Feature Request: Optional "last updated" date in default theme

[frankdugan3]

It may be useful to have an optional "last updated" timestamp displayed on a page, especially for docs that may not be tied to specific release versions.

I was thinking this could be automated nicely with git during build on a page-by-page basis with something like:

git log -1 --format="%ct" [file]
# returns timestamp in seconds of last commit of file
# easily used to create JS Date

Could also do the whole docs directory in one batch with something like:

git ls-tree -r --name-only HEAD docs | while read filename; do echo "$(git log -1 --format="%ct" -- $filename) $filename"; done
# returns lines of "timestamp filepath"
# could be modified to return a JSON array

If anyone likes this idea, do you have preferences on where the timestamp would be displayed? Next to the edit link or under page header?

I would be happy to attempt an implementation if this is of interest.

[meteorlxy]

I was also thinking about this idea yesterday.

That would be useful when using vuepress to write blog, too.

[ulivz]

The default theme is going to be focused on documentation sites, this feature should be done at the separate blog theme, let's move to Blog Support roadmap to continue discussion.

[meteorlxy]

@ulivz

His idea is:

especially for docs that may not be tied to specific release versions.

which is not specific for blog.

[meteorlxy]

@yyx990803

Hi Evan. Will this feature be useful for documentation sites?

[frankdugan3]

To clarify, I'm thinking of specific cases like examples, tutorials, style guides, etc. Things that might cover multiple versions of a library/software etc.

[yyx990803]

This probably doesn't have to be in the default theme but something in core to add a last updated field on page objects could be useful.

[eyleron]

FWIW, I see Google Maps, for instance, uses a Last Updated in their documentation.

[andyczerwonka]

I think it’s very useful in the default theme. Optional of course.