Distributing iCal links as best practice for the end user

Question

Our organization's main calendar page is comprised of a collection of 20+ Google calendars. These calendars are subject to regular change so I do not like the idea of people downloading and importing static iCal files only to find they have wrong dates later on. I want to encourage them to subscribe to the iCal by its URL so their client manages change updates automatically.

Given the frequency of change and our encouragement of iCal subscription, what's the best way to get this information into peoples' calendars?

Am I thinking about this too narrowly? Are most mail clients (ie mobile devices) designed to subscribe to clickable iCal links?

Answer 1

Compatible but sub-optimal

I think accomodation is the best tool here, help the user make the right decision by providing the following flow:

1. user selects the agenda or item he/she is interested in
2. an overlay is presented in which the user can select the tool they're used to work with regarding calendars - AND - power-users can directly copy the link without following the steps (so just present the raw link underneath)
3. after selection a short help text guides them to import the url in their system

What you really want: Webcal

Alternatively you could just use this non-standard URI scheme webcal://link-to.ics

More information can be found here:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webcal
• http://www.webcal.fi/en-US/supported_applications.php