TimeGlider is a data-driven interactive timeline application built on the (Adobe) Flash platform. You can "grab" the timeline and drag it left and right, and zoom in and out to view centuries at a time or just hours. TimeGlider allows you to create event-spans so that you can see durations and how they overlap. Being web-based, TimeGlider lets you collaborate and share easily.

You can create timelines about the last year of your family, the last century of world events, or about pre-historical (bce/bc) times. Currently, one can zoom out to a scope of millenia: In 2009, we plan to improve the breadth of our zooming capability to include the Big Bang.

You can try the application here without needing to sign up.

Within a minute of signing up, you can be well into your first timeline. Our interface is draggable and zoomable: navigating TimeGlider is a lot like using familiar applications like Google or Yahoo maps.

Click on "new event"— or double-click anywhere on the timeline "stage" and the date at which the cursor is horizontally aligned is chosen. You can fine-tune the date using an intuitive date chooser. Then type a title and description, choose an icon, and enter a link to a web page/resource if you want.

title & description

icons

date chooser

TimeGlider allows you to show the time span of events, indicated by a band of color. Simply enter the start date and an end date!

Timelines that zoom are tricky: If they are dense with events, they stack up and get cluttered. But with TimeGlider, this can be easily managed by assigning an importance level (from 1 to 100) to each event. As one zooms in, certain things can emerge that weren't visible at a wider scope.

Zoomed out, some events are in the background

Zoomed in, Paul Revere's Ride emerges

Changing the importance/size of an event is easy: Click on the icon, and a slider appears that lets you enlarge or shrink the event. Here we can see that, even though Paul Revere's Ride was important, it's better to have it take up less room as one zooms out.

Selecting size-importance for "Battle of Lexington..."

Size-importance slider for "Paul Revere's Ride"

Once you build a timeline, you might want to share it. Once you choose to make a timeline accessible to the public, a URL and a piece of HTML will be available at which to share your timeline. The public cannot simply browse to your timeline: Having a highly unique URL, your timeline can be shared with only the people you want to.

When your friends or family or the public views a timeline you've created, of course, they can't edit it. They'll first be met with an introduction you've written, and placed at a date (called the "focus date") that you've chosen as a starting point. Double-clicking any event brings up a simple information box (pictured at right).

TimeGlider's basic version is free and will continue to be free. We're building additional features for a "Plus" version — including data importing, legends, sub-user creation, and some other tools. Sign up and give it a try!