Ago.js

Ago.js converts timestamps to human-readable time without relying on bloated libraries.
Examples: 1 minute ago, 3 days ahead, 3 weeks ago, 5 months ahead, just now

CDN

You can use the awesome jsDelivr CDN:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/jomo/[email protected]/ago.min.js" integrity="sha256-xw0JUUdbuZQCVO+QScoxrlEsD4nZGCjMRh9PP8GLhcY=" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

Usage

If you use HTML <time> tags, all you need is

<time datetime="2014-09-10T18:34:13+00:00">2014-09-10T18:34:13+00:00</time>

Ago();

Results look like this:

<time datetime="2014-09-10T18:34:13+00:00">2 months ago</time>

Ago() takes two optional arguments:

• nodes, an array of HTML nodes you want to use.
  The default is document.querySelectorAll("time")
• options, see below

Options

You can customize Ago.js by overriding the default options.

• interval: milliseconds-interval in which nodes should be updates
• units: Array of arrays with ["unit name", seconds]
• date: function(node) that returns a Date for the given node
• format: function(time, unit) that returns a string which will be used for a node's text
• plural: Object that contains all units with their plural as value

Default options

{
  interval: 10000, // 10 secs
  units: [
    ["minute",     60],
    ["hour",     3600],
    ["day",     86400],
    ["week",   604800],
    ["month", 2592000],
    ["year", 31536000]
  ],
  date: function(node) {
    // works on  HTML <time> nodes
    return new Date(node.getAttribute("datetime"));
  },
  format: function(time, unit) {
    if (!unit) return "just now";
    var tail = time < 0 ? " ahead" : " ago";
    return Math.abs(time) + " " + unit + tail;
  },
  plural: {
    minute: "minutes",
    hour: "hours",
    day: "days",
    week: "weeks",
    month: "months",
    year: "years"
  }
}

Examples

Using your own classes

<div>
  Last updated
  <span class="ago", data-time="2014-11-16T21:08:39+00:00">
    2014-11-16T21:08:39+00:00
  </span>
</div>

Ago(document.querySelectorAll(".ago"), {
  date: function(node) {
    return new Date(node.getAttribute("data-time"));
  }
});

"a minute ago" instead of "1 minute ago"

Ago({
  format: function(time, unit) {
    time = Math.abs(time);
    if (!unit) return "just now";
    if (time === 1) time = (unit[0] == "h") ? "an" : "a";
    var tail = time < 0 ? " ahead" : " ago";
    return time + " " + unit + tail;
  }
});

Translating into other languages

// German
Ago({
  units: [
    ["Minute",     60],
    ["Stunde",   3600],
    ["Tag",     86400],
    ["Woche",  604800],
    ["Monat", 2592000],
    ["Jahr", 31536000]
  ],
  plural: {
    Minute: "Minuten",
    Stunde: "Stunden",
    Tag: "Tagen",
    Woche: "Wochen",
    Monat: "Monaten",
    Jahr: "Jahren"
  },
  format: function(time, unit) {
    if (!unit) {
      return "jetzt";
    }
    if (time < 0) {
      var lead = "in ";
    } else {
      var lead = "vor ";
    }
    return lead + Math.abs(time) + " " + unit;
  }
});

Example: in 22 Stunden

Donations

If you like this, you can buy me a beer at 1jomojdTww1vnNwvseLrKgTENZoojQ3Um