This is a sample timeline presentation using some historic project data from Carolina Digital Humanities and the Digital Innovation Lab at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Timeline JS allows users to create dynamic timelines to visualize chronological narratives. Using a set of images and temporal data, it is easy to build a stunning display fairly quickly.
If you can populate a spreadsheet, you can build a presentation using Timeline. If you already have data in a spreadsheet, you are halfway there.
KnightLab provides a Google Sheets template where users can enter or paste the data into the appropriate fields.
A simple guide to creating the spreadsheet and publishing your finished timeline to the web (including embedding in your website) is found here:
TimelineJS guide (pdf – click to view or print)
An ideal timeline will contain around twenty entries. The sample shown above – a full-size version is linked here – contains quite a few more. It demonstrates the capacity of the tool, but your audience may find it a bit difficult to navigate due to the density of markers.
Questions? Email us.
