Bee Docs' Timeline

Bee Docs' Timeline is a powerful software application for making beautiful timelines. By combining the timeline capabilities of this timeline software with the layout capabilities of a page layout software package, you can create even more interesting charts such as parallel timeline charts that show the relationships between historical or future events. This tutorial will take you step-by-step through the creation of a timeline exhibit like this:

Preparing a Timeline

Let us start by opening one of the timeline charts provided in the Samples folder:

• Find and open the Canada - Early History.bdt file in the folder /Applications/Bee Docs' Timeline/Example Timelines/

This timeline displays historical events in three categories. Events related to Governor Generals are colored green, Prime Minister events are blue, and other important events are red. By the time we are finished, we will have created a separate timeline for each category of events. First we need to do some formatting to our timeline.

1. Open the options drawer by click the Options icon in the toolbar of Bee Docs' Timeline.
   
2. Choose the Timeline tab if it is not already selected.
   
3. Turn off the foundation shading checkbox.
   
4. Use the Background Color control to select a white background for our timeline.
   
5. You may also reduce the foundation height so that the timelines will fit together more tightly when we combine them on a page later.
   

Because we want all of the different timelines to line up with each other, we need to turn off the automatic date range selection feature.

1. Uncheck the box labeled "Automatically Adjust Range" in the Timeline tab of the options drawer.
   
2. Now the start and end dates of the timeline will not change when you add or remove events.
   

Making Three Separate Timelines

We are now going to make three separate timelines and export them to PDF. There will be one timeline for each category of events.

1. Save a new copy of your timeline on your hard drive, we are going to make changes to the timeline and we will want to be able to revert to its' current state.
   
2. While holding down the Apple key, select all the blue and red events.
   
3. Press the delete key, and you should only have green events left on your timeline. Notice that the remaining events automatically adjusted their vertical position to take up as little vertical space as possible.
   
4. Choose "Export Timeline..." in the File menu and save your timeline as a PDF. Name it "1.pdf".
   
5. Choose Revert in the File menu to restore all of your events.
   
6. Delete the blue and red events so that green events remain and export the result as "2.pdf".
   
7. Delete the blue and green events so that red events remain and export the result as "3.pdf".
   

Import PDF timelines into page layout software

Next we are going to combine our three PDF timelines onto one page. I am using Adobe InDesign for this tutorial but you should be able to use your favorite layout software. For example, the previous tutorial used Apple iWork Pages for laying out a timeline.

1. In your page layout software, create a new page in the landscape orientation.
   
2. One at a time, place each timeline PDF on the page and resize them so that they fit on the page. Use the Place command in the File menu if you are using InDesign. Use the page guides to make sure that each timeline is the same width.
   

You will need to adjust the vertical size of each timeline to cut off some of the white space or use layers so that you can see the content of each timeline. Then arrange the timelines so that are equal distances apart. This screenshot shows InDesign with the layout grids turned on so that I could adjust the position of each timeline precisely.

Now that you have three parallel timelines, you can add any text or graphics that you would like using the layout software. I added a box at the right corner of each timeline that displays the title of each timeline. I also added a title to the top of the document and the Bee Documents logo to the bottom of the page. Here is what the final result looks like:

That's it!

You have created a beautiful parallel timeline chart. If you made it this far and still haven't downloaded our timeline software, now is the time! Please drop us a line if you build any great looking timeline charts that you would like to share with us or with other users.

You can download my final chart as a PDF if you would like.