Re: A small idea to simplify (further) time input in the date/time prompt

[Detlef Steuer <steuer@hsu-hh.de>]

Am Thu, 21 May 2020 11:52:17 -0400
schrieb Robert Horn <rjhorn@panix.com>:

> Eric S Fraga writes:
> 
> > On Thursday, 21 May 2020 at 09:29, Gustavo Barros wrote:  
> >> So I'd like to suggest a simplification there, which is: a string
> >> in the format "hour h minute" (that's small caps letter "H"), but
> >> in  
> >
> > I would be strongly in favour of having this option.  This is how I
> > write times in email messages, for instance, so would be more
> > consistent for me.  And especially when I communicate with my
> > European partners when referring to times after 12 noon.
> >  
> 
> I would be opposed.  There are already dozens of different formats
> used in different situations and locations for writing the time.
> This would be yet another different time format.  It is relatively
> unique in that there is no other place in the world that uses it.  I
> don't think that uniqueness is an argument in its favor.

I find it a natural format living in Europe/Germany.
And I would like the addition, too. It wouldn't take away anything, just
add. But low priority, current ways to specify time work well.

As I understand the propsal it is intended for entering times, not for
storing. Storing and working with times is a different scale of a
problem.

> 
> There some other formats that are actually in widespread use worldwide
> that I would prefer as available alternatives:
> 
> European dot notation.  Many people use the dot rather than the colon,
> so 13:05 is written as 13.05.

And that I`ve never seen (tm). The dots are for dates, colons for time.
May be there is a country with dot notation as a "standard", but definitely
it is not a "European" dot notation.

Regards
Detlef


> I think this is mostly a keyboard,
> pen, and pencil thing.  Colon is harder to write.  It's
> inconveniently located on many keyboards.  The problem with dot
> notation is potential confusion for more detailed time.
> "15:53:00.322348" is easy to guess and understand.  "15.53.00.322348"
> is more confusing.
> 
> Military time, which is used in most militaries, aviation, etc.
> 
>   hhmmZ - Time in UTC on a 24-hr clock, also called "Zulu time".  The
>   ISO 8601 time "11:21:00 -0400" would be 1521Z.  This is almost
>   mandatory when dealing with multi-location scheduling so that
> everyone uses the same time base.
>   
>   hhmmJ or hhmmh - Time in local zone on a 24-hr clock.  It's widely
>   used in military organizations for times that do not need
>   multi-location scheduling.  The time "1121J" or "1121h" is usually
>   spoken in English as "eleven twenty one hours".  These times are
> also lack the colon typing problem.  
> 
> I've not pushed for these mostly because convenience typing military
> time isn't worth figuring out all the changes that would be needed.
> 
> It's worth looking at all the issues discussed in ISO 8601 and
> understanding them before you leap into time formatting changes.  ISO
> 8601 is a compromise solution with lots of warts, but it is widely
> supported and understood.
>