Я бы порекомендовал вычислить это и на стороне клиента. Меньше работы для сервера.
Ниже приводится версия, которую я использую (от Зака Кожевника)
/*
* Javascript Humane Dates
* Copyright (c) 2008 Dean Landolt (deanlandolt.com)
* Re-write by Zach Leatherman (zachleat.com)
*
* Adopted from the John Resig's pretty.js
* at http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-pretty-date
* and henrah's proposed modification
* at http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-pretty-date/#comment-297458
*
* Licensed under the MIT license.
*/
function humane_date(date_str){
var time_formats = [
[60, 'just now'],
[90, '1 minute'], // 60*1.5
[3600, 'minutes', 60], // 60*60, 60
[5400, '1 hour'], // 60*60*1.5
[86400, 'hours', 3600], // 60*60*24, 60*60
[129600, '1 day'], // 60*60*24*1.5
[604800, 'days', 86400], // 60*60*24*7, 60*60*24
[907200, '1 week'], // 60*60*24*7*1.5
[2628000, 'weeks', 604800], // 60*60*24*(365/12), 60*60*24*7
[3942000, '1 month'], // 60*60*24*(365/12)*1.5
[31536000, 'months', 2628000], // 60*60*24*365, 60*60*24*(365/12)
[47304000, '1 year'], // 60*60*24*365*1.5
[3153600000, 'years', 31536000], // 60*60*24*365*100, 60*60*24*365
[4730400000, '1 century'] // 60*60*24*365*100*1.5
];
var time = ('' + date_str).replace(/-/g,"/").replace(/[TZ]/g," "),
dt = new Date,
seconds = ((dt - new Date(time) + (dt.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000)) / 1000),
token = ' ago',
i = 0,
format;
if (seconds < 0) {
seconds = Math.abs(seconds);
token = '';
}
while (format = time_formats[i++]) {
if (seconds < format[0]) {
if (format.length == 2) {
return format[1] + (i > 1 ? token : ''); // Conditional so we don't return Just Now Ago
} else {
return Math.round(seconds / format[2]) + ' ' + format[1] + (i > 1 ? token : '');
}
}
}
// overflow for centuries
if(seconds > 4730400000)
return Math.round(seconds / 4730400000) + ' centuries' + token;
return date_str;
};
if(typeof jQuery != 'undefined') {
jQuery.fn.humane_dates = function(){
return this.each(function(){
var date = humane_date(this.title);
if(date && jQuery(this).text() != date) // don't modify the dom if we don't have to
jQuery(this).text(date);
});
};
}