Extension:EasyTimeline

MediaWiki extensions manual
EasyTimeline
Release status: stable
Implementation Tag
Description Adds ‎<timeline> tag for creating timelines
Author(s) Erik Zachte
MediaWiki >= 1.42
Database changes No
License GNU General Public License 2.0 only
Download
CHANGELOG
Example See below
  • $wgTimelineRsvgCommand
  • $wgTimelineFontFile
  • $wgTimelineFileBackend
  • $wgTimelineFonts
  • $wgTimelineFontDirectory
  • $wgTimelinePloticusCommand
  • $wgTimelinePerlCommand
Public wikis using 7,989 (Ranked 20th)
Translate the EasyTimeline extension
Issues Open tasks · Report a bug
Other languages:

The EasyTimeline extension produces an embedded image from wikitext. The image can be a one-dimensional diagram (horizontally or vertically), or a two-dimensional one.

See the help page on installing EasyTimeline on your wiki. See also this page on EasyTimeline or play with it at test.wikipedia.org.

See the help page on using the syntax provided by this extension.

There is a long-term effort to get the Graph extension to replace this extension.

Requirements edit

This extension requires the following programs installed on the server:

Charts examples edit

Several examples of what is possible. For more extensive examples see

Special:MyLanguage/GorbachevSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/ChernenkoSpecial:MyLanguage/AndropovSpecial:MyLanguage/BrezhnevSpecial:MyLanguage/KhrushchevSpecial:MyLanguage/StalinSpecial:MyLanguage/Lenin
  
Special'colon'MyLanguage/SiderianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/RhyacianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/OrosirianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/StatherianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/CalymmianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/EctasianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/StenianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/TonianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/CryogenianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/EdiacaranSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/EoarcheanSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/PaleoarcheanSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/MesoarcheanSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/NeoarcheanSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/PaleoproterozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/MesoproterozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/NeoproterozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/PaleozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/MesozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/CenozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/HadeanSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/ArcheanSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/ProterozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/Phanerozoic
CambrianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/OrdovicianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/SilurianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/DevonianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/CarboniferousSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/PermianSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/TriassicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/JurassicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/CretaceousSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/PaleogeneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/NeogeneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/QuaternarySpecial'colon'MyLanguage/PaleozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/MesozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/CenozoicSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/Phanerozoic
Cenozoic
Special'colon'MyLanguage/PaleoceneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/EoceneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/OligoceneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/MioceneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/PlioceneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/PleistoceneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/HoloceneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/PaleogeneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/NeogeneSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/QuaternarySpecial'colon'MyLanguage/Cenozoic
www.mediawiki.org/..en.wikipedia.org/..stats.wikimedia.org/..stats.wikimedia.org/..stats.wikimedia.org/..stats.wikimedia.org/..stats.wikimedia.org/..stats.wikimedia.org/..stats.wikimedia.org/..stats.wikimedia.org/..stats.wikimedia.org/..


Code example edit

See also: Extension:EasyTimeline/syntax
Special:MyLanguage/GorbachevSpecial'colon'MyLanguage/ChernenkoSpecial:MyLanguage/AndropovSpecial:MyLanguage/BrezhnevSpecial:MyLanguage/Khrushchev

Special:MyLanguage/Lenin

Just to show you that the script syntax is reasonably intuitive, here is the script for the image above: Soviet Leaders.

<timeline>
# All measures are in pixels

ImageSize  = width:160 height:550
PlotArea   = left:50 right:0 bottom:10 top:10
AlignBars  = justify

DateFormat = yyyy
Period     = from:1917 till:1991
TimeAxis   = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1920

# there is no automatic collision detection,
# so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap

Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar

PlotData=
  bar:Leaders color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S

  from:start till:1924 shift:($dx,15)   text:Vladimir~Ilyich~[[Special:MyLanguage/Lenin|Lenin]]
  from:1924  till:1953 shift:($dx,5)    text:[[Special:MyLanguage/Stalin|Josef~Stalin]]
  from:1953  till:1964 shift:($dx,5)    text:Nikita~[[Special:MyLanguage/Khrushchev|Khrushchev]]
  from:1964  till:1982 shift:($dx,5)    text:Leonid~[[Special:MyLanguage/Brezhnev|Brezhnev]]
  from:1982  till:1984 shift:($dx,-12)  text:Yuri~[[Special:MyLanguage/Andropov|Andropov]]
  from:1984  till:1985 shift:($dx,4)    text:Konstantin~[[Special:MyLanguage/Chernenko|Chernenko]] fontsize:XS
  from:1985  till:end  shift:($dx,10)   text:Mikhail~[[Special:MyLanguage/Gorbachev|Gorbachev]]
</timeline>

Double and single brackets can be used like on wikipedia, language prefix is possible, e.g. [[de:foo|more about foo]]. Single brackets for external links are also supported.

Great timelines elsewhere edit

Here are two great sites that may serve as inspiration, it would be very easy to recreate most of those timelines verbatim and with roughly similar layout with EasyTimeline (not yet with images but that may change), but I'm afraid that would be 'not done'.

  • Hyperhistory e.g. click on button 'people' left, then on 'special lifelines', right.
  • I hope we will have a set like [1] in a years time (click on full size image for any map), possibly even with images. The main effort will be to gather all info without snatching everything from here (most of these maps are based exclusively on data from Britannica).

Unicode edit

EasyTimeline does not yet support Unicode.

Aug 2004: Minimal UTF-8 support has been added, meaning that EasyTimeline now recognizes UTF-8 encoded characters. However support for directionality and complex scripts is very lacking. The default font may not have glyphs for all characters. An alternate font can be specified via $wgTimelineFontFile

SVG to PNG edit

To show texts correctly for RTL languages (like Arabic, Persian, Hebrew,...) you can use ‎<timeline method="svg2png">timeline code here‎</timeline> instead of ‎<timeline>timeline code here‎</timeline>. it shows timeline as png but the links will be disabled.

Tips edit

For first time users EasyTimeline 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 EasyTimeline conveys the message that once a timeline exists it is not so hard to understand, enhance or correct. Also translating for use on another Wikipedia it is pretty straightforward.

Tips:

  • See some chart examples to find something you could pick and edit for your own stuff
  • Put each timeline on a separate Template page: this makes it easier to edit, faster to preview, possible to include it in several pages

Using the current date edit

To use the current date make sure the table opens with {{#tag:timeline| and closes with }}. Then the current date can be inserted using magic words. For example {{#time: d/m/Y }} or {{CURRENTDAY2}}/{{CURRENTMONTH2}}/{{CURRENTYEAR}} will both yield the date in format dd/mm/yyyy.

See also edit

Installation edit

See /installation

External links edit

  • SIMILE Widgets - DHTML-based AJAXy widget for visualizing time-based events