The Day Timetable displays one day's events in a schedule organised by time and venue. It is intended for conferences, festivals, courses, classrooms, stages and other programmes where visitors need to compare simultaneous activities.
Create this page: in the Joomla administrator, create or edit a menu item and select JEM → Day Timetable as the menu item type.
Choosing the Correct Day View
| View | Best use | Output |
|---|
| Day Calendar |
A straightforward list of events on one date. |
Standard event list with the normal Day view controls. |
| Day Timetable |
Comparing events by hour, room, stage or venue. |
Schedule grid with time and venue axes. |
| Day Timeline |
A visual or editorial agenda containing richer event cards. |
Cards arranged around a chronological vertical axis. |
How the Timetable Is Built
- Events are ordered by their start time.
- Timed events are grouped by venue. Events without an assigned venue appear under No venue.
- Events without a start time are placed in a separate All day row.
- Each event block links to its Event Detail page.
- Tooltips can identify the event title, time range, venue and categories.
- Only events visible to the current visitor are included.
Date and Navigation Options
| Option | Default | Effect |
|---|
Day Offset
days |
0 |
Adds the specified number of days to today's date when no explicit date is supplied. Use 0 for today, 1 for tomorrow or -1 for yesterday. |
Featured only
onlyfeatured |
No |
Limits the timetable to events marked as featured. |
Show week controls
show_week_navigation |
Yes |
Adds previous-week and next-week buttons to the normal previous-day, Today and next-day navigation. |
Show empty days
show_empty_days |
No |
Controls navigation across dates. When disabled, previous/next can jump to the nearest date containing a visible event; when enabled, navigation moves one calendar day at a time. |
The navigation keeps the current menu item and preserves category or venue context supplied through catid or locid. Matching Special Days are displayed as badges beside the current date.
Orientation
| Timetable orientation | Top axis | Recommended use |
|---|
Horizontal: times on top
timetable_orientation=horizontal |
Hours |
Each venue is a row and event width represents its duration. Best when comparing a small or moderate number of venues over a long day. |
Vertical: venues on top
timetable_orientation=vertical |
Venues |
Each hour is a row and venues are columns. Best when comparing several rooms or stages at the same times. |
The option changes which information is shown across the top; it does not rotate event text or change the event dates.
Hour Range
| Option | Default | Effect |
|---|
Hour display
timetable_hour_display |
Only hours with events |
Only hours with events removes unused hours. All hours in range renders the complete configured range. |
Start hour
timetable_range_start |
8 |
First permitted hour. Allowed values: 0 to 23. |
End hour
timetable_range_end |
22 |
End of the permitted range. Allowed values: 1 to 24. If the end is not later than the start, JEM creates a minimum one-hour range. |
Minimum visible hours
timetable_minimum_hours |
8 |
Minimum number of hour columns shown in Only hours with events mode. JEM expands around active hours while staying inside the configured start/end range. |
Choose a start/end range that includes the complete programme. Events outside the configured range cannot be represented reliably in the visible grid.
Event Colours
| Event background | Colour source | Behaviour |
|---|
Category colour
timetable_event_background=category |
The first event category containing a valid colour. |
Useful when categories represent programme tracks, departments or themes. |
Venue colour
timetable_event_background=venue |
The assigned venue colour. |
Useful for rooms and stages. JEM softens the event-block colour and can use a stronger venue header with contrasting text. |
Custom colour
timetable_event_background=custom |
timetable_event_background_custom |
Uses one colour for all events. It is also the fallback when another selected source has no usable colour. |
The default custom colour is #6bbf59. JEM calculates contrasting text for coloured event blocks.
Event Filters
| Filter | Default | Behaviour |
|---|
Filter Categories
categoryswitchcats |
None |
Selects categories used by the category filter. |
Filter venues
timeline_filter_venues |
None |
Shows only events assigned to the selected venues. |
Filter types
timeline_filter_types |
None |
Shows only events assigned to the selected event types. |
Filter countries
timeline_filter_countries |
None |
Shows only events whose venues belong to the selected countries. |
Current category-filter behaviour: the Day Timetable menu XML provides the category selector but does not currently provide the Include/Exclude selector used by some other JEM views. With the current form, selected categories are normally treated as excluded. Leave the category selection empty to allow all accessible categories, or use venue, type and country filters when an explicit inclusion filter is required.
All filters remain subject to event publication, category/venue access and Joomla access-level rules. Filters can reduce the result but cannot expose restricted events.
Page Text
Show Introtext (showintrotext) and Introtext (introtext) add text above the timetable. Show footer text (showfootertext) and Footer Text (footertext) add text below it. Both visibility options are disabled by default.
Dates, Times and Timezones
- The timetable displays one selected calendar date.
- Events without a start time are shown in the All day row.
- An event without a valid end time receives a one-hour visual duration.
- The view uses the event time prepared from that event's configured time reference; the menu item does not select or convert the event timezone.
- When an event uses Venue timezone, verify the timezone stored in the assigned venue.
- Joomla publication start and end dates remain separate from civil event dates and times.
Special Days
If the selected date matches a published Special Day, JEM displays its badge beside the timetable date. Configure Special Days and their Types of Days in JEM before expecting those badges to appear.
Practical Configurations
Conference rooms
- Orientation: Vertical — venues on top
- Hour display: All hours in range
- Range: 8 to 19
- Event background: Venue
- Filter venues to the conference rooms.
Festival stages
- Orientation: Horizontal — times on top
- Hour display: Only hours with events
- Minimum visible hours: 10
- Event background: Venue
- Show week controls: No for a one-day festival.
Course timetable
- Orientation: Vertical — venues on top
- Event background: Category
- Filter types to lessons or workshops.
- Show week controls: Yes
- Show empty days: Yes
Compact single-venue schedule
- Filter venues to one venue.
- Hour display: Only hours with events
- Minimum visible hours: 4
- Event background: Custom
- Use intro text for venue instructions.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|
| The timetable is empty. |
Check the selected date, Featured only, category/venue/type/country filters, event publication and access. |
| An event is outside the visible grid. |
Expand Start hour and End hour so the complete event falls inside the configured range. |
| Too many unused hours are displayed. |
Select Only hours with events and reduce Minimum visible hours. |
| Events are missing after selecting categories. |
Clear Filter Categories and retest. The current menu form treats selected categories as exclusions. |
| Venue colours are not used. |
Select Venue background and assign a valid colour to each venue. The custom colour is used as fallback. |
| Several events overlap. |
Check their start/end times and try the alternate orientation. Events sharing time and venue may occupy the same schedule area. |
| An event appears at the wrong hour. |
Review the event's selected time reference and the venue/custom/Joomla timezone rather than changing timetable ranges. |
Before Publishing
- Test both timetable orientations with realistic venue and event counts.
- Check events at the first and last configured hours.
- Check events without a time, without a venue and without an end time.
- Verify previous/next day, week and Today navigation.
- Test category, venue, type and country filters separately.
- Check category, venue and custom colours for adequate contrast.
- Test desktop, tablet and mobile output.
- Test as a guest and as a user with access to restricted events.
- Verify print output if the print action is enabled.
Related Documentation
Development References
