Are there other date formats in use? Who uses this format: 12.25.2006?

Question

I am doing an internationalization and I want to know what date formats people actually use. I know about mm/dd/yyyy, dd/mm/yyyy, and yyyy/mm/ss (all with slashes). I am wondering if there are any others in common use.

I am particularly interested in the dot format: for example 12.25.2006. I see that used on lots of web sites, but I've never seen it used in "real life." Does any native culture use this kind of format, or is it just a format people use to look cool and technophilic?

Answer 1

Here in Britain, we use slashes and dots in real life according to personal preference. We ALWAYS, without exception, put the day before the month. (People got really confused over here after 9/11, because that's the ninth of November!)

Answer 2

US forms and usage is mostly MM/DD/YYYY. On the other hand, all continental EU and for what I know the rest of the world sticks to DD/MM/YYYY.

The confusion is quite unsavoury - as of course case of days over 12 the difference is obvious, but otherwise!!! you end up with many errors. It is a typical problem with finacial records, ending up starting later than they should (as in 01/11 rather than 11/01...) imagine the difference on a paycheck.

The MM/DD format is not technophilic - if anything it is a hamper to technology...

If your standardization is meant for the web, specify the format you expect your date to be input, better yet provide separate pull-down option fields. It is little extra work to ensure precision.
If you are printing documents or forms, then separate boxes for each item is in order.

Answer 3

ok, i might want to dispute your theory that one format is more effective "logical" than yet another. Any device of measuring some thing is bigoted. We basically make up a device, agree as a society to apply it, and get all outraged if someone doesn't pick to fall in line. i might want to communicate about that there are twelve "first"s, twelve "second"s, twelve "third"s, etc for each day of the three hundred and sixty 5 days.there is, in spite of the undeniable fact that, in consumer-friendly words one "February" in a three hundred and sixty 5 days, so specifying the month on the onset more effective rapidly identifies the precise day we are referencing. Arguments to the contratry can carry no more effective logical weight than do mine, hence proving my factor.

Answer 4

I believe the Swedes use mm/dd/year format, but check it out before committing - I'm too lazy.

The Taiwanese always use Year/Month/Day. Not sure about other Chinese nationalities.

Answer 5

Little endian form;
11-01-2007

Big endian form;
2007-01-11

Middle endian form;
01-11-2007

The later is mainly used by the US and countries influenced by the US.

Edit to add; I write 11/1-07 since that was what I was taught in school. (Sweden)

Answer 6

well, in Serbia we never use slashes to separate numbers and we always put day before month e.g. 25.05.2007. or 25. IV 2007. or 25. april 2007.

Answer 7

I float, depends on the mood.

01/11/07 (for casual correspondence)
Jan. 11, 2007 (for more formal letters)
11 Jan., 2007 (usually when hand-writing)
1.11.07 (usually when blogging online)