Include a date in the explanation when it changes what someone needs to understand or do. An opening date can determine whether someone can book. The publication date of an enduring design lesson may matter much less than the lesson itself.
Explain what time changes.
A product announcement and an enduring design principle age differently. Readers may need to know whether an announcement describes a current capability, while an older essay can remain useful with a clearly identified revision. One date cannot explain every kind of change. The illustration separates the day an announcement is published from the day booking opens. The publication date tells readers when the announcement was made, while the opening date tells them when they can book. Below it, an evergreen heading begins without a decorative date strip because the reader can understand the idea without first interpreting a timestamp.
Preserve the original publication record and identify substantial updates separately. Do not invent freshness by changing a date on every visit. Use dates to help readers understand when something happened, rather than to make every article appear new. A revised page can contain both historical events and current guidance. Explain the meaningful change instead of implying that everything on the page became new on its last edit. Keep the stored dates accurate and explain any dates readers need for a decision in the visible text.
Put it into practice.
Preserve the original publication date and record material revisions accurately. Put dates into the visible story where they explain availability, an event, or a changed assumption. Keep machine-readable dates consistent with that record; do not use routine date labels as a substitute for useful context.
What does someone need to know about when this was written?
