Dates in OSX

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

What is the reason, and how do I read the wacky way dates are present in OSX?

Example: I hit "get info" on a file or app and I here's what it reads "created 22/2610/02/06" what the heck???

On another note, I know that one of the annoyances is how inflexible the date is on the menubar - you can only configure it in limited ways, and have to do some major hacking if you want to change that... hope they'll do a better job of it in Leopard.

dpaanlka · Mar 28, 2007

Where do you see that?

This is what mine looks like:

lancestraz · Mar 28, 2007

Use MenuCalendarClock to customize the clock.

Peace · Mar 28, 2007

Did you install a haxie that changes the date format ?

[edit]

See above post.That haxie can screw up the date format if you don't know what you're doing.

[/edit]

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

I didn't install any haxies, but I did have to go through a very involved procedure to change how my menubar date looked like - I don't remember even what exactly I had to do (it was something off of OSXhints).

However, what you're saying is that's not how dates should look? Wow. Trouble. What do I do now?

Teh Don Ditty · Mar 28, 2007

OldCorpse said:
What is the reason, and how do I read the wacky way dates are present in OSX?

Example: I hit "get info" on a file or app and I here's what it reads "created 22/2610/02/06" what the heck???

On another note, I know that one of the annoyances is how inflexible the date is on the menubar - you can only configure it in limited ways, and have to do some major hacking if you want to change that... hope they'll do a better job of it in Leopard.

What exactly are you looking to do with the date on the menubar?

Can always change the way the dates displayed by going into system preferences -> international

Peace · Mar 28, 2007

OldCorpse said:
I didn't install any haxies, but I did have to go through a very involved procedure to change how my menubar date looked like - I don't remember even what exactly I had to do (it was something off of OSXhints).

However, what you're saying is that's not how dates should look? Wow. Trouble. What do I do now?

Correct.The date structure you have is screwed up.

Fixing it depends on what your international setting is.

If it's U.S go to system preferences>international>formats and have a look

Teh Don Ditty · Mar 28, 2007

This is what my International Looks Like (after I changed it) and the result in the menubar:

EDIT: And what my file info looks like

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

Here's what my date and time shows on my menubar, and apparently it's not possible to do without major involved trickery:

Wed 28, Mar 19:55:18

can you accomplish that on your menubar?

Teh Don Ditty · Mar 28, 2007

OldCorpse said:
Here's what my date and time shows on my menubar, and apparently it's not possible to do without major involved trickery:

Wed 28, Mar 19:55:18

can you accomplish that on your menubar?

No. But why do you need to see all that on your menubar? It takes up a lot of space.

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

Because I like to see info at a glance, without having to break out a calendar - I can do that in XP, why shouldn't I be able to do it in OSX? Apparently I'm not the only one, since this hack exists for a reason (I learned it on OSXhints, sadly I forgot how I did it).

I like to know the day of the week, the date (number) and the month plus hour, minute and second. I don't need the year.

Well, the space is there on the menubar - question is what's important to you. To me, having all this info is important, so I don't mind it taking the space.

Teh Don Ditty · Mar 28, 2007

You lost me a little bit...

In XP when you hover over the time it displays the date. In OS X you just have to click the time (which is almost the same as hovering)

Unless you are referring to when you double click the time you get to the calendar (In XP). In that case it's just like opening up iCal.

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

The Don Ditty said:
You lost me a little bit...

In XP when you hover over the time it displays the date. In OS X you just have to click the time (which is almost the same as hovering)

Unless you are referring to when you double click the time you get to the calendar (In XP). In that case it's just like opening up iCal.

That's actually very funny

... because it must mean I must have had some kind of hack on my XP - or maybe 3rd party software - because I can see the date/time in exactly this format... I guess, I just like it this way

for the life of me, I can't remember if I did anything, but I've had my Dell laptop for 4 years now, and it's like that. Oh well.

Anyhow getting back to my dilemma: why on God's green earth can't I have the date/time in the format I want? I'm not asking for a Mayan calendar or anything, just standard options which are already there, just not in the combo I want

WildCowboy · Mar 28, 2007

OldCorpse said:
Anyhow getting back to my dilemma: why on God's green earth can't I have the date/time in the format I want? I'm not asking for a Mayan calendar or anything, just standard options which are already there, just not in the combo I want

Something like this?

It doesn't require any hacking...just a bit of trickery. Here is an article explaining how to do it.

Teh Don Ditty · Mar 28, 2007

OldCorpse said:
That's actually very funny ... because it must mean I must have had some kind of hack on my XP - or maybe 3rd party software - because I can see the date/time in exactly this format... I guess, I just like it this way for the life of me, I can't remember if I did anything, but I've had my Dell laptop for 4 years now, and it's like that. Oh well.

Anyhow getting back to my dilemma: why on God's green earth can't I have the date/time in the format I want? I'm not asking for a Mayan calendar or anything, just standard options which are already there, just not in the combo I want

Can you post what it looks like?

And what are you trying to make it look like?

EDIT: Seems like WildCowboy has the answer.
EDITx2: That is a neat little trick.

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

Hmm. That's exactly what I want, and actually already have in that exact format. But maybe my methods involved something that was bad for the system? So, I'm gonna re-do it according to the link WildCowboy gave. I'll report back soon!

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

Well, I must report total failure - and worse, so far. Not only did I lose what I had and liked before:

Wed 28, Mar 21:14:09

now I got:

Wed Wed 28 Mar 21:14

ugh. And it did not solve my system-wide date problem. I'll continue experimenting.

Teh Don Ditty · Mar 28, 2007

OldCorpse said:
Well, I must report total failure - and worse, so far. Not only did I lose what I had and liked before:

Wed 28, Mar 21:14:09

now I got:

Wed Wed 28 Mar 21:14

ugh. And it did not solve my system-wide date problem. I'll continue experimenting.

You don't have to put the day of week in for that little trick. So in your case you just need to copy the date and month part (as you had)

In regards to you system wide problem. Check the date part in international. Seems like either the Long or Full version has one too many things in it.

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

Wow. Total disaster. I can't get my old thing back, and I can't even revert to the standard OS X thing... maybe time to reinstall OS X?

I'm following the instructions very exactly - no luck!

Here's what I got after trying to go back to standard default OSX:

Wed 21:44:20

BARF!!!

Ugh.

I'm about to give up. Maybe there's 3rd party stuff out there that does this simple freaking thing that OSX in 2007 cannot manage

Teh Don Ditty · Mar 28, 2007

Here is what mine looks like. Maybe that'll help you get back to where you need to be. Also, disable show seconds under the Date & Time preference (unless you want to see the seconds)

That displays like this in the menubar: Thu 29 Mar | 00:55

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

This is hopeless. If I try to do what you do, here's what I get:

Wed Wed 28 Mar22:01

Insane.

I'm going back to standard

Teh Don Ditty · Mar 28, 2007

OldCorpse said:
This is hopeless. If I try to do what you do, here's what I get:

Wed Wed 28 Mar22:01

Insane.

I'm going back to standard

It seems like you're copying and pasting the day of the week when you don't need to.

You only have to copy the date (29) and month (march) and then insert it into the time.

EDIT: Using my post above yours as a guide, from the first image you'd copy the 2nd (the "5") and third ("January") items and then paste them into the time (you can change the way they are displayed (ex. Jan, 1, 01, January) in the time section)

OldCorpse · Mar 28, 2007

Solved!

Thank you The Don Ditty! It worked! The key was not copying the day of the week - though I did have to activate the "show seconds". Perfect, exactly as I wanted it - as I had it before, but this time, all the rest of my times system wide are displayed correctly!

So big thanks to everyone, and I will now worship The Don Ditty as my personal Jesus!

dogbone · Mar 28, 2007

two things worth noting...

when you customise the time in international, remember that it is the medium format that the new info should be pasted into.

Also after making any changes like adding a space, it will change the settings in 'clock' which then have to be changed back.

If I want to show the full name of the week I remove "show day of week" in the 'clock' dialog box and paste the full day name into the time field, but then I end up with both the short and long day of the week, because the short day has turned itself back on, so it means a trip back to the clock dialog to remove the day again.

Teh Don Ditty · Mar 29, 2007

OldCorpse said:
Thank you The Don Ditty! It worked! The key was not copying the day of the week - though I did have to activate the "show seconds". Perfect, exactly as I wanted it - as I had it before, but this time, all the rest of my times system wide are displayed correctly!

So big thanks to everyone, and I will now worship The Don Ditty as my personal Jesus!

Bow before me pesant!!!!

Just Kidding

Don't forget to thank WildCowboy too, he provided the link for the trick.

Glad you got everything all sorted out.

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