekly calendar display in list mode in addition to grid mode. Users can easily toggle between the list mode and grid mode and print in either mode, as well as download events directly from the list. New plugins include an e-mail reminder plugin (all versions), which automatically sends e-mail reminders to event owners prior to their event, and gravatar (Pro version), which utilizes a user's avatar uploaded to gravatar.com (used with event owner field and with the comment and RSVP plugins). This version also includes an updated plugin for Zap Weather version 8, which will display weather forecast icons and temperatures within on your calendar (Zap Weather is a free Joomla component for displaying U.S.A. weather developed by Z Content).
Version 8 of Zap Weather Now Available, New Module and Plugin
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- Created: 22 June 2013 22 June 2013
We are excited to announce Zap Weather version 8 is now available. This version adds some new features to the recently redesigned component for displaying U.S.A. weather for Joomla sites. These features include:
- New 3 hour display of the weather forecast
- New module to display weather forecasts and observations
- New plugin to display weather within an article or custom HTML module
The plugin has some exciting possibilities. Users can now create their own customized weather module using the Zap Weather plugin and the custom HTML module. Read the Zap Weather plugin examples page for some examples.
As always, Zap Weather provides weather information to Joomla sites with "no commercial interruptions", which means there is no advertising or links to external commercial sites of any kind. Zap Weather utilizes weather data from the National Weather Service (NWS), a U.S.A. government agency that provides weather to consumers as well as many commercial companies.
Also, look for a new Zap Weather plugin for Zap Calendar that supports version 8 of Zap Weather, coming out soon.
Zap Calendar 3.1 Now Available
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- Created: 19 May 2013 19 May 2013
The next major release of Zap Calendar, version 3.1, is now out in beta. This version provides several new features and add-ons. One new feature included is the ability to display a monthly or weekly calendar display in list mode in addition to grid mode. New plugins include an e-mail reminder plugin (all versions), which automatically sends e-mail reminders to event owners prior to their event, and gravatar (Pro version), which utilizes a user's avatar uploaded to gravatar.com and displays it (used with event owner field and with the comment and RSVP plugins included in the Pro version).
This is the last version of Zap Calendar that will support Joomla 1.5 . Zap Calendar version 4 will be available this summer, which will include support for Joomla 3.0.
Happy Birthday Zap Weather!
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- Created: 05 March 2013 05 March 2013
Zap Weather today celebrates its 7th year on the Joomla Extensions Directory (JED). You can visit the Zap Weather page at the JED by clicking here. While you are there, why not vote for it? According to the JED, Zap Weather has received over 200 thousand hits and is the most popular weather application for Joomla. Thank you!
Zap Weather (formerly Z Weather) was developed to provide a free, non-commercial method of displaying weather on a Joomla site. This is accomplished through use of data provided freely by the National Weather Service (NWS), which provides the weather information at weather.gov . Zap Weather retrieves this information and formats it for display on a Joomla site.
Interestingly, there have been attempts to curtail the free use of the NWS data by Congress and commercial weather interests. The "National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005" bill was introduced by Former U.S. Senator and 2012 presidential hopeful Rick Santorum to eliminate the free dissemination of taxpayer-paid weather data from the NWS. Many believed his legislation was influenced by the owner of Accuweather, a constituent and political contributer to Santorum's campaign. The bill died in committee.
Version 7 of Zap Weather was recently released to support Joomla 2.5 . This version is a nearly total rewrite of the previous version of Zap Weather, which was originally written for Joomla 1.0. This version includes 12 and 24 hour forecasts, current conditions and weather alerts, and cronjob support, with more features planned.
Z Content will continue to support Zap Weather and will continue to support the free dissemenation of weather data for "commercial free" weather reporting.