Easy Timeline Plugin
As the saying goes: a picture is worth a thousand words. This is certainly true for graphical timelines. A detailed listing of events and dates in tabular form may offer the reader a lot of specifics, but may fail to provide an overview, a grand perspective.
This plugin allows one to use <easytimeline> tags to generate a timeline on the fly. This plugin is equal in function to the
EasyTimeline Plugin for MediaWiki?, on which this is based.
For first time users EasyTimelinePlugin may not seem that easy at all. As with all script languages it takes some getting used to. Also the syntax description may be a bit bewildering due to its sheer size. Fortunately many elements of the script language are optional.
The 'Easy' in EasyTimelinePlugin conveys the message that once a timeline exists it is not that hard to understand, enhance or correct.
Full syntax and markup description is available at
http://infodisiac.com/Wikipedia/EasyTimeline/Syntax.htm (or in the full mirrored copy of the website that is shipped with the plugin).
Syntax
<easytimeline>
Timeline markup
</easytimeline>
Examples
Icelandic Heritage Example
Pretty standard timeline, easy to extend.
Pre-rendered sample:
|
Plugin (if installed):
ImageSize? = width:270 height:300
PlotArea? = left:45 right:0 bottom:20 top:20
AlignBars? = early
DateFormat? = yyyy
Period = from:1944 till:2005
TimeAxis? = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor? = unit:year increment:4 start:1944
Colors=
id:1 value:rgb(1,0.4,0.2)
id:2 value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0)
id:3 value:rgb(1,0.8,0)
id:4 value:rgb(1,0.6,0.2)
id:5 value:rgb(0.6,0.2,0.2)
PlotData?=
bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S shift:(25,-5) anchor:middle
from:start till:1952 color:1 text:"1944-1952_Sveinn Björnsson|Sveinn Björnsson?"
from:1952 till:1968 color:2 text:"1952-1968_Ásgeir Ásgeirsson|Ásgeir Ásgeirsson?"
from:1968 till:1980 color:3 text:"1968-1980_Kristján Eldjárn|Kristján Eldjárn?"
from:1980 till:1996 color:4 text:"1980-1996_Vigdís Finnbogadóttir|Vigdís Finnbogadóttir?"
from:1996 till:end color:5 text:"1996-_Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson|Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson?"
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Verbatim:
<easytimeline>
ImageSize = width:270 height:300
PlotArea = left:45 right:0 bottom:20 top:20
AlignBars = early
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1944 till:2005
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:1944
Colors=
id:1 value:rgb(1,0.4,0.2)
id:2 value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0)
id:3 value:rgb(1,0.8,0)
id:4 value:rgb(1,0.6,0.2)
id:5 value:rgb(0.6,0.2,0.2)
PlotData=
bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S shift:(25,-5) anchor:middle
from:start till:1952 color:1 text:"1944-1952_[[Sveinn Björnsson|Sveinn Björnsson]]"
from:1952 till:1968 color:2 text:"1952-1968_[[Ásgeir Ásgeirsson|Ásgeir Ásgeirsson]]"
from:1968 till:1980 color:3 text:"1968-1980_[[Kristján Eldjárn|Kristján Eldjárn]]"
from:1980 till:1996 color:4 text:"1980-1996_[[Vigdís Finnbogadóttir|Vigdís Finnbogadóttir]]"
from:1996 till:end color:5 text:"1996-_[[Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson|Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson]]"
</easytimeline>
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Windows Versions Example
An example of multiple parallel timelines. View Raw Text of this topic to see source.
Binary Logic Example
This plugin might be of help in descriping binary logic execution patterns, as for instance a figure like the one below is not too hard to produce. View Raw Text of this topic to see source.
UNIX Versions Example
Information dense graphic, heavy use of mouseover areas. View Raw Text of this topic to see source.
Kurdistan Workers Party Example
Very condensed timeline. Not taking up much space, but very informative in it's layered telling. View Raw Text of this topic to see source.
New Kingdom Example
Typical chronological "Microsoft Project" look. View Raw Text of this topic to see source.
Btw: There's no hinderance to having the bars overlap if wanted. (I guess that's not how the Kingdom preferred it to be, though)

View Raw Text of this topic to see source.
Freeciv Timeline Example
Very spartanic look, only a few colours used. View Raw Text of this topic to see source.
Vocal and Instrumental Pitch Ranges
An example on displaying something that is not chronological at all. View Raw Text of this topic to see source.
Timeline of Conquests of the Ottoman Empire Example
A somewhat dense and graphic timeline; could probably be lightened with good effect :-). View Raw Text of this topic to see source.
Plugin Settings
Plugin settings are stored as preferences variables. To reference a plugin setting write
%<plugin>_<setting>%
, for example,
%EASYTIMELINEPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%
- One line description, shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
- Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Generate graphical timeline diagrams from markup text
- Debug plugin: (See output in
data/debug.txt
)
Plugin Installation Instructions
Note: You do not need to install anything on the browser to use this plugin. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the plugin on the TWiki server.
These instructions assume that the ploticus executable is already installed. Both the ploticus source and pre-complied binaries for a number of platforms are available. Visit web sites listed in dependencies below for more information on how to install ploticus.
- Download the ZIP/TGZ file from the Plugin web (see attachments at bottom of this page)
- Unzip/Untar
EasyTimelinePlugin.zip/tgz
in your twiki installation directory. Contents: File: | Description: |
EasyTimelinePlugin_installer.pl | Installer script |
data/TWiki/EasyTimelinePlugin.txt | Plugin topic |
lib/TWiki/Plugins/EasyTimelinePlugin.pm | Plugin Perl module |
tools/EasyTimeline.pl | Mediawiki Easytimeline script (provided for convenience) |
pub/TWiki/EasyTimelinePlugin/* | Images for plugin topic, and zipped-up mirror of home page |
- Run the installer script.
- Update sandbox execution command in
lib/TWiki/Plugins/EasyTimelinePlugin.pm
to fit your environment. One of the items to set is the path to the ploticus executable. Another the relative url to your twiki installation, this link is needed if you use image maps / clickable items in your timelines.
- Enable the plugin in
configure
(Dakar only)
- Test if the plugin is correctly installed by looking at the "Icelandic Heritage Example" above
Plugin Info
Related Topics: TWikiPlugins,
DeveloperDocumentationCategory,
AdminDocumentationCategory,
TWikiPreferences
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TWiki:Main.MikeMarion - 11 Feb 2006