I just discovered something about the WordPress theme I’m currently using (Twenty Ten). Maybe I’m the last to know; wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.

Mouse over the date in the line at the top of the page (“Posted on Friday, May 21, 2010 by Pied Type”) and it will show you the time of publication.

I know, it’s a nit picky little detail, but you wouldn’t believe the time I’ve spent on different themes trying to find good ways to add a time stamp. Depending on the theme, there’s either no way, or only a workaround way, to add the time. (I don’t have the CSS upgrade.) You can play with the custom date and time settings on your dashboard under Settings > General Settings to see what’s possible with your theme. With some themes, adding a time stamp to the posts causes the time to appear twice on the comments, so watch for that. And remember, you can use a variety of abbreviations and formats to keep lines shorter.

Personally, I like to have that time in there whenever possible without causing design problems (e.g. weird line breaks, line too long). With some posts, the time of publication can be relevant. (Was this published early or late in the day, before or after a breaking news event, etc.) Some themes, including Twenty Ten, have times on comments; it seems only fair to give the posts a time stamp, too.

Also, depending on the theme and the space allowed for the dateline, I like to include the day of the week. That, too, can be done with the custom settings. I think having the day of the week in there makes it easier for a reader to comprehend when the post was published. Maybe it’s just me, but I can more readily recall what day of the week it is than what the exact date is.

Not that the Twenty Ten time feature helps much. How many of my readers, or yours, know about it?