Copyright Date Credibility

With the end of the year approaching, I wanted to share what I thought was a tip that every web designer or programmer knew, until I see: © 2009. All Right Reserved. in the footer of many sites. That is almost three years old!

This is a personal pet peeve and it is a bright red flag for us to see on any potential partner or candidate web site.  There are a number of reasons this seemingly small issue is so fretting to me:

1. With a copyright date over a year old, you can be sure they have not done an audit or review of their website since that date.  In addition, no one in the organization noticed that their web site was past.  Not very detailed oriented...
2. It is so easy to prevent.  So, so easy.  Here are two quick code snibbets to solve your problem.
1. Javascript:
   &copy; <script type="text/javascript">
   var d = new Date();
   document.write(d.getFullYear());
   </script>
2. PHP:  <?php echo date('Y') ?>
3. Looks like this and stays updated:
1. ©
2. Visit on NYE and watch the year change...or don't.
4. Lots of other easy applications using this date functionality - all these values update automatically
1. "We've been working together for X years."
2. "I have X years experience updating web site copyright date content."
3. "For X years, we've been in business together."

Other programming languages and frameworks have simple date display functions.  Please add any to the comments that have been helpful.

Now, go update those date fields.  Look credible.  Maintain accuracy.  Sleep well on New Years Day.