I recently needed to create a timeline, and my first thought was to use Coda. Aside from being a big fan of the platform, I knew I could add all the relevant information easily in a table (e.g. Event Name, Date, Description, Category). Additionally, you can easily filter by category, assuming a Timeline View of the table.
For an example use-case, we were considering building a timeline at work to see major milestones with hiring, product developments, etc. We wanted to be able to filter by category of milestone, and easily add, edit, and remove milestones. Hence, Coda was the first place to check.
I can generate various outputs in Coda that have a timeline-ish view, but not the more “traditional” timeline view I envisioned. The existing views that are like timelines seem better suited for project management (which makes sense, given the platform), but not historical review. I included some rough examples below of what would be ideal. Also, always happy to answer questions or provide clarity.
Hi @Joseph_B
I’ve had the same problem a while ago, i’d decided to put events in a gantt chart and that those was during one day
Another option (for a look alike of your second post) can be to set the duration to be an year, or till the next event
Those can be ordered and grouped as you prefer
It’s not the solution but it gives you something
Maybe in future we will see more charts available, i’d like to have timelines
P.s. there is always the svg trick from Paul but it’s tricky
Thanks @Paul_Danyliuk. I agree this gets things closer, and I always appreciate a workaround. Still holding out hope for a native view (or feedback on whether this is something that would ever be considered), but will explore this for now.
As is typical, @Paul_Danyliuk always seems to pull a rabbit out of the hat. In this case, it’s missing an ear and maybe a foot, but it’s still an impressive approach - lots to learn in this one example.
But this underscores my plea for an investment in the integration of existing data visulization technologies, not the visualization features themselves. If Coda would endeavor to make it possible to embed Vega charts for example, every possible data visualization imaginable — including time lines — would suddenly lay at our fingertips.
Don’t make every feature we ask for - instead, help us help ourselves.
Meanwhile my ask is user scripts — custom formulas coded as JS with limited scope that could interact with doc’s data, receive arguments and produce an output:
If a formula can return an image blob (e.g. composed with Canvas or SVG) or an iframe container with arbitrary code, that’s already a huge deal.
Indeed, but there are a few things that Coda could improve upon. We can quibble about the details later - an integrated scripting model is desperately needed.
