Dates and times
Dynatrace follows North American standards for writing dates and times in written communications. Use a 12-hour clock with "AM/PM" rather than a 24-hour clock. North American date standards list the month before the day (month day, year); don't list the day preceding the month (day month year).
Note that the Dynatrace web UI may use numerical dates and a 24-hour clock for timestamps and the timeframe selector.
Dates
For documentation, blog posts, and other content, use this universally recognized, unambiguous format for dates: month day, year. Spell out the name of the month and use the four-digit year.
✅ January 31, 2023
❌ 31 January 2023
❌ 1/31/23
❌ 31/1/2023
Only if you must use numerical dates in written content, use the format YYYY-MM-DD, which conforms to ISO standards.
✅ 2023-01-31
❌ 1-31-23
❌ 31-1-2023
When space is highly restricted, for example, in tables or in the Dynatrace web UI, it's okay to use abbreviations for days of the week and months of the year.
✅ Jan 31, 2023
✅ Sun, Jan 31, 2023
❌ 31 Jan 2023
Days of the week
Capitalize the first letter of each day of the week.
✅ Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
✅ Monday, September 18, 2023
Avoid abbreviations unless space is highly restricted, for example, in tables or in the Dynatrace a web UI. If you need to, use three-letter abbreviations. Use sentence-case capitalization ("Tue"), not uppercase capitalization ("TUE"). Do not add closing periods.
✅ Sun, Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri, Sat
Months
Capitalize the first letter of each month.
✅ January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Avoid abbreviations unless space is highly restricted, for example, in tables or in the Dynatrace web UI. If you need to, use three-letter abbreviations. Use sentence-case capitalization ("Oct"), not uppercase capitalization ("OCT"). Do not add closing periods.
✅ Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
Ordinal numbers
Do not use ordinal numbers for dates.
✅ February 21, 2022
✅ Feb 21, 2022 (abbreviated for restricted space)
❌ Feb 21st
❌ 21st of February 2022
❌ February 21st, 2022
❌ 1st, 2nd, 27th
Seasons
Avoid referring to seasons wherever possible ("winter," "spring," "summer," and "fall/autumn") because seasons vary depending on the hemisphere that a person lives in. Instead, refer to months or calendar quarters.
✅ The new capabilities will be released in Q1 2024.
✅ Support for the feature ends on June 1, 2024.
✅ Support for the feature runs through May 2024.
❌ The new capabilities will be released this winter.
❌ Support for the feature ends this summer.
Time
For documentation, blog posts, and other written content, Dynatrace guidelines for time follow North American standards, which use AM/PM and a 12-hour clock rather than a 24-hour clock.
✅ 10:45 AM
✅ 2:30 PM
❌ 10:45
❌ 14:30
Note that timestamps and the timeframe selector in the Dynatrace web UI may use numerical dates and a 24-hour clock. For examples, refer to timeframe selector documentation and DQL time functions documentation. Also check the DatePicker and DateTimePicker components in the Dynatrace Strato design system.
AM, PM
In written content, use "AM" and "PM" with a 12-hour clock rather than a 24-hour clock; include the time zone when necessary.
✅ The meeting starts at 10:45 AM Pacific Time.
✅ The meeting starts at 2:30 PM Central European Time.
❌ The meeting starts at 10:45.
❌ The meeting starts at 18:30.
When space is limited, use time zone abbreviations.
✅ 10:45 AM PT
✅ 2:30 PM CET
If you need to indicate that a time is local
✅ 9:00 AM your local time
Time zones
The Dynatrace web UI displays date and time data based on the logged-in user's time zone. (The technical variables related to date and time inputs and display in the Dynatrace web UI are beyond the scope of this guide.)
Because our written communications are published and viewed around the globe, you might need to include the time zone, for example, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC +0), Pacific Time (PT), or Central European Time (CET). See the complete list of world time zones and abbreviations. Write out time zones in full unless space is limited, in which case you can use an abbreviation.
Only differentiate between standard and daylight saving time if this information is relevant to your message. This means that in nearly all cases, you should use "ET" in place of "EST" and "CET" in place of "CEST."
If it's unclear what time zone you're referring to, clarify your message by including the country name or a reference to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) offset.
✅ Eastern Time (Australia)
✅ Pacific Time (UTC -8)
✅ Central European Time (UTC +1)
✅ Greenwich Mean Time (UTC +0)
✅ UTC +0
❌ Zulu time
❌ z-time
❌ 2100Z
Say "UTC +/-(number of hours)" in place of "zulu time," "Greenwich Mean Time (GTM)," "Coordinated Universal Time," and "Z Time." These are alternative means of establishing a geographically fixed time across all time zones. (The word "zulu" represents the letter "Z" in the NATO phonetic alphabet, which is used for military radio communications.)
noon, midnight
Midnight is the beginning of the new day. Noon is when the sun is at its highest point in the day. As these terms are slightly ambiguous, use them only when the meaning is clear.
✅ 12:00 PM (otherwise known as noon, or 12:00:00 in 24-hour notation)
✅ 12:00 AM (otherwise known as midnight, or 00:00:00 in 24-hour notation)
✅ The office closes for lunch each day at 12:00 PM.
✅ The office closes for lunch each day at noon.
✅ The sale ends tonight at midnight.
❌ 12 noon
❌ 12 midnight
❌ 12:00 noon
❌ 12:00 midnight
❌ twelve o'clock at night
❌ twelve o'clock at midday
❌ twelve midnight
❌ twelve noon
24/7, 24x7
Avoid "24/7" where possible. Don't use "24x7." We recommend the following alternatives.
✅ always
✅ every day
✅ all day
✅ seven days a week
✅ every day of the year
✅ around the clock
❌ 24x7
❌ 24/7/365
Date and time combined
To write a specific date and time, combine the guidelines for writing dates and times. Mention the date first followed by the time.
✅ January 1, 2023 4:00 PM
✅ January 1, 2023 at 4:00 PM
❌ Jan 1st, 2023 4:00
❌ 1/1/23 4:00 PM
Note that combined dates and times in the Dynatrace web UI may use numerical dates and a 24-hour clock.
Time and date ranges
When writing a time range in text, use the word "to" to indicate a range and write out the time zone if necessary.
✅ 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM Central European Time
❌ eleven to four
❌ eleven o'clock to four o'clock
❌ eleven AM to four PM
When writing for limited space, for example, in a listing or schedule, use an en dash with no spaces around it to indicate a range. To write an en dash, use Microsoft Word or the HTML tag –. To write an en dash in Markdown, use --.
✅ 11:00 AM–4:00 PM
❌ eleven–four CET
❌ eleven o'clock–four o'clock Pacific Time
❌ eleven AM–four PM PT
When writing a date range that includes two dates or times, include spaces around the en dash.
✅ 2:15 AM–4:45 PM April 1, 2022 (time range on a single day)
✅ January 1, 2024 12:00 AM – December 31, 2024 11:59 PM (time range across multiple days)