Make comment post time display more user-friendly by displaying 'today', 'yesterday', 'x days ago' etc.

2 files changed, 48 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/modules/comment/helpers/comment.php b/modules/comment/helpers/comment.php
index 1c454952..232f2584 100644
--- a/modules/comment/helpers/comment.php
+++ b/modules/comment/helpers/comment.php
@@ -69,5 +69,52 @@ class Comment_Core {
     $v->item_id = $item_id;
     return $v;
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Format a human-friendly message showing the amount of time elapsed since the specified
+   * timestamp (e.g. 'said today', 'said yesterday', 'said 13 days ago', 'said 5 months ago').
+   *
+   * @todo Take into account the viewer's time zone.
+   * @todo Properly pluralize strings.
+   * @todo Write test once we settle on the final forms of the messages.
+   *
+   * @param integer $timestamp Unix format timestamp to compare with
+   * @return string user-friendly string containing the amount of time passed
+   */
+  static function format_elapsed_time($timestamp) {
+    $now = time();
+    $date_info_comment = getdate($timestamp);
+    $date_info_now = getdate($now);
+
+    /* Check if the comment was posted today or yesterday. */
+    if ($date_info_comment['year'] == $date_info_now['year']
+        && $date_info_comment['mon'] == $date_info_now['mon']) {
+      if ($date_info_comment['mday'] == $date_info_now['mday']) {
+        $message = _('said today');
+      } else if ($date_info_comment['mday'] == $date_info_now['mday'] - 1) {
+        $message = _('said yesterday');
+      }
+      return $message;
+    }
+
+    /* Calculate the number of days, months or years elapsed since the specified timestamp. */
+    $seconds_in_a_day = 86400;
+    $seconds_in_a_month = 2629744;
+    $seconds_in_a_year = 31556926;
+    $time_difference = $now - $timestamp;
+
+    $elapsed_days = round($time_difference / $seconds_in_a_day);
+    $elapsed_months = round($time_difference / $seconds_in_a_month);
+    $elapsed_years = round($time_difference / $seconds_in_a_year);
+
+    if ($elapsed_years > 0) {
+      $message = sprintf(_('said %d years ago'), $elapsed_years);
+    } else if ($elapsed_months > 0) {
+      $message = sprintf(_('said %d months ago'), $elapsed_months);
+    } else {
+      $message = sprintf(_('said %d days ago'), $elapsed_days);
+    }
+    return $message;
+  }
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/comment/views/comment_list.html.php b/modules/comment/views/comment_list.html.php
index ffd64c0c..1545a106 100644
--- a/modules/comment/views/comment_list.html.php
+++ b/modules/comment/views/comment_list.html.php
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <li id="gComment-<?= $index; ?>" class="gComment <?= $index % 2 ? 'odd' : 'even' ?>">
     <p>
       <a href="#" class="gAuthor"><?= $comment->author ?></a>
-      said <?= round((time() - $comment->datetime)/60) ?> minutes ago
+      <?= comment::format_elapsed_time($comment->datetime) ?>,
       <span class="understate"><?= strftime('%c', $comment->datetime) ?></span>
     </p>
     <div>