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Expiration Date

January 15, 2010 by Brandon Weiss

Every time I see an out-of-date copyright at the bottom of a website my eye compulsively twitches and I feel a rant coming on. Seriously, where’s the attention to detail? I hate to so broadly malign a group of people—especially one I belong to—but damn, there are some short-sighted, lazy web developers out there. Which I find extremely counter-intuitive. Programming requires a mind that is a little OCD, has a high attention to detail and excels in logical, analytical thinking. I don’t know how so many people got into the industry that just don’t seem to put very much thought into what they do.1

Take for example the out-of-date copyright. A web developer had to type the numbers ‘2009’, knowing full well that at the end of the year, and every year after that, the date is going to be incorrect and need to be updated. What’s up with that? It’s such an obvious mistake with such a relatively simple solution.

This is how you do it the right way; it literally takes an extra 10 seconds of work:

<?php $copyright = (date('Y') > 2009) ? '2009–' . date('Y') : '2009' ?>
<p>© <?= $copyright ?> Some Company, Inc.</p>

If it’s currently 2009, it will output this:

© 2009 Some Company, Inc.2

And if it’s several years later, it will output this:

© 2009–2011 Some Company, Inc.3

If you don’t already, start giving what you do a little anticipation and forethought. You’d be amazed at the quality of work that comes out as a result.

1 To be clear, this is not at all about the legality of a copyright date. I’m not a lawyer, so I have no idea whether or not one is even necessary. It’s simply about if you’re going to take the time to do something, don’t half-ass it.

2 This assumes that the start year was 2009, if not, just change both instances of 2009 to whatever year you want.

3 Also, note the use of the en dash here. Learn the difference between the different types of dashes and grammar nerds and typographers will love you forever.

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