Showing Dates Not Just Times in Your Multi-Post Views

Occasionally when I’m searching the web, I’m looking for timely information such as articles on WordPress 2.1 not WordPress 1.5. Information on the latest version of WordPress would be dated within the past two months or so. Anything before that probably covers early versions of WordPress and wouldn’t apply to the topic I’m seeking.

More often than not, instead of the date, I find the time of the post with no date reference obviously visible. What is this? Why bother? Does the time of the post help the reader in any way?

The time and date are part of a post’s meta data and is usually included in the post meta data section at the bottom of the single post view. Some put the date and/or time meta data just above or under the post title, which is appropriate for time sensitive posts. But why do so many WordPress Themes only include the time and not the date?

Or they will give the date but not the year. That’s not much help either if the “when” is important to the validity of the article.

As I hunt around looking for the date, I will often find it WAY above the title, or at the top of a list of posts on multi-post views like categories, tags, archives, or search results, grouping the resulting posts under a single date. In theory, this is a neat idea, but in practice, how would I know to hunt for the “group date” unless the design format really emphasizes it?

If you write timely posts with “expiration date” content, take time right now to go through the various page views on your WordPress blog to see how the date and time are featured. Are you providing the right information your readers want and need?

Putting the Date Back Into Your Post Meta Data

The date and time are typically part of the post meta data section which is most commonly featured in a container at the bottom of your posts on the single post view. It may include the post categories, author name, copyright statement, and other biographical or blog information.

Why should the reader have to scroll down to the bottom of the post page to uncover the date if the date is so important to the value of the post?

To put the date and/or time up with your post title, you first need to determine when and where you want the date to appear. Is it important to be visible on the front page of your blog? Or only within the archives and search multi-post view pages? Or both? Is it important to see the date on your category page views, giving your readers a sense of how old your posts are in that category?

To add the date to posts featured on the front page of your WordPress blog, you will need to edit the index.php template file in your WordPress Theme. To To add the date to the category and archive page view, you may need to edit the category.php and/or archive.php template. If your WordPress Theme uses the search.php template file, you may need to edit that, too.

To just change how the date is showcased on the single post view, you may have to edit the index.php or the single.php, if your WordPress Theme has a template file to showcase your single post view.

Date Under the Title

The WordPress template tag that handles the date and time on your WordPress Themes is the_date() and the_time(). For information on how to set the date and time in your WordPress blog, see Formatting Date and Time in WordPress.

The WordPress Theme template tags structure for putting the date under the title would be:

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<h2 id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" class="posttitle"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<div class="datemeta"><?php the_date(); ?></div>
<div class="authorname">By <?php the_author_posts_link('namefl'); ?></div>

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Which would display:

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Post Title Something
March 16, 2007
By Sally Smith

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Want to add the time?

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<h2 id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" class="posttitle"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<div class="datemeta"><?php the_date(); ?> at <?php the_time() ?></div>
<div class="authorname">By <?php the_author_posts_link('namefl'); ?></div>

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Which would display as:

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Post Title Something
March 16, 2007 at 8:43 PM
By Sally Smith

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Date Above the Post Title

To place the date prominently above the Post Title, make sure that the CSS doesn’t put too great a distance between the post title and the date. The date needs to be associated with the post title, so keep it close.

The template code structure would be:

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<div class="datemeta"><?php the_date(); ?></div>
<h2 id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" class="posttitle"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<div class="authorname">By <?php the_author_posts_link('namefl'); ?></div>

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Depending upon the CSS, it could look like:

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March 16, 2007
Post Title Something
By Sally Smith

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Date in Newspaper Format

Some bloggers might like the newspaper format and want the post content to start out with the date. The template structure could be:

<h2 id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" class="posttitle"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<div class="authorname">By <?php the_author_posts_link('namefl'); ?></div>
<div class="entry"><span class="datemeta"><?php the_date(); ?>: </span><?php the_content(); ?>...

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Which would look like:

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Post Title Something
By Sally Smith

March 16, 2007 – The article text would begin here saying something wise and brilliant…

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Choose Your Date and Time Format to Match Content and Intent

It’s up to you on how much importance you want to give to the date and time of your blog posts. The more important the time and date of the post, the more prominent this information should be.

You might only want to showcase the month and year and not the day or time at all. If you post timeless posts, then the date isn’t important to the post, thus it can be tucked into the post meta data.

Avoid using the time or the day only. After all, which August 17 was it when you wrote this post?

When you know the role the time and date plays within your blog, feature it appropriately.

Related Articles

• Do You Update Posts or Post Updates?
• Technical Tips for Publishing a Series of Articles on Your Blog
• When is the Best Time and Day to Post on Your Blog?
• Navigating Your WordPress Site
• WordPress Template Files and Style Sheets – Give Them a Name
• Show Just One Category in WordPress Categories
• Using Javascript in WordPress
• Customizing WordPress Administration Panels
• WordPress Tips and Tricks for Template Files
• Putting the Description Back Into Your WordPress Head
• Creating Multiple Single Posts for Different Categories
• WordPress Tips and Tricks for Style Sheets
• Finding Your CSS Styles in WordPress
• Creating a “Bad Code Day” Error Message for Your Blog

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, member of the 9Rules Network, and author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.