Auto Update Copyright Year in a Website Dynamically (2024)

Are you still manually updating the copyright year of your website footer every year? Well, changing the copyright year can be a tiresome and tedious task. Feel like updating of copyright year is a monotonous and tedious task? So, here I’m going to show you some of the approaches for updating the copyright year automatically without hassle!

Copyright obtains ownership of the website content. Besides, many visitors may not even trust a website whose copyright year is outdated. So that is why it is important to keep the copyright year at the footer of the website updated or recent. An up-to-date copyright year not only is a signal that the website is well-maintained but also sends a strong SEO signal to the search engines. An annual task for all website owners is to update the copyright year across websites.

Although you can create an annual schedule and update the date manually. As a webmaster, you may find it a frustrating task to do it on time year after year. And that is why it is simply easier and more convenient to do it automatically.  Here let us explore some of the ways to auto-update the copyright year on a website.

Website Copyright

The Copyright information on a website provides useful information about copyright ownership on the website content. And the Website copyright protects the owner‘s rights to the content, logos, images on the website.

The Copyright can be a single year which is the year the site was created. And a range of years specifies the year of publishing through the year the content was last revised. So if your website has been up for more than a year then it is advisable to show the date range instead of the current year.

Why Should You Update the Copyright Year?

When you Create a WordPress Website, the copyright information taht you put on your website establishes your right over the content on your website. Also it is important legally if you face the issue of content stolen from the website. And an outdated copyright will no longer uphold your ownership of the site content making it vulnerable to thefts.

Displaying the correct range on the website copyright year gives an idea of the time period the business has been running. And an outdated copyright year would give a perception that the site is not maintained and information might not be accurate. So updated copyright year helps establish visitor trust and strengthen the image of the site.

Format of Website Copyright Year

The Copyright information for a website is generally embedded in its footer. The information usually consists of three elements:

• The symbol ©, the word “Copyright,” or the abbreviation “Copr.”;
• The year of launch or range since launch year of the website
• The name, abbreviation, designation of the copyright owner.

How to Update Copyright Year?

The website footer element contains the current year or range of years for which the website’s copyright is valid. Also you should auto-update copyright year annually either manually or dynamically using a script or CMS.

• Static Date Rewriting: You can manually update the copyright year on multiple web pages using a web authoring tool like Notepad++. While the tool enables you to search and replace the old year with the current year.
• Server-Side Scripting: You can add a PHP, JavaScript, ASP or Perl script to the server hosting the website. And the scripts auto update the copyright date before loading the page.
• Client Side Scripting: Scripts can be set up to run on the client machine using methods like JavaScript and Flash. Again, this query the client machine for the current year. Also this helps to update copyright year while the website loads.

How to Create a Dynamic Footer Date?

The primary requirement to generate the footer date dynamically is to be able to get the current year correctly. So, following are some examples of code to retrieve the current year:

• Get Current Year in PHP

php echo date(Y);?>

or

&copy;<? echo date(Y);?>

• Get Current Year in JavaScript

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

Here are some more alternate time-stamp display formats for both PHP and JavaScript. You can choose what fits better with your design.

• F j, Y g:i a – February 08, 2024 12:50 pm
• F j, Y –February 08, 2024
• F, Y –February, 2024
• g:i a – 12:50 pm
• g:i:s a – 12:50:48 pm
• l, F jS, Y – Wednesday, February 08, 2024
• M j, Y @ G:i – Feb 08, 2024 @ 12:50
• Y/m/d \a\t g:i A – 2024/02/08 at 12:50 PM
• Y/m/d \a\t g:ia – 2024/02/08 at 12:50pm
• Y/m/d g:i:s A – 2024/02/08 12:50:48 PM

Methods to Auto Update Copyright Year in website

Most of the websites these days are built on WordPress or some other Content Management System. Earlier systems, however, continue to be on HTML websites. As such we take a look at the options available for the auto update of copyright year for both HTML and WordPress websites.

Auto Update Copyright Year in HTML

HTML websites need either a server-side or a client-side script to be able to display customised footer with the current date. Listed below are some pieces of code that you can add to your website’s HTML code to auto update copyright year.

Follow these steps to auto update copyright year in HTML

PHP

Edit the HTML for the website to add PHP code that displays the current date in the copyright.

To add Simple date:

<?php echo date("Y"); ?>

To add Range of years:

<?php$fromYear = 2024;

$fromYear = 2024;

$thisYear = (int)date('Y');

echo $fromYear . (($fromYear != $thisYear) ? '-' . $thisYear : '');?>

JavaScript

Edit the HTML for the website to add JavaScript code that displays the current date in the copyright.

To add Simple date

<script type="text/JavaScript">

document.write(new Date().getFullYear());

</script>

To add Range of years

2024<script>new Date().getFullYear()>2024&&document.write("-"+new

ate().getFullYear());</script>

Django

Replace the Year in the footer files with the following:

{%now "Y"%}

node.js

Change the footer date year in your Node.js by using the following code:

new Date().toISOString().substr(0,4)

ASP.NET (dot Net)

For Classic ASP or the ASP.NET websites replace the year in all the files or the common footer file with the below code:

Copyright @@ @DateTime.Now.Year

Auto Update Copyright Year with TemplateToaster

TemplateToaster is a powerful WordPress Website Builder that also allows you to automatically update the copyright year in your WordPress website. TemplateToaster comes with several built-in features, which also allow you to auto-update the copyright year in a website dynamically. So when you use TemplateToaster generated theme to create a website, it will automatically update the copyright year.

Not to mention, this is the easiest method to update the copyright year.

Auto Update Copyright Year in WordPress

WordPress themes define the footer format that displays on the web page. The theme needs customization to edit the footer display option for copyright information. For client and server side scripting, the ‘footer.php’ file needs to be modified with the auto update copyright code. You are advised to take a backup of this file to handle errors that can stop the footer or website from loading correctly.

Listed below are steps to follow to update the copyright Year.

For PHP

The PHP script executes from the server-side. Note that this would lead to additional processing during the loading of your page.

1: Go to WordPress Dashboard.

2: Select Appearance > Editor Menu to edit the active theme.

3: On the right-side select “Theme Footer” to open the ‘footer.php’ file.

4: Add the PHP code to get the current date as shown in below.

5: Click Update File and reload page to view changes

For JavaScript

The JavaScript code is run on the client side after the page has loaded. To update the copyright year automatically add the below code to the WordPress theme footer.

1: Go to WordPress Dashboard.

2: Select Appearance > Editor Menu to edit the active theme.

3: On the right-side select “Theme Footer” to open the footer.php file.

4: Add the JavaScript code to get the current date as shown in Figure 3.

5: Click Update File and reload page to view changes.

Auto Update Copyright Year in a Website Using WordPress Plugins

For beginners or anyone who is not knowledgeable and has no skills in PHP programming using plugins can be a better option to update the copyright year. The scripting methods require manual addition of copyright update code to the ‘footer.php’ file. The WordPress plugins remove the need to do any manual effort. These provide a viable option to non-coders who want an easy to use the method to update copyright year for multiple websites. Here we look at two of the most useful WordPress plugins to auto update copyright year.

However, finding the right WordPress plugin to update the footer year can be the most difficult part of this method. So make sure to look for a plugin that best fits your needs.

Automatic Copyright Year Plugin

The Automatic Copyright Year plugin enables you to always have an up-to-date copyright for multiple websites. Follow the steps below to add dynamic copyright year to the web page.

1. Add a new Text widget to the web page.

2. As shown below, add the tag ‘<span>[wpsos_year]</span>’ to the widget. You may also optionally add it inside the footer element in the HTML file.

3. Reload the page and preview the copyright information.

The plugin searches the content of all the widgets and the HTML footer tag for the tag <span>[wpsos_year]</span>. It then replaces all the occurrences of the current year number.

Auto Update Copyright Year in a Website: Conclusion

As can be seen there are plenty of methods that can help you update the copyright year at the footer of your WordPress website. However, the easiest method is using the plugin. But then you have try and test the plugins to find the best one that fits your needs. Whatever method you choose to update the copyright year of your site, it will make your website look professional and well-maintained.

The copyright information is an important element of website design. As the website content updates, the copyright also needs to be updated with the current year information. However, it is a hassle to remember and update the complete list of websites that you need to maintain. For experienced designers, this mundane task can be fulfilled by adding PHP, JS or HTML code to the website. For the newbies, TemplateToaster, a web design software eases the work considerably. The tool is a comprehensive web design software that provides support for all WordPress plugins. As such it can be used for all the functionality that plugins provide to auto update copyright year information on a website.