I have released an app which,. within its functionality displays date and time strings.
I am aware of the differing formats across cultures – however in some cases I had hardcoded values- for example I had gone with a custom format that was the 12 hr clock and showed AM/PM
I am now changing to use the standard date time format strings where possible, and so, for my times,I am now using the shortTimePattern.
What has surprised me is that for the US this shows as say 3:15PM but in the UK its 16:15 i.e the default there is the 24 hr clock.
Similarly in the US the long date includes the day of the week, where as in the UK it does not.
I am thinking that these defaults must be right and are what is expected within that country but is this really the case? I had no idea that the UK default would be a 24 hr clock. And, for those users in the UK who have the app, will they be annoyed when the next update shows the time in this format?
Interested in any opinions around this.
- thanks
UK Users will not care between 24hr and am/pm (we don’t talk to each other saying “It’s fourteen hundred o’clock :P).
Dates are also fine unless you’re using format of 12/02/12 as in the UK that’s considered 12th Feb whereas in the states it’s December 2nd.