# Year format on abbreviated post dates not clear
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [May 24, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198 "2015-05-24T17:21:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@anon25879736](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon25879736)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/1 "2015-05-24T17:21:29Z")
The current date format used on posts is not clear at a glance. It can be difficult to determine if a post happened last month or last year. For example, the two posts below:
Looking carefully, you can see that the first is from April 2014 and the second is from April 14. However, at a quick glance, this distinction is unclear. I believe that it would improve the UX if the year format were expanded to show the full year, instead of using the apostrophe format.
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### Author:  [@kensims](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kensims)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/2 "2015-05-24T18:22:07Z")
Additionally, for the ones that are the day of the month, perhaps add st/nd/rd/th after the number to make it more obvious that that number is **_not_** a year.
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### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/3 "2015-05-24T19:02:38Z")
Or just change it to use “14 Apr” for day/month and “Apr '14” for month/year?
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/4 "2015-05-24T20:07:35Z")
Meh, that still looks like day number to me…perhaps even more so.
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### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/5 "2015-05-24T20:20:24Z")
> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> Meh, that still looks like day number to me…perhaps even more so.
@riking’s solution? If so, the first is using a format to represent day and month and a different format for month and year. I think that does make a lot of sense (two different formats). It would make the visual distinction over time a lot easier to differentiate.
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### Author:  [@gerhard](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerhard)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/6 "2015-05-24T20:54:50Z")
I get that we have only a limited amount of space in the **topic list** , so I guess showing “Apr 2014” is not an option. But wouldn’t it be enough to just show “Apr” if it was posted in April this year and “Apr '14” if it was posted in April last year?
But we have enough space (even on mobile) when the actual **posts** are shown. So, I guess we could show the unabbreviated year (if needed) for posts.
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### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2015, 9:01am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/7 "2015-05-25T09:01:12Z")
Glad to see this actually getting some attention now. It was quickly dismissed last time:
> [@Change to DD Mmm / Mmm 'YY for post dates](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/3):
>
> I had this problem too: [https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-should-be-added-to-post-date-at-some-point/12716](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-should-be-added-to-post-date-at-some-point/12716) I would strongly prefer it if we just spelled it out completely. 13. Jan and Feb 2013 At the very least I hope this’ll be readily available in the settings somewhere.
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### Author:  [@Chili](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Chili)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2015, 9:08am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/8 "2015-05-25T09:08:02Z")
I like this solution a lot, it makes a lot of sense as a localisation option too as many countries refer to the day before the month.
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### Author:  [@kensims](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kensims)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/9 "2015-05-25T14:43:27Z")
> [@Chili](#):
>
> I like this solution a lot, it makes a lot of sense as a localisation option too as many countries refer to the day before the month.
I have a test profile in my forum that is set for Spanish (even though my Spanish is close to non-existent any more) and I noticed that it does show the day before the month.
The official language of the TSI forum is U.S. English, however when I post admin announcements that have a date, I use a format of a two-digit day# + dash + month name + dash + four-digit year#, e.g. 25-May-2015. I figure that about everybody ought to be able to figure that out.
Of course that’s longer than is needed for the topic list, and also doesn’t take into account the formatting flexibility of localization.
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2024, 10:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-format-on-abbreviated-post-dates-not-clear/29198/12 "2024-02-13T10:59:05Z")
See [Change to DD Mmm / Mmm 'YY for post dates](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625)