SPIP date tags such as [(#DATE|affdate)] display dates in English in this format: 23 September 2006
This is—inasmuch as any standard exists—correct British usage:
“Dates should be shown in the order day, month, year, without internal punctuation, as: 2 November 1993. A named day preceding a date is separated by a comma: Tuesday, 2 November 1993. There is no comma between month and year. (...) In US style the order is month, day, year: November 2, 1993 (...) Do not use the endings ‘st’, ‘rd’ or ‘th’ in conjunction with a figure.”
(Oxford Guide to Style pp. 178-9, Oxford University Press, 2002)
But it is not difficult to change!
SPIP 1.8 allows for local language files (in this case, a file named local_en.php3) to override the default language texts.
American format
Here are the necessary lines for such a file to give dates in American format (i.e. September 23; September 23, 2006):
Alternative British format
Even if the Oxford Guide to Style suggests you shouldn’t, some people like ‘st’, ‘th’, etc. in their dates. Well, you can get them by using these lines:
Instructions
If you want Spip tags to display with one of these alternative formats then:
- Create a file called
local_en.php3. [1] - Copy the lines of the format you choose (all the lines, from
<?phpto?>included) into the file. - Place the file in your templates directory, or in the root of the site, or in the
ecrire/lang/directory of your site.
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