date - Javascript countdown using absolute timezone?

Question

I have a javascript countdown timer that works by taking a specified date and time, and comparing it to the current date and time. The issue is, the current time is relative to the users timezone, so the time remaining is different between users.

How can I have the timer countdown till a time in a specific timezone, in my case GMT -5 hours?

I understand i can use the below code to get the users timezone, but I am lost as how to use this.

myDateObj.getTimezoneOffset( ) / 60

Answer 1

A quick search reveals: convert-the-local-time-to-another-time-zone-with-this-javascript

Following the article verbatim gets you this example:

var d = new Date();

var localTime = d.getTime();

var localOffset = d.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000;

var utc = localTime + localOffset;

// obtain and add destination's UTC time offset
// for example, Bombay 
// which is UTC + 5.5 hours
var offset = 5.5;   
var bombay = utc + (3600000*offset);

var nd = new Date(bombay); 
alert("Bombay time is " + nd.toLocaleString() + "<br>");

jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/GEpaH/

Just update with your desired offset and you should be all set.