How to Set the Date and Time in Your WordPress.com Blog

On the WordPress.com General Settings page, you can control the way the date and time is displayed. To set up your date and time, or to make changes to date and time settings on your WordPress blog, follow these steps:

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Click the General link in the Settings menu to load the General Settings page in your WordPress.com Dashboard.

Use the last sections of the General Settings page to set your local time, so that your blog posts are published with a time stamp in your own time zone no matter where in the world you are.

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Scroll down to the date and time options.

Set a time zone, and choose your date and time formats.

Click the Timezone section.

Choose your UTC time from the drop-down menu. This setting refers to the number of hours that your local time differs from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This setting ensures that all your blog posts and comments left on your blog are time-stamped with the correct time. For example, if you’re lucky enough to live on the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, which is in the Central time zone (CST), you would choose –6 from the drop-down menu because that time zone is 6 hours off UTC. If you’re unsure what your UTC time is, you can find it at the GreenwichMean Time Web site. GMT is essentially the same thing as UTC. The Timezone option doesn’t update automatically for daylight saving time (DST). If you live in an area of the world that practices DST, you have to update the Timezone option manually when it occurs.

Click the Date Format section.

Select how you want to display the date. WordPress.com gives you four basic date formats to choose from, and also provides you with a way to customize the display of the date on your website by entering custom date formats. For example, The date format of F j, Y (F = the full month name; j = the two-digit day; Y = the four-digit year), gives you the output of January 1, 2008. Select a different format by clicking the circle to the left of the option.

Click the Time Format section.

Select how you want to display the time. WordPress.com gives you three basic time formats to choose from, and also provides you with a way to customize the display of the time on your web site by entering custom time formats. For example, the time format of g:i a (g = the two-digit hour; i = the two-digit minute; a = lowercase ante meridiem and post meridiem, or a.m. or p.m.), gives you the output of 12:00 a.m. Select a different format by clicking the circle to the left of the option. You can also customize the date display by selecting the Custom option and entering your preferred format in the text box provided.

Click the Week Starts On drop-down arrow.

From the drop-down menu, choose the day the week starts in your calendar. The display of the calendar in the sidebar of your blog is optional. If you choose to display the calendar, you can select the day of the week you want your calendar to start with.