Live is better craic
Go out and Go Live
The aim of this site
- A one click easy to use site, for what's on in Ireland ( no past events).
- To support live gigs and the venues that support them.
Anycraic.ie® is powered by www.whatsontonight.ie (which you probally know already)
Use this link to become a contributor and post events.
Release V 0.1 Sept 2024 : Development of event search concept and back office coding
Release V 1.0 Mar 2025 : Basic event search engine
Release V 2.0 May 2025 : Fuzzy logic search and timetable development.
Release V 3.0 June 2025 : Results and Festival pages development.
Release V 4.0 Sept 2025 : User experience improvements ie Map search , display and layout changes
Version 4.53; 28/11/2925
Layout changes to event submissions.The venue is now picked using a search box. (upgrade)
Improved security for malicious uploads when a user is logged in (upgrade).
Navigation links optimised for mobiles; Hamburger menu. Search page: improved contrast on calender and search button (upgrade)
User guide updated .
Version 4.5; 17/11/2925
Display has been optimised for mobiles with "Event Cards" (upgrade) instead of the table that is displayed on desktops.
There was information overload and with the less crowded screen the user experience on mobiles should be better.
Expect minor enhancements too fonts, touch targets to improve the mobile user experience.
The desktop site can be picked from browser menu if desired on mobiles.
Improved search engine optimisation on the main festival pgae ( snag)
Version 4.4; 15/11/2925
Date row remains visible when scrolling down. (upgrade). Scroll arrow added to date row (change).
'Add to calander' is more intuitive.(change)
General search input moved to top of form . Search buttons colour and text changes.(change)
User Help files updated. Text changes to login buttons (change)
Version 4.3; 29/10/2925
Events have an 'Add to calander' including iCal option for total privacy.(Upgrade)
Search form has larger fonts and search boxes, dates are restricted from today for next 70days.(upgrade)
Improved pagination banner; Header has a minor layout change and better responsiveness on mobiles (bug on mobiles).
Venues with apostrophe are now entered correctly. ( bug)
Map is now home page; The about file is removed from robots search, upgrades were interpreted by AI as deficenices with the site.(Change)
Help files will be updated on next release, they are now out of date.
Version 4.2; 13/10/2925
Back office changes to user event edit pages : Improved search (events types or venues) ; User experience interface improved. ( Major Upgrade)
Improvemnets made to search engine optimisation to reflect changes on site (Map and festival pages). (Change)
Version 4.1; 29/09/2925
Landing page is changed to the map. Some minor changes to province colours and instructions.(upgrade)
User pages: Existing venue now shown, where there is an eircode conflict with options to use existing venue.
(Version 4.0; 26/09/25)
Events can be searched by a map of the counties and major towns.(Major Upgrade)
Minor changes to layout to allow access to map. This will be the home page after live testing.
Events for today are now displayed in search until 2am, was midnight (upgrade). Drop down box now not hidden by results table (snag)
(Version 3.851;)
Corrected venue display grid on Firefox 143.0.1 (Bug fix)
Due to how Firefox handles large grids, there is a snag that venues do not remain visible when scrolling large festivals ( Many days and venues).
(Version 3.85;)
Minor changes to header layout. An info button gives a dropdown with About, Contact, Report Bug (Upgrade), Help (Change)
The eircode column has been removed. Directions and venue info is shown on dropdown when venue is hovered on.(Change)
Events on the festival event page are now sorted alphabethicaly; easier to find events. (upgrade)
User Pages: Events can now be checked for a venue, before uploading new events (upgrade)
User Pages: The Pick venues page has been optimised for mobiles (Bug fix)
User Pages: Info already entered in "New venue form" is retained, if a new town is added (upgrade)
(Version 3.84;)
Venues have swapped columns with towns. Now in 4th Column (Change)
Added link to user page in festivals.
Events for next 70 days (@ 135/page) are shown. Reduced from 96 days; anycraic is not a ticketing site. (Change)
(Version 3.83;)
Festival page venues has AM PM and evening sections for events (upgrade)
Buttons changed to black text, red border when hovering and clearer functions: Event, Venue and Daily view (upgrade)
Festival Header has link added to return to anycraic.ie page (Change)
(Version 3.80;)
User registration is now automated and more intuitive (upgrade)
Print pdf and search function added to complete festival page (upgrade )
Some other minor text changes on buttons for clarity.
(Version 3.71;)
Minor change to improve readablity. Colour of links changed to cyan and orange when hovering - contrast better.
Festival timetables daily view the day stays visible while scrolling horizontally . (Snag fix))
General search now includes venues towns (Snag fix)
User can search for and pick a venue (upgrade)
(Version 3.70;)
The fleadh Cheoil highlighted cosmetic and snag issues, when there are many venues (45+) and events (100's).
Snag corrected: events and venues not lining up.
For clarity when using the timetable : added colour and repeating dates to the date column; Sticky date and venue columns/rows; Borders are more distinct;
Active date in the daily timetable has a strong red border.
A search will be added soon. The print function to be improved.
(Version 3.61;)
Cosmetic change - added images to the festival listing page.
anycraic.ie aims for low CO2 emissions per page. The Festival timetables are about 0.20gms per page. The aim is to produce less than 1gm per page view.
Facebook and instagram are nearly 10gms per page view. anycraic.ie won't save the planet but you can virtue signal to your greener mates while still having craic.
(Version 3.60; 11/07/25)
Cosmetic appearance changes to the festival pages.
Festivals events can be searched for on the main page even if only listed on the festival page.
There are 3 programme / timetable versions (list of events, Daily schedule and complete festival @ a glance) for each festival available.
Most of the summer is concentrating on developing the festival offering. (Since there are so many festivals)
Backroom changes
Single site festivals with multiple stages or large number of events can be uploaded using csv file uploads.
In the standard event entry form the number of repeat events is increased from 5 to 10.
(Version 3.50; 25/06/25)
Logos and links to festival have been added. Single site festivals ( eg Aurfest) can now listed with timetables. Only future festivals are listed.
The layouts is improved. Mobile display is not ideal. Screens too small for all the detail.
anycraic.ie info has been moved to bottom of festival programme timetable pages. Print function for timetables improved. Improved search engine optimisation.
Some changes to uploading events. Working on automating the process.
(Version 3.20; 17/06/25)
Changes to Festival pages.
Festival timetable venue links now link to google maps. Added Print button to festival pages.
A list of festivals on anycraic.ie is accessed from the festivals link at top of page.
Any event with the type as a 'fest' 'bash' or 'Hooley' will be listed and their timetable can be got from the link on the festival list page.
Snag : Corrected the number of pages to match the results displayed.
(Version 3.10; 07/06/25)
Changes to user pages.
Event entry "See all venues" replaces "New venue" button. "All events" button removed (functionality still in the header).
New user contact page ; User help has been updated for Version 3.
Top of page has a new layout."New venue" removed. This functionality is now in Venue list and user page. "Help" link has swapped places with "All events".
(Version 3.00; 04/06/25)
Main page has changed to darker colours. Date and header rows are more obvious.
Results displayed are limited to next 105 days. Too many events were being displayed
Slight visual changes to festival timetable page and page if search engines bring you to a past festival.
Search form has improved layout esp for mobiles. Clear search button only visible when search fields are not empty.
Updated help file .
(Version 2.95; 24/05/25)
Changes to the back office code for the restricted user pages. Added link to user guide on the login form.
Improved the search function when editing events. A function for repeat events. A link for missing towns when adding venues.
Working on search engine optimisation. Gradually moving up the list esp "anycraic in monaghan" or "whats on tonight".
A milestone was reached last week. The administrator meet someone at an event, they had found on anycraic.ie (Pint of Science festival in Mo Charas). We did not expect this to happen for several more months.
(Version 2.9 ; 08/05/25)
An enhancement of the festival function. If "festival" (in the type column) is clicked it brings you to a time table for that festival. A link has been added for sorting by bands
so that you can see where and when each band is playing.
Planning a similar function for towns or counties and an updated help file.
(Version 2.8 ; 03/05/25)
If "festival" (in the type column) is clicked it brings you to a time table for that festival. Useful for larger festivals
Hope it makes festivals easier to navigate.
(Version 2.0 ; 03/05/25)
The search form now can be searched for bands etc. Using fuzzy logic it give results form 3 or 4 letters.
A major coding change that was badly needed, as the number of events grew.
It's a general search of both the events (Bands artists mainly) and type ( festival names, films, comedy live music etc)
Should improve the user experience and very little change in appearance of site.
(Version 1.12 ; 28/04/25)
These changes have given performance and accesibility scores of 100%.
The aim is to make the site user friendly and fast. Easy for people with poor eyesight and thumbs.
(Version 1.12 ; Released 28/04/25)
Major visual changes - search form can be hidden and works better - dates can be picked and different counties can be searched for those dates.
Small changes in visual appearance to improve accesibility scores.
Links have been made larger and contrast of the rows has changed.
The intention is to improve the user experience when using mobiles.
(Version 1.11 ; Released 18/04/25)
Added a Help file for users
Minor visual changes - font size for number of results and results per page and other minor visual changes.
For contributors improvements to event upload form and event edit page.
Major changes for search engines (google). The event (band), type, venue, town and county are now found by search engines.
This will improve the user experience when looking for "whats on" or "anycraic" tonight when searching google.
Planning to make a major change to searches so that bands and event type can be searched for ( Mid May approx)
(Version 1.10 ; Released 25/03/25)
Correct minor bugs and improve user experience.(hopefully)
Date column removed, replaced with the events grouped by date shown in row above.
Search form is more visible. Search and clear buttons have feedback.
Sorting of columns improved. When sorting a column only events for that county are shown grouped by date.
Column headings stay visible when scrolling
(Version 1.00 ;)
The site appearance has improved - alternative colours on each row.
Easier to see the events. The search form is now highlighted in colour.
Bugs in the search form have been fixed.
For the curious here is the full Site functionality (Release 1.0 ; 18/03/25).
(Version 0.93 ;)
Major changes in the code to improve uploading of events.
Pleased that few promoters have signed up
Minor change: a clear search button is to be added to main page
(this was a suggestion, other suggestions welcome)
(Version 0.92 ;)
Minor change - The search results are now in pages of 35 events. Venue has moved to left of page.
County search is limited to counties with events and the venues are limited to that county
These changes are in preparation for expanding to more counties.
This should make site more intuitive to use.
(Version 0.91 ;)
Minor change - On main search page the venue drop down list now only shows venues that have events.
This reduces the number of venues shown and should improve the user experience when searching.
Considering different ways to improve search form ie drop down list for counties and Towns linked to the events.
The aim is to keep the site simple intuitive and useful for everybody.
(Version 0.90 ;)
Ready to be released.
The signup request button for event promoters is on the login page .
ANYCRAIC.ie is like a new car model. There will be teething problems .
(Version 0.81 ;)
The back office side of the site has progressed a lot. Almost ready for the world. A small limited release before the end of Feb is on the cards to trial run the user experience. Signup process, user page to manage events, venues, and passwords are working. Help page for event organizers is available. The number of events and venues is getting large and difficult to present for you to search. A few tweaks will be needed, e.g., pagination of the results, linking venues to towns.
(Version 0.80 ;)
The site is for people who want to go out, and this is working well. The user interface has improved. The search is more intuitive with better feedback. Eircode is linked to Google Maps. The other side of the site for event and venue organizers is still not ready. It needs to be smoother and more secure. The icon on the browser page has changed to anycraic. Anycraic.ie has a trademark applied for, getting ready to launch the anycraic.ie brand. Maybe June/July this year. "RIP.ie" our site inspiration is playing a blinder on free publicity. I am in awe of their advertising skill. The Facebook page is getting some likes and followers. I hope they think Anycraic.ie is better than Facebook.
(Version 0.52 ;)
The major changes expected by now have not happened, just minor visual changes. Still happy with progress. The web page Anycraic.ie is now directly linked. A Facebook profile has been created to help publicize the site. Facebook is the exact opposite of what this site wants to achieve, but needs must at present. By mid-Jan 2025 (when things are less busy), venue operators will be able to sign up and upload events. We will start to branch out to the neighboring counties Cavan and Louth.
(Version 0.51 ;)
Finally, the search page is useful. Some minor glitches (columns don't sort, town search may give no results) but OK for a tentative release. As time moves on, yesterday's events are no longer shown (Facebook, eat your heart out). The single-click ambition to find events is nearly a reality. Close to the final appearance and hopefully, feedback will improve usability and functionality, especially on mobile screens like Apple. The next phase, maybe Dec, is the event organizers that will upload their events and venues. There is a workable desktop version, but it needs to be bulletproof. Hoping by early 2025 to start including Cavan and Louth in listings.
(Version 0.50 ;)
Searchable list (by Date, Town, or Venue) on track for mid-Nov. A small amount of tidying the front end and improving appearance on mobiles.
(Version 0.30 ;)
Sharing button added. Planning a searchable list (by Date, Town, or Venue) for mid-Nov instead of the scrolling page. Initial reactions to the page layout over the bank holiday were positive - A simple list with info after the first click.
(Version 0.20 ;)
There is a working searchable site on the desktop. It should be ready for the first web release mid-Nov 2024. We will be relying on event organizers to upload details. In early 2025, a version will be offered to event organizers. Meanwhile, you can get a list of most events that are happening this month. It is not searchable yet, only scrollable.
(Version 0.10 ;)
Started in Co Monaghan.
A search for "what's on" will cause you to lose the will to live. This site will be different. 2 or 3 clicks will show everything in a list. The site is not ready for a full launch. Old-fashioned 1970's SQL relationship databases are not easy.
The first page was a single page with the name of the site, its aims WHAT'S HAPPENING ! WHEN IT IS ON ! WHERE IT IS !. It had 2 links , a photo of the "Harvest blues" time table and the other to the "POC the blues" timetable