So the good news is that I was a good lad and used search to locate an answer to my issue. The even better news is that I found it has been covered numerous times. And yet more good news is that the topics I found neatly pointed to the same page for the answer. The bad news is that this page is no longer available :slight_smile: So, regretfully, I’ll ask here. Where do I define the date format such that I don’t have this weird “Feb, 12” vs “Feb 12” thing? I’ve also searched settings and see various options but it’s not clear which one I should change. And, just to be provocative, what’s the logic behind the rather confusing default date format (see above), given that there have been quite a few comments over time that this is confusing. Thank you.

That topic was wildly out of date. Answer is here [image] Show post Year? Support I’m kinda guessing here - but I think this will do it. Use Admin > Customize > Text Content … search for 'YY which will list: js.dates.tiny.date_year MMM 'YY js.dates.medium.date_year MMM D, 'YY js.dates.long_date_with_year MMM D, 'YY LT js.dates.long_date_with_year_without_time MMM D, 'YY js.dates.long_date_with_year_with_linebreak MMM D, 'YY LT Edit and adjust those replacing 'YY with YYYY to get the full year.

Thank you, Jeff. It’s not too easy to distinguish topics that are wildly out of date :), given that the one you reference is almost 4 years old. I did see that topic but it seemed like a bit of a hack. A string with “tiny” in the name feels like it should use YY. Modifying it to use YYYY may resolve one issue, but could have unintended consequences elsewhere, where it might be the preferred string precisely because it’s “tiny”. Without knowing too much yet about where I’d make this change, I’m guessing a better approach would be to find the HTML that currently references the tiny string for post date and modify that to instead use the long form. I don’t know enough yet, though, to know where to do that and whether that makes the change vulnerable to product updates later. What I do know is that I’m really not a big fan of that weird date format :slightly_smiling_face: Thanks again Jeff.

Changing tiny and fixing what breaks with CSS is likely the easiest path.

Not trying to be argumentative, Jay, but why is changing the tiny string definition to use the long form and then hunting around to find / test other references to that string easier than simply changing the relevant template to use the appropriately named long form? The former seems rather cumbersome for what seems like a simple change. Are there issues with updating the “template” (not sure if Discourse used that term) to use the preferred format?

Changing the value in the web interface is easy and doesn’t require you to override the template, which has lots of other stuff in it, that might change in the future. It is reasonably likely that nothing will break, and if it does, the css you’d change in a theme is exactly what you’d do by overriding the template. Further, if you override the template and it changes in the future you’ll have to find out that it changed and fix your version whenever that happens.

This is simply editing text in the same way you would edit text anywhere in Discourse via Admin, Customize. It is not risky at all and cannot be “broken” by updates. It is the simplest and easiest way to achieve the customization you desire.

Changing post date format

Product Support

codinghorror (Jeff Atwood) August 14, 2019, 4:30am 2

That topic was wildly out of date. Answer is here

Topic		Replies	Views
Can current version change the date format? Product Support	3	1929	March 26, 2021
Change to DD Mmm / Mmm 'YY for post dates UX	34	8115	December 24, 2018
Short date format on old posts: YYYY vs 'YY UX completed	19	2492	February 14, 2024
Post date display Product Support	3	922	February 26, 2023
Show post Year? Product Support	2	2844	December 28, 2015

Changing post date format

Related topics