* Kiko Calendar from Kiko Software
Just when I thought I would never find a really good online calendar, a new one appears that may be the best yet: Kiko Calendar from Kiko Software. This may – finally – be the one.
Implemented using LigHTTPD on Debian GNU/Linux with the PostgreSQL database; Ruby on Rails; and the Dojo and Prototype JavaScript tool kits – Kiko is an excellent example of what can be achieved using open source software.
Unusual for most Web calendars Kiko has a really nice looking user interface (UI) – none of the clunky colors and layout that plague so many other attempts. Kiko also looks very professional, and its AJAX interface with drag and drop and a UI with tabs that can be added or removed, is a great example of how to build rich Internet applications.
Once you sign up you have immediate access to your calendar. Kiko calendars can be private, public, or shared with specific people.
You can add appointments and contacts or import them from iCal and vCard files respectively, export your calendar to either Kiko’s own ICS server that provides public access, or to any other ICS publishing server (there’s also an option to have changes to your calendar published automatically). Anyone you define as a contact can see your contact details and vice versa.
In your contact details you can define your mobile number(s) and your AIM handles. Once they are validated (the device or service is sent a validation URL that you need to access with a browser) they can be used to warn you of upcoming events or be used to receive appointment invitations.
You can add RSS feeds to populate your calendar (a general feed will use the item’s date to place it as an all day item in the feed) and Kiko provides RSS feeds for Upcoming Appointments and Recently Changed Appointments for public only and all appointments. Kiko also provides a code fragment that will scroll your public appointments on a Web page.
You can drag and drop your contacts onto calendar events, and if their e-mail address is listed an invitation can be sent to them. To categorize appointments you can drag and drop tags from your collection of color-coded categories.
You can find out more about Kiko’s development plans and other service details in its FAQ, it also provides documentation for its API that allows you to examine, create, update and delete appointments, contacts, and most of the other attributes of the service.
This service is currently free and the site has no details on when or even whether it plans to monetize the service. Regardless, it is the best online calendaring solution I’ve come across so far.
