Smart People thinking about Timelines
If you’re poking around online right now, and happen to be thinking about timelines, you can’t get too far without coming across the MIT Simile: Timeline. It’s a VERY cool step in the right direction for those concerned with timelines and how they can be brought to the public. They’re happily sharing their code, too. Definitely check it out.
Initially… as with most new tools, I fumbled around with how to use it, and just exactly what I was looking at. After a few minutes of playing around with the UI, however … I became more accustomed to their scrolly navigation. It seems to work well.. and is good at showing you more information in a small-ish space, which is a big concern.
Their ’stock’ timeline example shows off not only events along the timeline, and some ajaxy interactivity, but start/finish information. On the religion example, they’ve attempted to highlight various words that user defines as a way to help with scanning and clarity. I like the idea there, but find it a bit cumbersome, at least from the beginning. Perhaps there’s a better way to do this. (There is!)
All-in-all, Simile: Timeline is a large step forward in timeline evolution, and is truly inspiring. I could only hope that we might collaborate in the near future.
