Desktop Date Display

Despite being an experienced programmer who usually delegates menial, repetitive, and accuracy-requiring tasks to the computer, I find myself manually typing out the date numerous times each day. I used to type out the current date from memory and did so fairly well, but knew that mindless copying from a date display would be less error-prone. The main problem is that the date display has to be easily readable. One way to get the date is to hover the cursor over the Windows taskbar clock – not convenient. Another way is to read from desktop clocks, like the silver clock pictured below – but the text on the LCD is small and has low contrast. As far as date clocks go, I have not yet seen one that displays the date in YYYY-MM-DD format; just ones in M/D, D-M-YYYY, etc.

So a custom solution would be best if it was possible – and it was. I happened to have a Scrabble set bought many years ago that I haven’t touched for years, and realized it could be made into a practical desktop date display. The procedure to make this is so simple that figuring it out shall be left as an exercise to the reader.

Note: My date format, as shown in the photo, is a slight modification of ISO 8601.

Features

• Easy and inexpensive to make (Scrabble set, marker, tape/glue, 1 hour)
• Large text size, high contrast
• Non-electronic, but is changed manually
• Allows any date format
• Not professional-looking, but not too cheap-looking either

Clocks

And of course, my desktop wouldn’t be complete without clocks: an analog clock, and a digital clock that displays the seconds.

Note: I chose this digital clock because it has a large number display. It is a VWR 4-channel alarm/timer, a piece of equipment marketed towards laboratories (rather than the general public).

Links

• Wikipedia: ISO 8601
• Wikipedia: 24-hour clock

Last modified: 2007-10-16-Tue
Created: 2007-04-20-Fri