I have an application that is sending an email to someone reminding them of an appointment.
What is the best way to display such a stand-alone date?
The reason I have such a question is because (as a developer/engineer) it is my training to want to have dates in 'bigendian' (YYYY-MM-DD) so they're easier to compare in a list. But I realize that when someone sees a data by itself, other psychological rules may apply. So in no particular order
- I feel like American style dates (MM/DD/YYYY) may be more comfortable for people to read.
- but 'Thu, Jan 6, 2011' will be more digestible (and more easily understandable as a particular date in the near future)
So of those three (or variations, or any others), which would be the least error-prone in readability?
Answer
For a date which is meant to be consumed by a user only, I think it's best to spell out the date as much as is feasible.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Of course, if the purpose is to remind someone of an appointment, I'd argue that the year isn't really necessary, since you won't be reminding them of an appointment more than a year in advance.
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