How to Format a Date in Wikipedia

You can format the date given in a particular topic in Wikipedia according to your preference, specific country or convenience. For this, first you need to open an account in Wikipedia in the standard way. Here’s how you can change the date format in Wikipedia.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Open an Account in Wikipedia

1. Enter the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page in your internet browser to get to the Main Page of Wikipedia. You can also key in 'Wikipedia' in search engines Google or Yahoo.

2. Go to the top right corner of the page. Click on ‘Create account’ and register by providing your username and a unique password. The account gets created immediately and the username you selected will display on top of the page.

Format the Date in Wikipedia

3. Enter www.Wikipedia.org in your internet browser to go to the Main Page of Wikipedia.

4. Go to 'My Preferences,' the third box at the top of the page.

5. Click on the ‘Date and Time’ tab/box in the ‘My Preferences’ page. For a snapshot, you can click on the link http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Date-preferences-Screenshot.png

6. Check the Preference or format that you prefer from the five types of date and time formats. A ‘No preference’ option is also available. The date and time formats available with Wikipedia are:
   No preference [Can be used if you are open to any format]
   16:12, January 15, 2001 [Time, Month, Date, Year]
   16:12, 15 January 2001 [Time, Date, Month, Year]
   16:12, 2001 January 15 [Time, Year, Month, Date]
   2001-01-15T16:12:34 [Year Month, Date, Time]
   

7. Click on the Save tab/box to save your preferred 'Time and Date' Format.

Tips & Warnings

• Readers who do not have a Wikipedia account see the Date and Time format preferred by the author of the article.
• The date format,[[6 November]] [[2006]], is usually used for topics related to Ireland, all members of the Commonwealth of Nations [excluding Canada] and international organizations such as the United Nations. It does not include a comma or “th”.
• The date format, [[ November 6]] [[2006]], is generally used for the United States, the Philippines, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau.
• Avoid using the date formatting feature in the section headers as it can complicate the task. Section linking to a variable date format needs to be set in a fixed date format.