Period Timeline Image Maker — Manual

How to use

The editor has four tabs: Image, Settings, Data, and Simple syntax. Settings and row data can be
edited either with the forms or together in Simple syntax; both views update the same state.

Set the start and end of the displayed period in YYYY-MM-DD format.
You can also configure the image width and row spacing, tick intervals and date format, a reference line, and an optional image title.

Edit items in the form or on the Simple syntax tab.
A date is shown as a dot, and the range from the start date to the end date is shown as a line.
You can connect the date dot to the period line with a dashed line.

Full dates specify the exact endpoints of a period.
A year-only value (YYYY) represents the whole year.
Leave the end date blank to extend the line to the end of the displayed period.

Simple syntax

period: 1980-01-01 .. 2030-12-31
reference-line: date=2000-01-01 color=#3559e0
scale-major: increment=5 unit=year
scale-minor: none
date-format: yyyy
image-size: 600
row-spacing: 40

Famicom | 1983-07-15 | 1983 | 2003 | #e76f51
Nintendo 64 |  | 1996 | 2002 | #457b9d

Set title: Example timeline to add an image title.
Use date-connector: on to connect date dots to period lines with a dashed line, or off to hide the connectors.
Set watermark: hide to remove the site credit, or show to display it.

Set a reference line with reference-line: date=2000-01-01 color=#3559e0.
The displayed period and reference date must use YYYY-MM-DD format.
Set date=none to hide the reference line.

Add items as name | date | start | end | color.
Date, start, and end are optional.
Tick labels support YYYY, YYYY/MM/DD, DD/MM/YYYY, and MM/DD/YYYY.

Input is limited to 20,000 characters and 100 rows.
Titles may be up to 100 characters and item names up to 60 characters.
Input beyond these limits shows an error and is not loaded.

Save and share

Open the image in a new tab to view and save it.
Copy data sharing URL copies a link containing the settings.
Share is available in supported browsers and shares the image and URL.
Environments that cannot share files share the URL and text.

Settings and data are stored in the URL and processed in your browser.
They are not sent to a server.