How can I change the default Django date template format?

Within your template, you can use Django's date filter. E.g.:

<p>Birthday: {{ birthday|date:"M d, Y" }}</p>

Gives:

Birthday: Jan 29, 1983

More formatting examples in the date filter docs.

date template tag

settings.DATE_FORMAT

Set both DATE_FORMAT and USE_L10N

To make changes for the entire site in Django 1.4.1 add:

DATE_FORMAT = "Y-m-d"

to your settings.py file and edit:

USE_L10N = False

since l10n overrides DATE_FORMAT

This is documented at: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/settings/#date-format

Just use this:

{{you_date_field|date:'Y-m-d'}}

This will show something like 2016-10-16. You can use the format as you want.

You need a date template filter.

E.g:

<td>Joined {{user.date_created|date:"F Y" }}<td>

This returns Joined December 2018.