I agree that if numerical, dates formatted as year-month-day are best. I use it myself, as six digits, for file naming, so that things will sort in year/month/day order! i.e. 120703, today, will sort correctly with 120307 (7th March this year) and 110705 (5th July 2011) and 030712 (12th July 2003) and so on!

I've got a different style on my journal, so have selected to have dates appear as (e.g.) Jul. 3rd, 2012. Which is nice and clear. But the option should be there for *anyone* who'd like more clarity.