title: Django: Use of DATE_FORMAT, DATETIME_FORMAT, TIME_FORMAT in settings.py?
body: <p>I would like to globally (through my entire site, admin and front-end) adjust the way dates and time are displayed to my likings, but I cannot figure out what is going on with the DATE_FORMAT, DATETIME_FORMAT and TIME_FORMAT variables in settings.py.</p>
  
  <p>In <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1004109/django-how-to-make-datetime-format-active">this question</a> it says that the settings are ignored. The question is over a year old though. In the Django documentation it says they can be used when you have <code>USE_L10N = True</code> and apparently <a href="http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/releases/1.2/#date-format-helper-functions" rel="noreferrer">something changed</a> in Django 1.2. According to <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/a957f19d608bf868/26d504de45f8aa39?lnk=gst&amp;q=DATE_FORMAT+settings#26d504de45f8aa39" rel="noreferrer">this</a> however there might be a bug.</p>
  
  <p>I am currently using Django 1.2 and when I have <code>USE_L10N = True</code> it just ignores the date(time) format in settings.py. When I have <code>USE_L10N = False</code> it also seems to ignore them.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a way to globally customize the date and time display? Or should I create my own custom formats file as Karen suggests in the Django Users Google Group post?</p>