Localize Time

Description

This WordPress plugin adds the [localize_time] shortcode. The shortcode allows an author
to enter a date and time in any timezone. The shortcode displays the original time with
timezone, followed by the same time in the user’s timezone, formatted correctly for the
user’s locale. This is useful for announcing live events, e.g. a live online streaming
event, to widely dispersed audiences.

The date and time to be displayed are entered as the shortcode’s content, i.e. between the
[localize_time] and [/localize_time] tags. The time can be specified in almost
any format that’s recognizable as a date and time.

The shortcode takes the following options:

• tz – the timezone the shortcode’s content is in. If this option is omitted, it defaults
  to the site’s timezone. Timezones are specified in any format recognized by
  PHP’s DateTimeZone.
• fmt – a format string specifying how the original time should be displayed. If omitted,
  it defaults to the site’s date format followed by the site’s time format followed by the
  timezone. To output the original time exactly as entered (with the timezone), specify
  fmt="orig". Or you can enter a format string using the same codes that are used on
  WordPress’s General Settings tab. See
  full documentation on date / time format strings here.
• before_local – the string to precede the local time. Defaults to ‘ (‘
• after_local – the string to follow the local time. Defaults to ‘)’

Examples

Below are examples of using the shortcode. For these examples, the site’s timezone is set to America/New_York (EST-5EDT) and the user is in the America/Los_Angeles (PST-8PDT) timezone.

• Local time is in a different year and month from original time:
  [localize_time]1/1/2014 1:00 am[/localize_time]
  outputs:
  January 1, 2014 1:00 am EST (12/31/2013, 10:00:00 PM PST)

• Specify a time in timezone different from the site’s:
  [localize_time tz=”Europe/Paris” ]July 14, 2014 19:00[/localize_time]
  outputs:
  July 14, 2014 7:00 pm CEST (7/14/2014, 10:00:00 AM PDT)

• Specify a format for the original time:
  [localize_time fmt=”m/d/Y g:i A T”]June 14, 2014 6:30 AM[/localize_time]
  outputs:
  06/14/2014 6:30 AM EDT (6/14/2014, 3:30:00 AM PDT)

• Specify a time in the same timezone as the user:
  [localize_time tz=”PST”]3pm Nov. 1, 2014[/localize_time]
  outputs:
  November 1, 2014 3:00 pm PDT

Note that the display of the local time varies by timezone and browser.

Screenshots

Installation

1. Upload the localize-time directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

FAQ

Can I change the way the local time is formatted?

No. The local time is displayed by the user’s browser in a format appropriate for her locale.
You can not change the format.

What if the user is in the same timezone as the original time?

If the user is in the same timezone as the original time, she will see only the original time;
the local time will not be displayed, as it would be repetitious. See the last example above.

Can I style the times?

Yes. In your theme’s CSS target .localize_time_orig to style the original times
and .localize_time_local to style the local times.

Reviews

Exactly what I needed

roamingchile March 23, 2021

So glad to find this. I tried it out despite it not being updated. It’s working on WP 5.7. It does almost exactly what I need it to. My only complaint is that I cannot format the local time. What is generated is very long and will not look neat in a long table of events. Would be very grateful if the dev could just make sure all is up to date and list the plugin as current. Having the local time use the format inputted into the shortcode would be a big bonus. Thanks, JB.

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

1.0.0

• Initial release