Blogger Fixed Length Date Format

If you choose your date to show in this format --> "Thursday, January 20, 2011", the length of this field will vary for different dates. For example, compare "Wednesday, September 14, 2011" and "Friday, May 6, 2011". In this tutorial, I'll show you how you can easily alter the date format to show in a fixed length size.


Why does it matter? It doesn't. I spent hours to come up with this solution, and self-taught some Java to myself along the process. Answers like these are too good not to be shared here. Well, that and you get a fixed size for your date field, something that might help you shape your template in your own way.

Step 1:

Make sure you're using the right Date format.

If you're using the old Blogger Interface: Go to Dashboard - Settings - Formatting - Date Header Format - Choose the fifth option from the drop down menu - Save Settings.

If you're using the old Blogger Interface: Go to Dashboard - Settings - Language and formatting - Date Header Format - Choose the fifth option from the drop down menu - Save Settings.


Step 2: 

If you're using the old Blogger interface: Go to Dashboard - Design - Edit HTML - Back Up (Download Full Template) - Check the box next to 'Expand Widget Templates' -
If you're using the new Blogger interface: Go to Dashboard - Template - Backup/Restore - Download Full Template - Close -  Edit HTML - Proceed - Check the box next to 'Expand Widget Templates' -

Find and delete the following tag:
<data:post.dateHeader/>
If you find the same tag twice in the same template, ignore the one that has the word 'mobile' anywhere around it.

The right tag to be deleted, in place (might be different in your template)


Step 3:

Paste the following lines in place of the deleted tag above:
<script type="text/javascript">var str='<data:post.dateHeader/>';var southerns=str.split(" ");var day=southerns[0].split("");var month=southerns[1].split("");document.write(day[0] + day[1] + day[2] +"," + " " + month[0] + month[1] + month[2] + " " + southerns[2] + " " + southerns[3]);</script>
The code in place:


That will be all folks. Cheers and God bless.