Is It Possible To Have Blog Posts Without Dates?

[Asher]

Hi Warriors,

Was just wondering... is it possible to have a blog and post in it
but not to have the dates shown?

I know that's kind of against how a blog is built but can it be done?
I'm using self-hosted Wordpress at the moment.

If not, any other solution to it?

Asher

[Sami]

Hi Asher

Yes, it is ... but you have to know what you're doing so your actions don't screw up the rest of the functions...

Wordpress is open source so you have access to the code. You can either 'delete' the date from an individual post by editing its source (html) or you can go right into WP and your template and delete the date code that stamps the date on your posts.

You can even remove the date etc or edit the source of your individual posts in Blogger too.

But then your blog code won't necessrily know how to categorise your post. Two things can happen (among others):

1- It gets listed as uncategorised ... or

2- It gets lost.

I think the first will happen. But here's what you do ...

Just "hide" the date. So the value will still be there on the post for categorisation purposes but it won't show up. It all depends on your objectives.

And before you ask ... you need to get a hold of someone to set the CSS property of your date parameter to "hidden". Anyone who knows HTML/CSS can do this easily.

Oh ok, here's the kind code you might need (but I haven't tested in your type of scenario ok?). In the source code of your blog, find the date parameter and enclose it in the code below:

<span style="display:none;">Date_Parameter_Here</span>

If instead of editing Wordpress, you just want to test and hide the date in one post, try this:

Switch to Edit mode for that one post.
Find the actual date.
Enclose it in the above code like this...
<span style="display:none;">Actual_Date_Text_Here</span>


Good luck
Sami

[Jim Burney]

Asher

Why do you not want the dates showing?

Jim

[Andy Fletcher]

You can do this by editing the template to not display it. The posts will still have dates in the database (for ordering purposes etc) but it won't be displayed.

[Jason K. Thomas]

You want to look for this code and remove it:

PHP Code:

< ?php the_time 


Depending on the theme, there's one in the index.php file and single.php

[Asher]

Originally Posted by Jim Burney

Asher

Why do you not want the dates showing?

Jim

Hi Jim,

I want to make a review site but I also want to make it
just one time...

So when I target traffic there in the future, I don't have
to keep updating it. Might as well remove the dates
from it.

It's a long term strategy which I think might work

Asher

[Asher]

Originally Posted by Sami

Oh ok, here's the kind code you might need (but I haven't tested in your type of scenario ok?). In the source code of your blog, find the date parameter and enclose it in the code below:

<span style="display:none;">Date_Parameter_Here</span>

If instead of editing Wordpress, you just want to test and hide the date in one post, try this:

Switch to Edit mode for that one post.
Find the actual date.
Enclose it in the above code like this...
<span style="display:none;">Actual_Date_Text_Here</span>

Thanks Sami!

[Asher]

Originally Posted by Jason K. Thomas

You want to look for this code and remove it:

PHP Code:

< ?php the_time 


Depending on the theme, there's one in the index.php file and single.php

That seems a lot easier to accomplish. Thanks a bunch Jason!

Asher

[jjpmarketing]

Here is a better solution... and easier to implement. There is a plugin that will allow you to edit the date of your post. This way you can go in about once per month. Modify the posts to reflect the current month... or whatever suits you. Then it looks like the site was recently updated.

I'll have to get back to you on the actual name of the plugin later.

[Chris Lockwood]

I don't think frequently changing dates of posts is a great idea. If regular readers come back and start noticing, it looks bad if the same article that was dated June 1 shows up as July 1, then August 1, etc.

If the info is timeless, hiding the date makes more sense, because the date is not really relevant.

[Sami]

Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood

I don't think frequently changing dates of posts is a great idea. If regular readers come back and start noticing, it looks bad if the same article that was dated June 1 shows up as July 1, then August 1, etc.

If the info is timeless, hiding the date makes more sense, because the date is not really relevant.

I'm with Chris on this. Also the search engines take note of the dates (more so those in the meta tags). You don't want them to think you're manipulating them into thinking you have fresh content when the content is the same but the date is recent.

Sami

[zeurois]

Originally Posted by Asher

Hi Jim,

I want to make a review site but I also want to make it
just one time...

So when I target traffic there in the future, I don't have
to keep updating it. Might as well remove the dates
from it.

It's a long term strategy which I think might work

Asher

You could replace that date with the current date. This way it will look like you just updated it.

[jjpmarketing]

@CL and Sami,

I only provided that option as an easier method... Vs. having to modify code manually. In fact if there is a plugin to change the date, I would bet there is a plugin to hide the date.

[jjpmarketing]

Ok. I couldn't find the exact plugin on wordpress.org, so you might want to test this out on a test blog before implementing it on your live blog...

but here is the link to a "Date Exclusion" plugin. It will do exactly what you were wanting to do... remove the dates from posts.

Date Exclusion WordPress Plugin

[Ron Killian]

The big reason search engines like blogs is because they update quite often. Of course the SE's will notice if you update, or don't, doesn't matter the date, they don't use it. So while you might hide it from the readers, the SE's will know the site is not being updated.

Don't expect search engine traffic if you don't update your site. You probably already knew that...

[Asher]

Originally Posted by Ron Killian

The big reason search engines like blogs is because they update quite often. Of course the SE's will notice if you update, or don't, doesn't matter the date, they don't use it. So while you might hide it from the readers, the SE's will know the site is not being updated.

Don't expect search engine traffic if you don't update your site. You probably already knew that...

I'm mainly using Article Marketing for traffic - if there's Search
Engine rankings, it's a bonus. But I'm not banking on it because
there are so many people gunning for it already - either using
SEO or PPC.

If I have timeless info like "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill,
then if I leave out the date - it'll still benefit the reader as well
as give them the impression that it's updated.

Of course, I'm not comparing myself to Napolean Hill, I'm just
quoting an example off the top of my head.

Asher

[Vince Runza Online]

Okay, if you're using Wordpress, why not just set up a STATIC page? If you go to your control panel, you'll see that you can make a post or a page. Make the static content appear on a static page. No dates, just content!

[Diana Lane]

I'm very fond of the Mandigo theme, particularly for creating sites for people who might know a lot less about the whole site-editing thing than I do. There are a zillion options that the user can manage from tickboxes etc via the admin panel, 'Show posts without dates' being just one of them. It's not a theme that's going to be suitable for absolutely everything (what is?), but it is free and has so many options about it that it might be worth considering by anyone looking for a dateless theme.

Otherwise, Jason's method is what I'd use. You're likely to find that line in archive.php and search.php too

[Ron Killian]

Originally Posted by Asher

If I have timeless info like "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill,
then if I leave out the date - it'll still benefit the reader as well
as give them the impression that it's updated.

Asher

You picked a great example of timeless info..