I need to create time lines...

What are some options?

[txbakers]

I need to be able to create database driven timelines for a client, and I haven't found any off the shelf software to do this.

I was thinking about Flash, but I'm not sure if Flash can interact with databases to the extent I need.

One option would be to use some type of server side scripting with images set to width depending on the database.

I'd love to get some feedback from the forum on this.

Thanks.

[tedster]

No experience here with the database thing, but the page design for a timeline can be a big challenge to get good usability. I have one (hand created) timeline right now and the same company wants another. I must have gone through 20 page layouts until one seemed to click.

Factors we tripped over:

1. How many pieces of information are attached to one Timeline entry? Is it always the same?
2. Does the amount of text vary significantly from entry to entry? That can make a big demand on a page template.

(edited by: tedster at 11:52 pm (utc) on Mar. 15, 2002)

[brotherhood of LAN]

I guess you could go with the database approach

depending on the timeline, you could, say assign a number to each 500 year increment in the timeline. You could have another column in your database pointing to an image URL, ie a picture of your timeline, where each increment points to a URL with the relevant pic linked to

Make the database searchable by being able to query all the time line and various parts of the timeline

Is that the sort of thing your looking for?

[txbakers]

Yes, that's the kind of thing. I wanted the user to be able to create dynamic time lines over several events.

Not just standard-prebuilt time lines.

[brotherhood of LAN]

Go for it, how long is the timeline?

If it was world history you could divid the timeline by centuries, each century having a number, ie 21st century = 1, remembering BC's ;)

Use a database column for the timeline itself and use an image map to link to the centuries.

My 2 euro :)