Dynamic Ticket Phases - User Guide

Overview

The 2026 conference page now supports dynamic ticket phases that you can add, edit, or remove directly in the data file. No code changes needed!

How It Works

Sequential Phase Display

Only one ticket phase is active at a time. The system automatically:

Shows the current phase with a “Buy tickets” button
Marks past phases as “Sold”
Displays future phases with their upcoming price

Example Timeline

If you have these phases:

Super Early Bird (£220) - ends Feb 25
Early Bird (£280) - ends Jul 1
Regular (£340) - ends Oct 21
On the Door (£470) - no end date

On March 1:

Super Early Bird → ~~Sold~~ (past)
Early Bird → Buy now £280 ✅ (active)
Regular → £340 (future)
On the Door → £470 (future)

How to Add/Edit/Remove Ticket Phases

Location

Edit the file: /_data/year_2026/homepage.yml

Scroll to the bottom where you’ll find the tickets: section.

Add a New Phase

tickets:
  visibility: true
  phases:
    - name: Super Early Bird
      price: 220
      end_date: 2026-02-25T17:00:00Z
      ticket_url: https://www.tickettailor.com/...
      end_date_display: Ends 25 Feb at 5pm
    
    # Add your new phase here:
    - name: Black Friday Sale
      price: 250
      end_date: 2026-11-29T23:59:00Z
      ticket_url: https://www.tickettailor.com/...
      end_date_display: Ends 29 Nov at midnight

Edit an Existing Phase

Just change the values:

    - name: Early Bird
      price: 280  # Change price
      end_date: 2026-07-15T17:00:00Z  # Change end date
      ticket_url: https://...  # Change URL
      end_date_display: Ends 15 Jul at 5pm  # Change display text

Remove a Phase

Delete the entire phase block (including the - and all indented lines):

# Delete this entire block:
    - name: Flash Sale
      price: 300
      end_date: 2026-09-30T17:00:00Z
      ticket_url: https://...
      end_date_display: Ends 30 Sep at midnight

Reorder Phases

Cut and paste phases to change their order. Important: Phases must be in chronological order (earliest to latest).

Field Reference

Required Fields

Field	Description	Example
`name`	Phase name	`Super Early Bird`
`price`	Price in pounds (no £ symbol)	`220`

Optional Fields

Field	Description	Example
`end_date`	When this phase ends (ISO 8601 format). Leave as `null` for final phase.	`2026-02-25T17:00:00Z`
`ticket_url`	Full URL to ticket purchase page. Use `null` for “On the Door”	`https://www.tickettailor.com/...`
`end_date_display`	Human-readable end date text. Use `null` to hide.	`Ends 25 Feb at 5pm`

Date Format

Use ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ

Examples:

2026-02-25T17:00:00Z = Feb 25, 2026 at 5:00 PM UTC
2026-11-06T09:00:00Z = Nov 6, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC
2026-12-31T23:59:00Z = Dec 31, 2026 at 11:59 PM UTC

Tip: Use UTC timezone (the Z at the end) to avoid timezone confusion.

Common Use Cases

Add a Flash Sale

Insert between existing phases:

    - name: Early Bird
      price: 280
      end_date: 2026-07-01T17:00:00Z
      ticket_url: https://...
      end_date_display: Ends 1 Jul at 5pm
    
    # NEW: Flash sale for 48 hours
    - name: Flash Sale
      price: 250
      end_date: 2026-09-30T23:59:00Z
      ticket_url: https://...
      end_date_display: Ends 30 Sep at midnight
    
    - name: Regular
      price: 340
      end_date: 2026-10-21T17:00:00Z
      ticket_url: https://...
      end_date_display: Ends 21 Oct at 5pm

Remove “On the Door” if Sold Out

Delete the last phase:

    - name: Late Bird
      price: 395
      end_date: 2026-11-06T17:00:00Z
      ticket_url: https://...
      end_date_display: Ends 6 Nov at 5pm
    
    # Delete "On the Door" phase entirely

Create a Student Discount Phase

    - name: Student Discount
      price: 180
      end_date: 2026-10-01T17:00:00Z
      ticket_url: https://www.tickettailor.com/student-tickets
      end_date_display: Ends 1 Oct at 5pm (Students only)

Testing

Using Mock Time (Development)

To test how the pricing table looks at different dates, edit /_data/dev-settings.yml:

mock_time: "2026-03-01 12:00:00 +0000"

This will show you what visitors see on March 1, 2026.

Remember to remove or comment out mock_time before deploying to production!

Visibility Control

To hide the entire tickets section:

tickets:
  visibility: false  # Change to false
  phases:
    # ...

Important Notes

⚠️ Order matters - Phases must be in chronological order (earliest first)
⚠️ Last phase - The final phase should have end_date: null and ticket_url: null
⚠️ YAML syntax - Be careful with indentation (use spaces, not tabs)
⚠️ Test before deploying - Use mock_time to verify the logic works correctly

Benefits

✅ No code changes - Edit data file only
✅ Flexible - Add/remove phases as needed
✅ Automatic - Phases switch based on dates
✅ Reusable - Same system for future years
✅ Simple - Just edit YAML, no programming required

Troubleshooting

Problem: Phases not showing in correct order
Solution: Make sure phases are listed chronologically (earliest to latest)

Problem: Wrong phase is active
Solution: Check end_date values are correct and in ISO 8601 format

Problem: “Buy” button not appearing
Solution: Verify ticket_url is set and not null

Problem: Entire section not showing
Solution: Check visibility: true is set

For Future Years

To use this system for 2027, 2028, etc.:

Copy /_data/year_2026/homepage.yml to /_data/year_2027/homepage.yml
Update the tickets: section with new dates and prices
Copy /2026/conf-page-partials/pricing-table-dynamic.html to /2027/conf-page-partials/
Update the year in /2027/index.html to include the dynamic pricing table

The template code doesn’t need changes - just update the data!