Dates and times

Dates

Formatting dates and times can be tricky because the standards differ from country to country. Nulogy is a company that services customers from around the world, so we need to ensure that the dates we list in our softwares are consistent and recognizable.

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) states that the international standard is YYYY-MM-DD. This standard is not adopted in every single country around the world, but it does offer us the safest route to ensure that the dates listed in our applications are easy to read.

Given that the ISO date format is not fully adopted worldwide, Nulogy goes a step further to ensure that dates are understandable with no margin for misinterpretation. In order to avoid users confusing the two digits that represent the month and the two digits to represent the day, we represent the month in their MLA abbreviated form:

For example, November 4th, 2021 would read as 2021-Nov-04. July 28th, 2025 would read as 2025-Jul-28.

Dates appearing in a sentence are one of two exceptions to this formatting rule. They are written out in full to ensure our overall voice remains professional and understandable. Month abbreviations are not used.

Expiry Dates

Expiry dates are another exception to the date formatting rule. These standards are often set by brands or suppliers, requiring customization on the part of the user. As such, expiry date formats can be configured by the user in their settings.

Times

The ISO standard for representing time is HH:MM:SS (hour:minute:second). This is a format that is recognized internationally. Where countries differ is on the use of the 12 hour clock or the 24 hour clock. English speaking countries tend to lean towards the 12 hour clock, but have an understanding of the 24 hour clock. This is why Nulogy adopts the 24 hour clock as the standard. Our default formatting drops the use of the seconds from the ISO formatting, as that information does not add value to our customers in most cases. However, they can be added in situations that benefit the user.

In some of our applications, we offer the user the option to specify the use of the 12 hour clock in their settings. In this case a capitalized AM or PM is added onto the HH:MM after a space.

If a time zone is required, the three letter abbreviation is added after the time, separated by a space. Where possible, the user’s local time is used as the default with no time zone specified.

Dates and times

When a date and time are listed together, we list the date first, followed by the time.

In a full sentence, we use additional words such as “on” and “at” to help readability.

Ranges

When listing a date or time range, the beginning date/time and ending date/time are seperated by the word “to”. This is to avoid confusion with the dashes from the standalone date formating.

Standalone:

In a sentence:

Translations

Date and time formatting does not change for differing languages or locales, as they are formatted specifically to the international standard. This is purposeful to reduce complexity internally and for users with sites in multiple countries.

When translating, be sure that the month is written or abbreviated in the correct language. See the Yale Catalogue for accepted month abbreviaitons in other Latin alphabet languages. Note that given Nulogy’s default date formatting, the month’s ending appreviation period (.) is dropped.