Date and time
Guidelines and best practices for how to format date and time consistently in EDS.Dates and times need to be readable. Write, abbreviate and punctuate dates and times consistently so people can understand your content. We have included multiple formatting options and guidelines here for the following reasons:
- To give teams working on a variety of use cases the flexibility to choose a format that works best for their feature.
- To reduce cognitive load on the user by using easily scannable and understandable formats.
While date libraries provide more formats, the versions outlined on this page should be the formats used. The examples only address AU, NZ, and UK formats.
Format | When to use | Example | Token Key |
|---|---|---|---|
DD Month YYYY | When referring to a specific day of the month | 16 August 2024 | |
DD/MM/YYYY | Space saving format for day of the month | 16/8/2024 | |
Day, DD Month YYYY | When referring to a specific day of the week | Friday, 16 August 2024 | |
Day, DD/MM/YYYY | Space saving format for day of the week | Friday, 16/8/2024 |
Prefer to use "am/pm" format, unless there's a good reason to use the "24h system".
Format | When to use | Example | Token Key |
|---|---|---|---|
HH:MM xm | When referring to a specific point in time | 6:30 pm | |
HH:MM (24h system) | When referring to a specific point in time | 18:30 |
Times can be added to any date format, except calendar formats.
Format | When to use | Example | Token Key |
|---|---|---|---|
DD Month YYYY, HH:MM xm | When referring to a specific day of the month and timestamp | 16 August 2024, 1:25 pm | |
DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM xm | Space saving format for day of the month and timestamp | 16/8/2024 1:25 pm | |
Day, DD Month YYYY, HH:MM xm | When referring to a specific day of the week and timestamp | Friday, 16 August 2024, 1:25 pm | |
Day, DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM xm | Space saving format for day of the week and timestamp | Friday, 16/8/2024 1:25 pm |
Format | When to use | Example | Token Key |
|---|---|---|---|
YYYY–YY | Range across different years | 2024–26 | |
DD–DD Mon, YYYY | Range within the same month | 16–17 Aug, 2024 | |
DD Mon–DD Mon, YYYY | Range within the same year | 16 Aug–16 Oct, 2024 | |
DD Mon YYYY–DD Mon YYYY | Range across different years | 16 Aug 2024–16 Oct 2026 | |
HH:MM xm–HH:MM xm | Range within the same day | 9:30 am–5:30 pm |
If needed, a time zone can be appended to any time and/or date format.
Format | When to use | Example | Token Key |
|---|---|---|---|
HH:MM xm UTC | When time zone is required | 1:25 pm AEST | |
Single time zones | – | 18:15 AEST | |
Single-digit hours | – | UTC+5:00 | N/A |
There are some special use cases that should only be applied in the specific "When to use" scenarios outlined below.
Format | When to use | Example | Token Key |
|---|---|---|---|
Month YYYY | For use in Calendar (month view) | April 2024 | |
Day | For use in Calendar (month view) | Thursday | |
Thu | |||
Day DD | For use in Calendar (week view) | Thursday 28 | |
Thu 28 | |||
Computerised | For use in CSV exports | 2024-08-15 1:25 pm |
In some cases, e.g. when designing real-time notifications, you can use relative times.
Format | When to use | Example | Token Key |
|---|---|---|---|
Seconds | When referring to the second(s) past, less than a min |
| - |
Minutes | When referring to the minute(s) past, less than an hour |
| - |
Hours | When referring to the hour(s) past, up to 24 hours ago |
| - |
Day | When referring to the day(s) past, up to 6 days ago |
| - |
Week | When referring to the week(s) past, up to 4 weeks ago |
| - |
Month | When referring to the month(s) past, up to 11 months ago |
| - |
Year | When referring to the year(s) past |
| - |