Are there any best practices or recommended approaches for handling time zone differences between server time and user time in PHP applications?

When dealing with time zone differences between server time and user time in PHP applications, it is recommended to set the default time zone for the server and convert user input to the server time zone before processing it. This ensures consistency in time calculations and avoids confusion for users in different time zones.

// Set the default time zone for the server
date_default_timezone_set('UTC');

// Get user input time
$userTime = '2022-01-01 12:00:00';
$userTimeZone = 'America/New_York';

// Create DateTime object for user input time
$userDateTime = new DateTime($userTime, new DateTimeZone($userTimeZone));

// Convert user input time to server time zone
$userDateTime->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone(date_default_timezone_get()));

// Get the converted server time
$serverTime = $userDateTime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

echo "Server Time: " . $serverTime;