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Is It Possible To Have Blog Posts Without Dates?

by Asher
18 replies
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
#blog #dates #posts
  • Profile picture of the author 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
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    • Profile picture of the author Asher
      Originally Posted by Sami View Post

      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!
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      Asher Aw
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  • Profile picture of the author Jim Burney
    Asher

    Why do you not want the dates showing?

    Jim
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    • Profile picture of the author 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
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      • Profile picture of the author Asher
        Originally Posted by Jason K. Thomas View Post

        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
        Signature
        Asher Aw
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        • Profile picture of the author 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.
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    • Profile picture of the author Asher
      Originally Posted by Jim Burney View Post

      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
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      Asher Aw
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      • Profile picture of the author zeurois
        Originally Posted by Asher View Post

        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.
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        • Profile picture of the author 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.
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        • Profile picture of the author 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
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  • Profile picture of the author 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.
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  • Profile picture of the author 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.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sami
      Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood View Post

      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
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  • Profile picture of the author 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...
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    • Profile picture of the author Asher
      Originally Posted by Ron Killian View Post

      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
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      Asher Aw
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      • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
        Originally Posted by Asher View Post


        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..
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  • Profile picture of the author 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!
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  • Profile picture of the author 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
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