
From Dead Code to Company: The FullCalendar JavaScript Lib Turns 10 - admanrs
https://fullcalendar.io/blog/2019/05/fullcalendar-turns-10
======
mherrmann
I've been using FullCalendar in production since 2014. It's very good. I
maintain a clone of patio11's appointmentreminder.org for the Austrian market
[3]. My customers, doctors, use an FC-based web calendar I provide them with
to manage their appointments. Their receptionists literally use the calendar,
and thus FC, all day. I get calls if it's down for 5 minutes. They totally
depend on it.

I have two open source extensions for FC. One is a plugin for better right-
click handling [1]. The other adds multiple columns [2]. It's like the new
scheduler functionality, mentioned in the post, which didn't yet exist when I
started.

Thank you Adam!

1: [https://github.com/mherrmann/fullcalendar-
rightclick](https://github.com/mherrmann/fullcalendar-rightclick)

2: [https://github.com/mherrmann/fullcalendar-
columns](https://github.com/mherrmann/fullcalendar-columns)

3: [https://www.terminerinnerung.org](https://www.terminerinnerung.org)

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pmilla1606
I absolutely love the way the docs page is setup:
[https://fullcalendar.io/docs](https://fullcalendar.io/docs)

Nice design and useful section links.

~~~
admanrs
That makes me really happy because it felt like somewhat of a design risk at
the time.

~~~
notjustanymike
You've nailed the icon design, that's really hard to do right.

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mooreds
This library was a key part of the product for a software company I co-founded
a few years ago. I found full calendar to be the best of the alternatives for
a full featured, affordable calendaring system that was open source and was
stable enough to build a company on. (We looked at alternatives like Google
calendar but I was nervous about lack of control should Google have decided to
take the calendar API a different way.)

This history lesson was illuminating and appreciated.

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santoshalper
Never used fullcalendar before, but I am really enjoying reading all the love
letters in the comments here. It must feel great for the author to read these.

Not only have you built something that supports a couple of livelihoods,
you've also enabled a lot of other people to succeed too. Cheers!

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tangue
"I’ve really been working on FullCalendar for TEN years!? What have I been
doing all this time? Just endlessly switching build systems? (Make -> Grunt ->
Gulp -> Webpack -> Rollup)" (for those who read the comments before reading
the article the author is ironic) but as someone who followed the same path
I'm asking myself how many hours have been lost worldwide because of
javascript build systems

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40four
Great work Adam! Thanks for the great library. I enjoyed the blog post, it's
cool to hear the history, and how the project got to where it is. The
application I maintain at my job depends on Full Calendar, it has been a
pleasure to work with. Highly recommend, & I would use it again if the need
ever arises!

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aerovistae
Could OP (or anyone else who feels qualified, I guess) give me their opinion
on a perpetual license as opposed to an annual license?

I have been considering building some licensed software and I had it in my
head to offer an annual license to get at that recurring revenue, but...since
it's client-only software (e.g. a game engine) that doesn't need to be making
any API calls to my servers, I'm wondering if maybe that doesn't make any
sense. I don't know...I've never made licensed software before and so I've
never really thought about this. I guess I worry with a perpetual license that
I'll run out of customers after enough people have got their hands on it.
Maybe that's crazy, I don't know.

Also I would have no idea how to price a license...how did you arrive at your
prices?

~~~
admanrs
Most of my competitors (who provide client-side-only libs) were doing
perpetual licensing, so I followed suit. However, there IS a recurring aspect:
the customer gets email support and version upgrades for only a year. Then
they must renew. It's opt-in, but I nudge them with email reminders.

I've seen a number of client-side-only products that ARE subscription (like
Sencha), but they seem more general-purpose, like a framework. Something
developers at a company would use everyday for everything. FullCalendar felt
like more of a plug-n-play widget, not as pervasive.

Maybe your product is somewhere in between. It's pretty arbitrary nonetheless.

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thrownaway954
just started using them recently for a rails project I've been working on. I
cannot recommend this project enough, saved me hundreds of hours.

if you want a crash course in implementing it in a rails app, look no further
then these 2 AWESOME drifting ruby episodes:

[https://www.driftingruby.com/episodes/fullcalendar-events-
an...](https://www.driftingruby.com/episodes/fullcalendar-events-and-
scheduling)

[https://www.driftingruby.com/episodes/recurring-events-
with-...](https://www.driftingruby.com/episodes/recurring-events-with-
fullcalendar)

~~~
admanrs
That's really great to hear! FYI, there's been a lot of updates to FC's API
since those posts, including removing jQuery.

Also, recurring events are built-in [https://fullcalendar.io/docs/recurring-
events](https://fullcalendar.io/docs/recurring-events) A backend is no longer
necessary for expanding the instances.

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joewadcan
We've been using Full Calendar as part of our startup, and really really
appreciate all the work Adam has put in. We honestly couldn't build some
features if FC wasn't around - so thanks!

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z3t4
I remember making a calendar ... What week-nr does the first day of the year
have? ... If that one was easy, now tell me the formula for when certain
holidays occur.

~~~
edoceo
I just built a table, calculated for the next 100 years, times specified
locally. No formula, just lookups.

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alexkearns
Congrats on a great product. I developed an SAAS calendar service -
[https://www.chronoflocalendar.com](https://www.chronoflocalendar.com) \-
which alas has not proved very successful, thus far. So is heartening to hear
that it is possible to make a living out of calendar software. There is hope
for me yet!

~~~
RobertRoberts
I would fix your site design first. It's really hard to read your content.
(the background is really busy and has contrast issues with the text) This is
low hanging fruit though, but someplace to start.

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deedubaya
How about a Premium feature list on the pricing page?

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maktouch
I remember using FullCalendar when it was a jQuery plugin about 8-9 years ago,
it was slick and it worked very well.

Thank you for doing this.

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killa_kyle
I love FullCalender! I've been using it for the past 4 years and have made a
few scheduling apps with it.

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js4ever
I've used fullcalendar in several projects. Thank you so much for this :)

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dhimes
FullCalendar is excellent- it's a part of Study Swami. Thank you, Adam, and
congratulations!

