This may seem trivial… and yes, frankly it is. As they say, the devil (or god) is in the details. There is just ONE right WordPress date format. This one is elegant, and not backwards like most, here in the states, tend to use. Also, this isn’t JUST for WordPress. You should use this one EVERYWHERE!
First, let’s look at the common date format. Using today’s date of the 10th day of September 2015 as the basis. Here in the US, many would write one of the following:
- Sept. 1o, 2015
- September 1o, 2015
- 09/1o/2015
What is wrong with this you ask? Well, it uses too much punctuation and because we aren’t following what just about every other country is doing, it can be confusing for people outside the states.
Confusing? How?!?! Let’s look at the example of 09/10/2015. Because we choose to list in order of month/date/year and most others use the small to big format of date/month/year, some will read that date as the 9th day of October instead of the 10th day of September.
For some reason, we chose to go with the medium/small/big format instead of the more elegant small/medium/big that most other countries use.
So, what is the solution?
10 September 2015! Wow! A format that is universally understood and requires no punctuation? Does it really exist? Yep. this is it. This is the ONLY right date format.
Wait, I thought this post was about WordPress?
To use this in your WordPress sites, go to Settings / General and under Date format, choose “Custom” and enter “j F Y” into the field.
