Regional dates in the store

[paulsalter]

Been looking at pre orders in the kobo store and it is confusing, is there any way to get the dates to show in the correct format

If I see a release date of 3/5/2013 this for me is 3rd May, but this is really released 5th March

We do not use the MM/DD/YYYYY format, we use DD/MM/YYYY

any ways to change this?, perhaps an option I have missed

[ShellShock]

I can't see any way to change it - this is just lazy programming. MM/DD/YYYY is just so illogical too. How did the US ever settle on that format?

[paulsalter]

It looks like lazy programming, not sure why they can't look at regional settings to check format

on a side note, got a message on my smart tv last night, some features unavailable on 3/5, is that in May as the date suggests or really going to be next Tuesday (atleast when the date is past the 12th of the month I know when it means)

[JD Gumby]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

I can't see any way to change it - this is just lazy programming. MM/DD/YYYY is just so illogical too. How did the US ever settle on that format?

Probably because the most common way to say dates out loud, at least in North America, when also stating the year is "March 3rd, 2013" (to use today as an example). "The 3rd of March" is also commonly used (about even with "March 3rd") - but never when the year is specified.

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

Probably because the most common way to say dates out loud, at least in North America, when also stating the year is "March 3rd, 2013" (to use today as an example). "The 3rd of March" is also commonly used (about even with "March 3rd") - but never when the year is specified.

Interesting. And why wouldn't someone say "The third of March, 2013?" I bet there are some people who do!

[paulsalter]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

Interesting. And why wouldn't someone say "The third of March, 2013?" I bet there are some people who do!

I do (and would pronounce it two thousand AND thirteen, not two thousand thirteen

If using the word for the month then it's fine to have the month first

using the date as numbers just seems wrong having the month first when writen

It's like me saying the time now is 38:15:30 (15:38:30), just because I would say it's 38 minutes past 3 doesn't mean I would write it in that order using numbers

Anyway, that's my whinge for the day, kobo (and others) need to use things in the format that the country they provide the service in uses, not US format

[GeoffR]

By the store do you mean on the Kobo website, or the Kobo devices?

From what I've seen on the website Kobo use US format but they spell out the month so it is not ambiguous. They use the correct date format for my country in email reciepts. Do you have a link to an example?

On the Kobo device you might be able to change a setting to display the date in your local format. For Kobo Touch/Glo/Mini see this thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=206200, it might be similar for Vox/Arc.

[paulsalter]

This is on the website, i dont do any buying on the kobo device

fair enough that the display the date in wording in another part of the screen, but I really shouldn't have to check that

MM/DD/YYYY is not a format we use so should not expect to see it

anything thats for pre order in uk store is an example

If
I glance at a book that's interesting and it tells me it's £9.99, released 3/5/2013 and then a button for pre order
I then compare this to amazon (mostly for price check) and it tells me it's £9.99 and released 5 Mar 2013 and a pre order buy button

I would purchase this from amazon, released tomorrow, kobo book is released on 3rd May (going by their date box)

Not a big issue, as I don't pre order many books, but there should not be a date on the page in a format that is not used, use my country settings or give me an option to chose the format

I am sure many people in the US would find it confusing if 50% of things where dated DD/MM/YYYYY and the other as MM/DD/YYYY and at times no easy way of knowing which is which

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

This is on the website, i dont do any buying on the kobo device

fair enough that the display the date in wording in another part of the screen, but I really shouldn't have to check that

MM/DD/YYYY is not a format we use so should not expect to see it

anything thats for pre order in uk store is an example

I see where you mean, on the pre-order button. I agree it is confusing, and strange that the website is able to present the prices in local currency but not the date in a matching format.

[paulsalter]

Everything else is fine, currency no problem, when I buy a book I get the date shown in DD/MM/YYYYY format in the receipt email, might put it as a suggestion on the get satisfaction site, think the pre orders are quite new so they might have missed regional settings

On a related topic just to show how confusing it can be

Got a message on my smart tv that services are going down for maintenance on 3/5 between 02:00 & 06:00

for me this is 3rd of May overnight

but I assume it is really 5th March

is it overnight local time?
is 02:00 to 06:00 EST (US Eastern time) or other US time zone?
is it 02:00 to 06:00 local time for tv manufacturer (Korea I believe)?

it's all a guessing game

[Witty Username]

http://www.xkcd.com/1179/

[paulsalter]

lol, i do like the idea of writing dates in binary

[murg]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

lol, i do like the idea of writing dates in binary

That still leaves the problem of whether the month or the day comes first...