diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Methods added to this helper will be available to all templates in the application.
 module ApplicationHelper
 
+  #new bootstrap header
   def navbar_user_header
     left_menu = ''
     right_menu = ''
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@
     result = content_tag(:ul,left_menu.html_safe,class: 'nav navbar-nav') + content_tag(:ul,right_menu.html_safe,class: 'nav navbar-nav navbar-right')
   end
 
-  def add_menu(title, controller, action,html_option = {})
+  def add_menu(title, controller, action, html_option = {})
     link_option = {controller: controller, action: action}
     html_option[:class] = (html_option[:class] || '') + " active" if current_page?(link_option)
     content_tag(:li, link_to(title,link_option),html_option)
@@ -84,11 +85,10 @@
   end
 
   def format_short_time(time)
-    now = Time.now.gmtime
+    now = Time.zone.now
     st = ''
-    if (time.yday != now.yday) or
-	(time.year != now.year)
-      st = time.strftime("%x ")
+    if (time.yday != now.yday) or (time.year != now.year)
+      st = time.strftime("%d/%m/%y ")
     end
     st + time.strftime("%X")
   end
@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@
     return Time.at(d).gmtime.strftime("%X")
   end
 
+  def format_full_time_ago(time)
+    st = time_ago_in_words(time) + ' ago (' + format_short_time(time) + ')'
+  end
+
   def read_textfile(fname,max_size=2048)
     begin
       File.open(fname).read(max_size)
@@ -195,4 +199,26 @@
     markdown.to_html.html_safe
   end
 
+
+  BOOTSTRAP_FLASH_MSG = {
+    success: 'alert-success',
+    error: 'alert-danger',
+    alert: 'alert-danger',
+    notice: 'alert-info'
+  }
+
+  def bootstrap_class_for(flash_type)
+    BOOTSTRAP_FLASH_MSG.fetch(flash_type.to_sym, flash_type.to_s)
+  end
+
+  def flash_messages
+    flash.each do |msg_type, message|
+      concat(content_tag(:div, message, class: "alert #{bootstrap_class_for(msg_type)} fade in") do 
+              concat content_tag(:button, 'x', class: "close", data: { dismiss: 'alert' })
+              concat message 
+            end)
+    end
+    nil
+  end
+
 end