Making complex timelines in LaTeX

[Vitaly Repin]

Hello,

I want to print complex timeline which will occupy 2 pages in landscape mode.

( This is the timeline I want to put inside the printed materials: http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/158086/The-Modern-and-the-Postmodern )

I am totally new to this subject (printing timelines). After googling I came to the following plan:

- Use tikz
- Take the packages chronosys and the definitions there (based on tikz) as a starting point
- In tikz use the Tutorial: "Putting a Diagram in Chains" as a reference point as it looks as the closest to my task

Does it sound right or have I missed something (e.g., nice LaTeX package to generate timelines which I want)?

Thanks in advance!
--
WBR & WBW, Vitaly

[Vitaly Repin]

On Wednesday, September 18, 2013 12:46:50 AM UTC+3, Vitaly Repin wrote:

Answering myself. Might be the solution I've selected can be useful for others.

I used tikz. And wrote a series of commands which calculate the proper positioning of the lifespan on the timeline.
Also used hyperref to include hyperlinks into the lifespans.

TeX code: https://github.com/vitalyrepin/Modern2013/tree/master/Timelines/LifeSpans
Resulting pdf: https://github.com/vitalyrepin/Modern2013/blob/master/Timelines/LifeSpans/lifespans.pdf?raw=true

I also wrote small script to import the data from tiki-toki. But that's another story.

Have not done the whole task yet - managed to do only lifespans (periodical events) and not simple events.
But the path is quite clear now. Tikz looks like the easiest option for this kind of tasks.

[Peter Flynn]

On 11/01/2013 07:08 PM, Vitaly Repin wrote:
> On Wednesday, September 18, 2013 12:46:50 AM UTC+3, Vitaly Repin wrote:
>
> Answering myself. Might be the solution I've selected can be useful for others.
>
> I used tikz. And wrote a series of commands which calculate the proper positioning of the lifespan on the timeline.

[...]

>> - Use tikz
>> - Take the packages chronosys and the definitions there (based on tikz) as a starting point
>> - In tikz use the Tutorial: "Putting a Diagram in Chains" as a reference point as it looks as the closest to my task
>>
>> Does it sound right or have I missed something (e.g., nice LaTeX package to generate timelines which I want)?

I did one some years ago, before tikz became popular. It was small and
had to be narrow to fit the document format portrait, and I just used
the plain ol' picture environment. I recently updated it, but if I had
to redo it now I'd probably go and learn tikz first. The example you
give is very much more complex.

http://latex.silmaril.ie/examples/timeline-crop.pdf

///Peter

[adria...@gmail.com]

Could you add the latex code which gave that output?
I guess it can fit my needs.
Thanks in advance

[ifh...@gmail.com]

Vitaly,
Thank you for sharing that. It is very nice and helpful. If I am allowed to use it in my dissertation I will credit you!
Many thanks,
Tim Kozusko

[Vitaly Repin]

Hello,

Den torsdagen den 9:e januari 2014 kl. 18:57:55 UTC+2 skrev ifh...@gmail.com:

> Vitaly,
>
> Thank you for sharing that. It is very nice and helpful. If I am allowed to use it in my dissertation I will credit you!

Absolutely!

The latest versions I have menaged to create: https://github.com/vitalyrepin/Modern2013/tree/master/Timelines/LifeSpans and https://github.com/vitalyrepin/Modern2013/tree/master/Timelines/Events


I plan to make the package out of it later. Meanwhile if you have any questions - forward your message to my email. I check comp.text.tex irregulary now.

[llecagu...@gmail.com]

Dear Vitaly,

I am fascinated with how concise and elegant this is. Can I used in my dissertation, please? Needless to say you will be credited! :)

Do you think it would it be possible to insert the evnts in month spans? I've tested so many things but can't figure out how to do it...

Also very interested in the simple events you mentioned... have you got around to doing that? :P

In any case great job!

Leti

[Vitaly Repin]

Hello,

Thanks!

Sure you can use it without any problem.

I have to make a LaTeX package to make it easier to use and have a usual latex distribution license (can't recall the name exactly but the idea is that anybody can use the package which is my intent).

I did not touch it for around a year now. I need to come back to the code to recall all the details.

[llecagu...@gmail.com]

Wow! that would be awesome!!!

Do you think you could help me, though? I am super new to Latex and have been learning a lot from your timeline. First time I try to even understand something so sophisticated... :)

I need to insert some events that span only a few months in addition to the years long ones. I've tried a bunch of different things and have been looking into the Tikz package manual but I can't find anywhere how to do it... :(