Writing the Time: AM and PM or a.m. and p.m.? | Hacker News Reader

Writing the Time: AM and PM or a.m. and p.m.?

knowadays.com

15 pointsbehnamoh20 comments

For web developers: Please stop trying to force your 'preferred' style on users, and instead learn to embrace locale and language-sensitive methods like Javascript's Date.toLocaleString()

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...

For a more modern approach try the Intl.DateTimeFormat package.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...

As someone who prefers ISO-8601 I'd love if something would honor my

  LC_TIME="long-iso"

let me lovingly clown on a fellow 8601 enjoyer by saying P1Y2M10DT2H30M/2008-05-11T15:30:00Z

24 hour personally, I'm not really a frontend person so I don't nerd to display it.

A question to people used to the 12-hour format. I’m working on a music player for bathrooms (https://Loodio.com) where a clock one of the main features.

How annoying is the 24-hour format for you?

It's indecipherable to most people in the U.S. who refer to it as "military time".

... I understand the U.S. has a pretty woeful education system in some parts, but has it reached the point where converting 12 and 24h time is considered an advanced task that is beyond the reach of most people? I'm morbidly curious.

This is from just yesterday:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30992322

if time.ampm == PM: return time.hour + 12 else: return time.hour

You’re right. Stupid question. Easy fix.

12:24 pm?

if time.hour == 12 && time.ampm == AM: return 0

elif time.hour == 12 && time.ampm == PM: return 12

elif time.ampm == PM: return time.hour+12

else: return time.hour

The vast majority of clocks in the US use 12 hour time. 24 hour time just isn't used here outside of limited applications (military, computing, etc).

People generally aren't used to seeing time expressed in a 24 hour format. Most would choose a clock that shows the familiar 12 hour format over a 24 hour one that requires them to subtract 12 to get the time.

I think it would be similar to selling a Fahrenheit thermometer in Europe. Most people could learn to do the conversion, but they would probably just buy a Celsius thermometer instead.

Thanks will need to fix that then.

A choice between 12 and 24 hr is pretty essential for an American audience.

Thanks that’s all I needed to hear.

a/p. Although 24 hours works as well but many are not so comfortable with that.

I know Prime Minister. Who is is AM? :)

If serious, I think the best 24h system.

TL;DR: write it however you like, just be consistent.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com