FrontPage Tips FP Date Stamps and Time Stamps

Let's talk about a simple one today, using date stamps and time stamps in FP. I have always used this FrontPage feature as long as I can remember. I insert a date stamp and time stamp on every single page of the site.

Why you ask? Well, for one it shows the visitors that there is activity at the site, as long as you are updating. I think it also shows a level of professionalism.

Since I use FrontPage, inserting date stamps and time stamps is easy! I'll put one at the bottom of every page that reads:

Last modified: 2008-01-20T19:33:52-0800

The code that FrontPage generates for the date stamp and time stamp might look like this. It all depends on the date and time formats you choose, there are quite a few of them available:

Instructions for how to insert the Date Stamp and Time Stamp in your FP web pages:

Position your cursorin the document where you want to place the Date Stamp and Time Stamp.
Go to the file menu at top and click on Insert.
Select Date and Time from the dropdown menu.
Choose the Date format and the Time format then press OK.

Go ahead, let your visitors know that you are updating frequently. So what if they are minor changes, at least new and returning visitors will know that you are alive!

Custom FrontPage Webbot

Note: We utilize the ISO 8601 International Date Format. We've customized a FrontPage Date and Time Stamp webbot to meet our date formatting requirements.

Grab the code below, triple click inside the textbox, ctrl + c (to copy) and then ctrl + v (to paste) in the HTML/XHTML destination area.

The above FrontPage webbot code will produce a Date Stamp and Time Stamp that follows the ISO 8601 International Date and Time formats and looks like this...

2008-01-20T19:33:52-0800

Explanation of the above FrontPage Custom Webbot

	%Y = 4 digit year (always use a 4 digit year YYYY)
	%m = 2 digit month (MM)
	%d = 2 digit day (DD)
	T = Time Separator (can be left blank)
	%H: = Hour of day
	%M: = Minute of day
	%S = Second of day
	%Z = Time Zone