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Due Date Highlighting and UTC

TurboWriter carries all Start Dates, Due Dates, and Completed Dates in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

UTC, a compromise abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time in English and Temps Universel Coordonné in French, is the time at the Zero Meridian, which passes thru Greenwich, England. UTC is also known as Zulu time, and is a successor to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). UTC became the official standard for world time on January 1, 1972.

In most cases, carrying TurboWriter dates in UTC rather than the server's or user's local time doesn't affect displays, but it can affect the highlighting of due dates if an incomplete assignment is due today.

The due date for a completed assignment is always highlighted in green. If an incomplete assignment is past due, it is highlighted in red. If an incomplete assignment is due today or in the future, it is normally highlighted in yellow.

However, if an incomplete assignment is due today and . . .

  • . . . it's after 7:00pm EST or 8:00pm EDT . . .
  • . . . it's after 6:00pm CST or 7:00pm CDT . . .
  • . . . it's after 5:00pm MST or 6:00pm MDT . . .
  • . . . it's after 4:00pm PST or 5:00pm PDT . . .
  • . . . it's after 3:00pm AKST or 4:00pm AKDT . . .
  • . . . it's after 2:00pm HAST or 3:00pm HADT . . .
. . . it is the next day in UTC so the due date is highlighted as past due.

This can also work in reverse, as it does for some locations outside the United States. For example, if it's before 1:00am CET or 2:00am CEST (MESZ), it's still the previous day in UTC. Similarly, if it's before 9:00am JST, it's still the previous day in UTC.

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