New Year's Eve for Webmasters

posted by jangro on (4 years, 1 month ago)

It's New Year's Eve. Have you thought about what your website is going to look like tomorrow?

The most common new year gaffe appears in the footer of thousands and thousands of websites, an outdated copyright notice.

Webmasters dutifully put the copyright message in the footer of their website template, but most hard-code the text, so that with the new year it must be updated.

THIS year when you update it, solve the problem permanently. Put some code in to automatically put the current year in the footer.

Using PHP, it's as simple as this:

&copy; 2001-<?php echo date("Y") ?> Company Name

I don't know if there is an official format for that Copyright text, or if it is even required at all. I usually just go look at the website of a company that I how has LOTS of lawyers and use their format.

I'm also taking this opportunity to get Google Analytics set up on many of my domains to start off with a full year of data.

What other new year rituals do you webmasters have that I should be thinking about?

Happy New Year!


Comments & Reactions

  • jangro saved this to Web Development 4 years, 1 month ago

  • Posted by Stevie the K 4 years, 1 month ago

    Maybe I'm old fashioned, but perhaps some "webmasters" settle in for a nice evening with their loved ones... a little champagne...etc.

    Just sayin'.

    reply

  • Posted by Malina Sky 4 years, 1 month ago

    It’s New Year ! It’s time to make new beginnings and seek new blessings for happiness, peace and prosperity.

    Happy New Year! 2008 Is Here & It Sure Is Going To Fly By Quick :)

    Malina Sky,
    Your Frequent Reader

    reply
  • scott

    Posted by Scott 4 years, 1 month ago

    Stevie the K, I certainly wasn't suggesting that "webmasters" forgo their first night activities to do this work.

    There was plenty of time during the day for this!

    reply
  • scott

    Posted by Scott 4 years, 1 month ago

    Happy New Year Malina!

    reply

  • Posted by Cheap Web Hosting Phil 4 years, 1 month ago

    Happy new year to everyone!

    Nice little php date tip to keep the copyright up to date. I also "benchmark" against the companies that pay millions for lawyers.

    reply

  • Posted by Shawn 4 years, 1 month ago

    Great idea. I copies the code, only to find out something like it was already in my blog's footer.

    Thanks anyway.

    reply

  • Posted by Shane 4 years, 1 month ago

    Oh, man. Thanks for the reminder!

    reply

  • Posted by One Thing I Always Forget » Ask Shane.org 4 years, 1 month ago

    [...] Thing I Always Forget January 2nd, 2008   |   Briefly Jangro reminds us: it’s time to update your copyright [...]

    reply

  • Posted by marijuana 4 years, 1 month ago

    Is it really necessary to have the copyright at all? By not having it are you in effect telling people it is OK to copy your material?

    reply

  • Posted by Mapquest 4 years, 1 month ago

    LOL, thanks for the reminder. Yes, I'm one of those webmasters who hardcoded the copyright notice in the footer. Funny thing, I have it computed in meta tags :D

    reply

  • Posted by Aaron 4 years, 1 month ago

    hey i did compute it in the meta tags as well .. never had this problem arising before

    reply

  • Posted by Daniel Skinner 4 years, 1 month ago

    Thanks for the reminder, I totally forgot!

    This is the last year I will be doing it since it's no longer hard-coded.

    reply

  • Posted by CBR 4 years ago

    yeah two weeks in and I think I better get to work on my sites. Thanks for the heads up :)

    reply

  • Posted by Stevie the K 2 years, 2 months ago

    Maybe I'm old fashioned, but perhaps some "webmasters" settle in for a nice evening with their loved ones... a little champagne...etc.

    Just sayin'.

    reply

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