default user input handling for dates could be improved

this is what i'm currently doing to get the dates to save and display correctly without modifying generated scaffolding -

layout

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Posts: <%= controller.action_name %></title>
  <%= stylesheet_link_tag 'scaffold' %>
  <%= stylesheet_link_tag 'jquery/css/smoothness/jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.css' %>
  <%= javascript_include_tag :defaults %>
  <%= javascript_include_tag 'jquery/js/jquery-1.3.2.min.js', 'jquery/js/jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.min.js' %>
  <script>
    var $j = jQuery.noConflict();
    $j.datepicker.setDefaults({ dateFormat: 'yy-mm-dd', constrainInput: true, showOn: 'both', buttonImage: '<%= image_path('calendar.gif') %>', buttonImageOnly: true });
  </script>

  <%= csrf_meta_tag %>
</head>
<body>

<p class="notice"><%= notice %></p>

<%= yield %>

</body>
</html>

form

<% form_for(@post) do |f| %>
  <%= f.error_messages %>

  <script>
    // test for HTML5 input type="date" support
    var i = document.createElement("input");
    i.setAttribute("type", "date");
    if (i.type == "text") {
      // type="date" unsupported
      $j(function() {
        $j("#post_my_date").datepicker();
      });
    }
  </script>
  
  <div class="field">
    <%= f.label :my_date %><br />
    <%= f.text_field :my_date, :type => "date", :placeholder => "My Date", :value => (f.object.my_date.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") if f.object.my_date) %>
  </div>
  
  <div class="actions">
    <%= f.submit %>
  </div>
<% end %>