Last Updated Timestamp component - Concordia University

Uses

A timestamp is helpful in any situation where the timeliness of the information is important.

For example, the Last Updated Timestamp was useful on pages with guidelines about COVID-19, as the information changed frequently during the course of the pandemic and sometimes even during the course of a day. The Last Updated Timestamp showed people when the page had last been activated.

Best practices

Placement

Place the Last Updated Timestamp component near the top of the page, so it's easily visible:

Just below the Introduction component
Or just above the first WYSIWYG

French

When you add a Last Updated Timestamp component to a page in the French tree of AEM, the text for the timestamp will be automatically be generated in French, e.g. Dernière mise à jour: 6 septembre 2024, 13h26

Activating a page

Although the timestamp is labelled “Last Updated,” it reflects when the page was last activated, regardless of whether an actual change was made or not.
When you make any change to a page in Edit mode – even refreshing it – the timestamp will update. However, the new date and time will not display on the live page until the page is activated, at which point it will reflect the time of activation.
Only activate a page when you've made actual changes. Otherwise, it could give the misleading impression that the information on the page has changed.

Design options

You can align the text to the left or the right.

Left alignment is usually preferable, because it fits the English and French reading direction of left to right.