Timeline Software

[Ampa]

I'd like to make the timeline of my entire life which would show me all the important blocks of time that make up my life thus far... eg Primary School, University, each and every job I've held, rehearsal periods for the plays I've directed etc.

I had a quick Google for suitable applications, and came up with many - almost all of which were online apps. They all look pretty similar to be honest, and, in common with many web-apps, most seem to be beta products, with closed source, and inaccessible data locked in proprietary file formats. None of which appeals!

Can anyone recommend a product?

[joiwind]

There are some here : Timeline software

[Hefty Hippie]

Ampa,

Timeline Studio

I'm not sure how many of your requirements this will meet but it's certainly worth a look.

This is not web-based although I'm told that there's a timeline hosting solution in the works.

Timeline project files are in a proprietary file format but there are import/export from/to Excel and export to Word.

Loads of features and generally pretty slick.

[Sirlimpalot]

Ampa,

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet, I’m the Author of the Timeline Studio’s timeline software as mentioned by Hefty Hippie.
Although this was not our primary goal when we developed our software, it does make a pretty good job of the type of documentation you’ve described.
There is a example of Barack Obama’s lifeline on our website it might be worth a look and / or downloading the example file.
The file is much richer in terms of content than the web images. (You will also need the software as we do use proprietary file formats).

http://www.timelinestudio.co.uk

The main advantage of using our software for this type of task is that you can create a multi-layered timeline with different Views for the different aspects of your life, e.g., you can have a overall summary and then in-depth views of education, career, family, holidays etc

I hope this has been of help and not too much of a sale push.

[mouser]

Welcome to the site Sirlimpalot (ha!) 

[sword]

Ampa,

I use Microsoft Publisher to make timelines for genealogy that sound similar to what you want to do. They fit on a page that is 44 inches by 36 inches and can cover any time spans. Mine usually cover from 1650 to 1850. It was a bit tricky setting up the underlying strip of dates but I will gladly share the components if you have Publisher.

[thomthowolf]

LifeJournal2 has a pretty good timeline feature that might be what you are looking for. 

[DBC]

You might like to try LivingTime. Here are some screenshots:
http://www.livingtim...reenshots/index.html

The software was - I think - originally designed for the Mac, but there is a Windows version as well that I use. It uses Filemaker. To be honest, I haven't come upon anything nearly as well-designed as it is for the tasks you have in mind. That said there are some hokey aspects to it, and on a PC it shows its Mac origins a bit too obtrusively in the somewhat clunky and cutesy interface. Don't let these put you off trying it out...

My only reservation (apart from the above) is that its development seems to have been languishing for some time. I think this is because it is such a specialized piece of software. OTOH, I would have thought that genealogists would have seen its potential for recording their own lives in detail and the lives of their immediate relatives for their descendants.

Derek

[vixay]

ampa, once you've chosen something let me know. I have been on a quest to do this as well, but never been satisfied. I used dandelife.com once but meh. It's a matter of laziness.

The objective i had with such a project was to give a summary of ones life and emotional state to a new person, to clarify the formation of core beliefs and behaviors.
Anyway so far I've just used paper and pencil for it.

What would also work would be to go through your memories and add photos/blog post/comment in a blog software and then use one of those MIT's exhibit/timeline tools to create a summary from those. This would require some programming and such, but it would work.

Regardless let me know when you have chose something. I don't know why but a particular class of users are interested in this application and there haven't been many providers.

[dr.fun]

...you should have a look on "Timeline Maker" - nice program, but not free: http://www.timelinemaker.com/.

Regards - Joerg

[J-Mac]

Ampa,

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet, I’m the Author of the Timeline Studio’s timeline software as mentioned by Hefty Hippie.
Although this was not our primary goal when we developed our software, it does make a pretty good job of the type of documentation you’ve described.
There is a example of Barack Obama’s lifeline on our website it might be worth a look and / or downloading the example file.
The file is much richer in terms of content than the web images. (You will also need the software as we do use proprietary file formats).

http://www.timelines...meline-examples.html

The main advantage of using our software for this type of task is that you can create a multi-layered timeline with different Views for the different aspects of your life, e.g., you can have a overall summary and then in-depth views of education, career, family, holidays etc

I hope this has been of help and not too much of a sale push.

-Sirlimpalot (August 14, 2009, 11:32 AM)

Very nice, Sirlimpalot. Looks interesting. I wonder what the primary usage is for timeline software: Business planning? Personal use, like family history research? I'll be taking a serious look at it - for the latter reason here.

Thanks for the nice intro!

Jim

[Sirlimpalot]

Primary function of timeline software
As a author of a timeline creation application the ‘Primary function for timeline software’ is broad; from my understanding of users of my products they range from archaeology students using it for their studies right through to a project manager of oil rig manufactures keeping a project long snag log.
 
I do know of a number of my users doing family history projects, if this is your area of interest.

One of the biggest problem with timeline software as a whole is that time is a big subject (to say the least!!!) and the potential timelines which users want to create will be incredibly diverse. Meaning you could end up using a genetic tool for a bespoke application.

[urlwolf]

Guys, open source, better than Gantt: timeline
Make sure you have the latest python wxWidget library.

Devs are super responsive...