Web Talk

Google Calendar is an online tool which allows you to manage your important appointments in a clear and easy way. The downside is that it doesn’t offer a lot of way to customize its appearance. Google Calendar user interface (UI) its rather poor, bare-bone and simple and the average user can’t do a lot to improve this situation as no options are given to enhance  its look. Despite this some options and features allow you to “play”, so to speak, with some of its aspects so that to use them in a more effective way. This tutorial will show you  three interesting tricks maybe you didn’t know about one of the most used Google applications!

Use RSS feeds in a more efficient way

If you use RSS feeds to keep track of other users events, appointments, birthdays etc, there is a nice trick which actually lets you customize the way a RSS feed is displayed on your Google account. You can decide to display feeds by the staring date and in any order you wish, meaning that you can decide to get incoming events first and future event later or the other way around. All you have to do is use this Google web address:

https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/Google_account /public/basic?orderby= starttime&sortorder= ascending&max-results=20

Here are the parameters used in this string:

• orderby=Starttime: This parameter orders the even by their date.
• sortorder= ascending: It orders the events from the closest to the furthest one. You can also use sortorder= descending In this case the events will be ordered by the furthest one to the closest.
• max-results: 20 This parameter returns with the first 20 events.
• If you wish to further customize and personalize Google Calendar you can use these other parameters from these Calendar query parameters

Change Current View to fit your own needs

In Google Calendar options, under Custom View, click the drop down menu and select Next X Days. This option will let you replace and change the default Next 7 days to another lapse of time of your choice. (Thanks to Google Calendar Help)

Personalize Google calendar Notifications

Thanks to this trick you will be able to choose how to receive Google Calendar notifications. Options available are: SMS, emails, pop-up withing your Google Calendar account.  To achieve this follow these steps:

1. In the Calendar list on the left, click the  button next to the calendar you want to get the notification from. Now choose Notifications. Another way to achieve this is to  click the Settings link located at the bottom of the calendar list, after that click the Notifications link to the right of the targeted calendar.
2. Under the  Event reminders section, select your favorite reminder from the drop-down menu and input the  time you want to be alerted (Range: 5 minutes to 4 weeks). 
3. Additionally, you can also choose to be notified about special activities and events on the calendar by selecting the options in the Choose how you would like to be notified section.

Keep your Privacy safe

If you don’t wish to share your Google Calendar entries and dates with other users, follow this easy tutorial:

1. Under my Calendar, click Share this Calendar.
2. Unckeck the Make this Calendar Public checkbox.