How Should I Handle Time Zone Abbreviations and Selection for My Application?

"Standard" Time Zone Abbreviations

The concept of "standard" time zone abbreviations is subjective and not officially standardized. Different sources may provide varying lists.

Offset-Based Time Zone Storage

It's not recommended to store time zones solely by offsets due to potential errors and the complexity of time zone rules.

Popular Abbreviation Lists

• IANA TZDB: Provides a comprehensive list of time zones and their abbreviations, but may include ambiguous or irrelevant ones.
• ActiveSupport::TimeZone: Offers a limited subset of abbreviations with a focus on relevance.
• Other Resources: Various websites and forums may provide lists based on specific criteria, but their credibility should be assessed.

Alternative Approaches to Time Zone Selection

• Nested Dropdowns: Create a two-layer selection where users first choose a country and then a time zone within that country.
• Map-Based Control: Allow users to select time zones based on their location on a map.

For Event Time Zone Selection

• Offset-Based: Use a dropdown list of offsets from UTC, omitting time zone names to avoid confusion.
• IANA Time Zone Selection: Allow users to select specific time zones and handle potential ambiguities and invalid times appropriately.

Remember, it's crucial to store event dates and times using either a date-time-offset combination or UTC-based timestamps to avoid ambiguity.

The above is the detailed content of How Should I Handle Time Zone Abbreviations and Selection for My Application?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!