ConFab

MEG

IMPORTANT: New Installation – Set Timezone First!

Before creating ANY sessions, set your WordPress timezone correctly.

This is the single most important step for ensuring your session times display correctly:

1. Go to Settings > General in WordPress admin (not ConFab settings)
2. Scroll to Timezone and choose a city in your timezone (e.g., “Los Angeles” for Pacific Time)
3. Click Save Changes and verify it saved correctly
4. NOW create your first session – your times will be stored and displayed correctly

Why this matters:
– ConFab uses your WordPress timezone to store and display all session times
– If you change timezone AFTER creating sessions, all existing sessions will display in the new timezone
– Example: A session created at 9:00 AM might display as 4:00 PM if you change timezones later
– Setting it correctly FIRST prevents all timezone problems

Remember: Set timezone FIRST, create sessions SECOND. This simple order prevents hours of troubleshooting later.

How do I display my conference schedule?

Use the ConFab Schedule block in the WordPress block editor. You can customize the display with 12 color schemes, 3 table styles, and control which tracks appear, how sessions link, and whether to show excerpts or full content.

What are the different session types?

ConFab uses three semantic session types:
* Normal – Standard conference sessions with alternating row backgrounds
* Featured – Highlighted sessions (keynotes, special events) with theme-specific featured colors
* Alternate – Sessions with alternate styling, ideal for breaks, meals, or social events

Can I show schedules for multiple days?

Yes! Use comma-separated dates in the block’s date attribute (e.g., 2025-06-15,2025-06-16,2025-06-17) to create tabbed multi-day schedules with client-side navigation.

What’s the difference between table and grid layouts?

ConFab offers two layout options:
* Table Layout – Traditional time-based table with track columns, perfect for dense schedules with many concurrent sessions
* Grid Layout – Modern card-based display with time slot grouping, ideal for schedules with fewer concurrent sessions and mobile-first designs

Grid layout automatically detects global sessions (spanning all tracks) and displays them full-width, while concurrent sessions appear in responsive columns.

How do I customize the appearance?

ConFab offers extensive theming options:
* 12 Color Schemes – Light, Dark, Earthtones, Jeweltones, Pastels, Ocean, and Forest (each with dark variant)
* 3 Table Styles – Bordered (traditional), Borderless (minimal), Rounded (modern card-style)
* All combinations work together for 36 unique looks

Note: Table styles apply only to table layout, not grid layout.

Can I control how much of the session description shows?

Yes! You can either create a specific excerpt in the session post editor, or rely on the auto generate excerpt system. The excerpt system intelligently respects paragraph boundaries, showing complete first paragraphs when they fit within the configured character limit. This creates more natural, readable session descriptions.

Does ConFab work with my theme?

Yes! ConFab is designed to work with any properly-coded WordPress theme. The schedule display uses semantic HTML and CSS custom properties that adapt to your theme’s styling.

Is ConFab translation-ready?

Yes! ConFab uses WordPress translation standards with the ‘confab’ text domain and includes translator comments for context-dependent strings.

Can I upgrade from WP Conference Schedule (WPCS) or WPCS Pro to ConFab?

Not recommended without extreme caution. ConFab performs well as a new installation, but it is a separate plugin, not in any way a formal update to WPCS.

ConFab does include automatic migration code for certain WPCS data structures (post types, taxonomies, session types), but this functionality is untested in any environment and may not cover all WPCS configurations.

Critical differences:
* ConFab does NOT include the sponsor/exhibitor system from WPCS Pro
* Metadata structures have changed
* Custom modifications to WPCS may not transfer
* Theme template overrides will need complete rewriting

If you must attempt migration:
1. Create a complete site backup (database + files)
2. Test on a staging/development site first
3. Verify all session data, tracks, and schedules display correctly
4. Check all shortcodes and block placements
5. Only then consider production deployment

The author provides no warranty or support for WPCS-to-ConFab migrations. Use at your own risk.

Why don’t my session times display correctly?

CRITICAL: Set your timezone BEFORE creating sessions!

Before creating ANY sessions in a new ConFab installation, go to Settings > General > Timezone and set it to your conference location (e.g., “Los Angeles” for Pacific Time). Save and verify it’s correct, THEN create your first session.

If you change your WordPress timezone AFTER creating sessions, all existing sessions will display in the new timezone. This is WordPress standard behavior but can cause confusion if you’ve already published your schedule.

For sites migrating from WP Conference Schedule or upgrading from ConFab 2.1.3 or earlier:

⚠️ Migration is completely unsupported. The Time Migration Tool is provided as-is with no guarantees and no support. Test on staging first. Back up your database. Use at your own risk.

If your session times are displaying incorrectly after migration or upgrade, you can attempt to fix them with the Time Migration Tool:

Time Migration Tool Recipe (Unsupported):

1. Verify Your WordPress Timezone – Go to Settings > General > Timezone and confirm it matches your conference location. Save if you changed it.

2. Use the Time Migration Tool – Go to Appearance > ConFab in WordPress admin, scroll to the “Time Migration” card, and click “Open Time Migration Tool.”

3. Pick a Conference Date – Choose any date that has sessions. The tool will show you what’s currently displaying.

4. Compare Times – Look at what times show now vs. what they should be. For example, if 9:00 AM shows as 4:00 PM, note the difference.

5. Enter Correct Times – For 2-3 sample sessions, type what the times should be. The tool calculates the offset automatically.

6. Preview Changes – Review the “Current → Will Become” display for all sessions to verify it looks right.

7. Apply Migration – Check the confirmation box and click “Apply Time Migration” to update all sessions at once.

8. Verify Results – Check your published schedule to confirm all times now display correctly.

How session times work in ConFab 2.2.0+:
– Session times are stored as UTC timestamps (WordPress best practice)
– Times are displayed using your WordPress timezone setting (Settings > General)
– All visitors see the same times – ConFab does not adjust based on visitor location
– Include wording like “All times shown are Pacific time” to help attendees
– SET YOUR TIMEZONE BEFORE CREATING SESSIONS to avoid confusion