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Solved Forever - Footer Copyright Out of Date

January 17th, 2008

It is January, a time when you start to notice things like other people’s copyright dates in their footers (or elsewhere) on their website. Have you changed yours? If not this is a good reminder to do so, but I’ll show you something better.

This will be the last year  you’ll ever change the copyright dates on your website. This little code snippet will automatically update itself to the latest year every year, so your copyright date is always current.

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<script type="text/javascript">
var d = new Date()
document.write(d.getFullYear())
</script>

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22 Comments to “Solved Forever - Footer Copyright Out of Date”

  1. Arika Says:
    January 17th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    Cool Beans! Thanks Lynette!

  2. LaTara Ham-Ying Says:
    January 17th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Thanks Lynette!

  3. Carrie Lauth Says:
    January 17th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    What would we do without you Lynette?

  4. Lynette Says:
    January 17th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    Hope it helps ladies. One less thing for us to do.

    @Carrie - uhm… lost? LOL just kidding. You’ll get on just fine.

  5. Shannon Smith Says:
    January 17th, 2008 at 6:52 pm

    Great help! I have a question about copyrights on the web site. I’ve noticed that some people just have the current year, and some people have the starting year through the current year. So, instead of just Copyright 2008, it will say Copyright 2001-2008. Is there a reason or rule or just a preference as to which way to do it?

  6. Daniel Mcgonagle Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 5:41 am

    Thanks for the heads up! Really great post. :)

  7. Lynette Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

    Thanks Daniel

    Shannon - I don’t know for sure. I have heard that the date or year is usually the first year of publication but on a website, especially a blog that’s dynamic, publication could change every day. And so I put from the date my sites are launched to the current.

    Of course - that is just something I heard over the grapevine. I am definitely not a lawyer and this comment shall not be taken as legal advise.

  8. Emilie Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    Great tip!

  9. Anna Hodges Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Hi Lynette,

    You know, I don’t even have a copyright date on either of my sites. Where would I enter the code? At the bottom? Does it need to be on every page?

    Sorry, I feel really dumb about this. I built my sites myself, and am learning as I go.

    Thanks,
    Anna

  10. Martha Matthews Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 8:11 pm

    Sweet! Works beautifully. You’re the best, Lynette.

    M

  11. Regina Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    oooh-weeee! Loving it! Thanks so much Lynette!

  12. Thomas Mullooly Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    Lynette,

    You….ROCK, that is such a great tip.

  13. Doug Lietz Says:
    January 19th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    Thanks Lynette… handy script!

    However, I ran into a little issue when I tried to cut and paste the script from this page into my FrontPage html. For some reason it ‘converted’ into a bunch of gibberish code in FP that obviously did not work.

    The simple fix is to first cut and paste the script into a .txt file and then cut and past from the .txt into the FP html.

    Thought I’d share that in case any of your other readers ran into this same issue.

  14. Lynette Says:
    January 23rd, 2008 at 11:37 am

    You’re welcome everyone. I got tired of changing it out every year or finding out of date copyrights in July. Glad it is of help.

    Thanks for tip Doug!

    Anna - They usually go in the footer and yes I have mine on every single page. If you use included content in FrontPage, Dynamic Web Templates in Expression Web or WordPress, it is easy because you only change one file.

  15. Anna Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    Thanks Lynette,
    I really enjoy your emails with your very helpful knowledge:) I have learned much from you.

  16. Making Improvements | Tiffany Washko Says:
    February 1st, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    [...] perform very well last year, and generally just improving each page. Oh…and I added a nifty script to the footer that will keep my copyright date current. Thanks [...]

  17. Lynette Says:
    February 2nd, 2008 at 2:36 pm

    Hi Anna, you made my day. Thanks!

  18. Tash Says:
    February 7th, 2008 at 2:24 am

    I’m not a lawyer either, but copyright is from when it is created so you don’t really have to update your copyright on every page. In fact, in many places, you don’t even have to add ‘copyright’ at all to be protected - it is just a visual reminder.

    If someone was to fight over copyright with you and you have the date 2008 (despite writing it in 2003) and they claim they wrote it in 2005, it might take a bit more convincing to say you were first.

    However, if you wrote something in say 1998 and your page says ‘copyright 1998′ it makes your page look a little out of date.

    So add/update copyright as you see fit!

  19. John Black Says:
    March 7th, 2008 at 1:11 am

    Thanks for the script. This is actually something I had been looking for.

    I have a couple of Wordpress blogs that seem to keep track of this themselves, but I’ve got a couple of old static html sites that seem like they are never up to date.

  20. Lynette Says:
    March 7th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

    Hey John, those static pages can be a hassle.

  21. Designs 2 Print Says:
    April 20th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    Thank You Very Much!!

    i have been looking for that snippet everywhere!!
    thank You! :)

    Designs 2 Print

  22. Lynette Says:
    April 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pm

    @Designs 2 Print: Glad you found it here :)