What Time Is It Where You Are?
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Many of us include the time in our comments.
The comments should serve as a conversational area, and it makes sense that you would be interested in when the last reply was written, or how long it has been since you left your reply.
However, time is relative to where you are in the world. While it is nearly 10pm here in the UK, it is past 3 in the morning in India. On the internet, hearing the time is meaningless if you don’t also know the time-zone it is in.
And that begs the question; why do we bother to include the time in the comments at all?
It is conventional of course and it will be of use to you and others in your country, but not much use to anyone outside.
Two Possible Solutions
There are two simple (And somewhat obvious!) solutions:
- Add the time-zone into your design. This can be done by adding a PHP tag to your theme.
However, it can just as easily be done manually, and it’s one less tag to load. Work out what time-zone your server is set to (WordPress users have the ability to set the time-zone in Options > General), and then write this after the time in your comments template.
You may also want to consider writing the time in relation to GMT (Or UTC, depending on what you want to call it), instead of using its real name. Odds are that most people will know what their time-zone is in relation to GMT, but far fewer users will be aware of the exact offset of every zone.
For instance, GMT – 6 will probably mean more to you than MDT.
- Use JavaScript to find out the local time of each user who connects. You can read good guide to JavaScript times here.
While this will certainly work, it does have a few little problems. There is no obvious sign that it is set to their time-zone, so will first-timers trust the info? And is it worth forcing the user to load another JavaScript for the sake of this?
Do you show the time in your blog’s comments? Is it useful to the user already?
I can say that I do show the time in my comments, but until a few hours ago, it wasn’t useful.
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About the Author
Michael Martin
Michael Martin is the founder of Pro Blog Design. He works as a freelance web designer, loves WordPress, and has an unhealthy addiction to smilies.
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I don’t see the point in adding the time to comments. The date is fine, as it let’s people know roughly how old the posts are, but you don’t need to know down to the hour:minute:second level. The posts are in chronological order so you know what the last post was.
I’m a fan of removing clutter and for me the time is just that.
by the way – your time is an hour fast for GMT – you’re not taking into account the British Summer time :)
I use time in my posts, I’m from the UK and i have left it at the server time so my posts all include the time from USA. 6 hours of a difference. it doesn’t matter much thou because its the actual date that i really have on my priority list to display for numerous reasons.
I don’t use time on my comments. I feel its irrelevant and when i first designed the database i never included it. Its not I’m my common practice to include this.
I have thought bout adding it. Does anyone here feel the need for date and time in comments?
Should i change my times (on my blog posts) to GMT and state that it is GMT?
Great idea, using GMT. Don’t they call it UTC, an abbreviation for “Universal Coordinated Time” in French (), now?
Sorry, I put a zero in my last comment somehow…
I prefer GMT, and until recently didn’t have a clue what UTC was. But then I’m from London, England – so guess I’m biased :)
Leaving out time altogether would be a good idea. Using extra PHP tag or javascript would add unnecessary bloat.
Ben- I can understand you wanting to minimize clutter, but the time may be a worthwhile source of it. I know that I have used it quite a few times when I think I’ve left a particularly good comment. Plus, it can be added to the design very subtlely.
And thanks. Will fix that!
Grant – You could always ask your readers. It depends on them really, but I like it.
As for using GMT, you could, but you don’t have to. The GMT +/- for your timezone would be just as good.
Redwall – Yeah, UTC seems to be the standard version now, but I’m from the UK like Ben so im used to GMT.
Mohsin – I think the javascript would be overkill as well.
I have time on comments – I don’t consider it to be clutter given the amount of space it takes up. It’s so inconspicuous that you wouldn’t even see it unless you were really looking, which is probably how something like that should be. It’s only useful for the people who have a reason to look for it.
I know it doesn’t happen very often, but it can be useful when two people post at almost the same time and say some of the same things. At first they look like lazy dufuses because they didn’t read the comments before them and went on the same rant as someone else – until you see that they were probably writing the comments at the same time.
So are you in the GMT +0 timezone or have you started using GMT? I think if I took this approach I’d want to keep it on my timezone (GMT +10). Then daylight savings (or summer time) messes things up too. Oh well, never mind!
I agree Kristarella. It’s a very inconspicuous, and worth having as a result.
I’m a little confused by the question though. I suppose this would be GMT+0, though it’s easier just to call it GMT. :)
Oh yeah, it’s fine just to call it GMT – I was just wondering if you were blogging from GMT, or if you were using that timezone (’cause you liked it or whatever). I realise now it’s most likely the former since you said “10pm here in the UK”.
Huh. You’ve got me thinking. Kudos on an original article!
Kristarella – Ahh, I get ya now! Yep, it’s the former. I’m from the UK, and we’re in the GMT timezone. :)
Ses – Thanks. :D
I had never stopped to consider this … I do list the time each comment was left, but that’s in Pacific Standard Time.
Given the options presented above, javascript makes the most sense to me. I’m already using a bit of it, even along with dreaded cookies, to let the user expand and collapse sections of my navigation. I just recently finished something I’m proud of, that looks at which categories a post ( or all the posts on a page, eg in a search ) is filed under, and lights them up in the navigation. One more script to adjust to local time … which is really the most convenient option to the reader … isn’t a big deal.
Some of the comments are making me stop to consider removing the time all together, but there does seem to be some value in knowing whether it’s been two minutes or twelve hours since the comment you might be replying to was written. Not a lot of value, but some…
Forrest – I think that there is some value as well, and considering how inconspicuous the time is, I think it’s worth it.
I suppose it also depends on the type of blog though, and how frequently it gets comments. :)
As for the navigation; congrats! You can do that with a little PHP and CSS though. It could be even faster? :) (Though it couldn’t do the search thing!)
You’re right; it would be faster ( for the client ) to use PHP instead of jscript to figure out what categories are being used and highlight them. My PHP is intermediary, though, and seeing WordPress as a complicated house of cards built from PHP, I wasn’t really sure how to go about it.
On the bright side, though, the jscript is using CSS; if it decides it found a match, it sets a class instead of going into the styles.
Fair enough. WordPress isn’t bad when you get used to it. I’ll write up a tutorial for WP category highlighting someday I guess. :)
Great idea… because i always have that kind of problems because i live in Argentina and i do allways read other lenguage-written blogs…
:D
bye ;)
Glad you like the idea. :)
How difficult do you suppose it might be to get the user’s time zone in jscript? Or PHP, for that matter? Are there free geo-coding services for IP addresses?
I don’t actually think it would be too hard at all. It would have to be Javascript (JS works on the client’s side, whereas PHP is server side), but I think it would be fairly simple.
The problem is that it would be a little slower loading, and even if things are right by their time, you still have to find a way to tell the person that it’s in their time (Would you add in their timezone? Or actually say “Your Time”?)
It’s funny how we adopt words and adapt our lexicon to the times. This is a very useful slant on things.
his is a very useful slant on things.