The rise of social media has made creating timelines as easy as a couple mouse clicks. But as timeline tools have become easier to use, the number of timeline options has become overwhelming. Timelines have become a critical tool for businesses to communicate with customers and prospects. So it’s important to choose a timeline tool that will help you quickly create a beautiful, engaging experience for your clients and prospects, whether they’re viewing your timeline from desktop or mobile.
Anyone who has a blog or a desire to build a portfolio of their work is going to need a place to showcase them. The best software I have found is Canva, and since doing so, my timelines have been given a face lift. Canva gives users access to a large variety of templates for business cards, calendars, social media graphics and so much more. In regards to timelines they have beautiful layouts perfect for showcasing your work. With layouts such as the “Muse Magazine Cover”, “iBook Cover”, and my personal favorite ‘The Artist.” These have completely given me ideas about what I can do with my own infrastructure within my college.
Office Timeline
Timeline maker and Gantt chart creator that comes with two products: as the desktop add-in Office Timeline and web-based app Office Timeline Online; suitable for any non-tech users, but specifically addressing project management professionals.
- Type of visuals produced (1 p): Designed as a PowerPoint extension, Office Timeline allows the fast creation of professional-looking timelines, Gantt charts and roadmaps right inside the popular slide-maker platform. The resulted visuals can be downloaded as native PowerPoint slides that can be easily opened and edited by third parties without having to install the app. The same type of visuals is produced by its online counterpart. Other formats to which the graphics can be exported are .png image and Excel file.
- Interface (1 p): The desktop add-in has an intuitive interface, a smart layout engine which automatically generates your visual, and a Timeline Creator Wizard that assists new users in getting familiarized with the tool more easily. Both the PowerPoint plug-in and the online app ensure simplicity and easy data management with a drag & drop interface.
- Sync with other apps (1 p): The desktop add-in integrates with Microsoft Project, Excel, Smartsheet, and Wrike, whereas the online app allows data import from MS Project and Excel.
- Browser/OS compatibility (1 p): The PowerPoint plug-in is compatible with Windows OS, while the web app works in any browser, whether Mac or Windows OS is used.
- Customization options (1 p): Both versions provide a host of customization and styling functionalities (shapes, colors, percentage complete, duration, status indicators) for an enhanced and refined differentiation between events, a rich gallery of pre-designed templates and the ability to import files to help users get started faster.
- Price (1 p): The desktop add-in comes in a free and several paid versions ranging from $59 to $149 for a one-year license; the free edition is fully functional, however the best paid package unlocks extra functionalities such as import and sync from MS Project and Excel, more items allowed on a slide, multi-level swimlanes and timescales, or professional templates. The online version has a similar pricing system, users having the possibility to opt for a free account (with unlimited number of milestones and tasks to add to a timeline, but the ones which exceed 10 items are watermarked) or pay $99/year for the premium edition of the tool (watermark removed).
- State of development (1 p): Continuous development through regular updates that give users access to new features or enhancements without having to pay extra once they acquire their license. Check out the desktop add-in’s version history, and the online app’s updates history to stay up to date with the latest developments.
Final rating: 7/7
Sutori
General description: An online timeline maker software that is mainly targeted at teachers and students, but also a reliable tool for business needs.
- Type of visuals produced (1 p): Collaborative timeline presentations that include texts, graphics, video and audio materials from multiple sources; the visuals can be accessed and edited by other users (account and invitation to view required), shared via email, social media, or as a link or embeddable code.
- Interface (1 p): Applies social media patterns to enable users to produce engaging content, either from scratch or from ready-made templates.
- Sync with other apps (1 p): It integrates with a wide range of learning management systems like Canvas, Blackboard, Instructor, Moodle, and it lets users embed resources from all the Google Suite, PDF files, and links for any website.
- Browser/OS compatibility (0.5 p): Sutori works on Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge browsers.
- Customization options (1 p): Includes interaction, annotation and collaboration tools, as well as a quiz feature for performance assessment; it also allows progress tracking and live feedback.
- Price (0.3 p): For teachers – available with free and paid accounts ($99/year/user), with the latter unlocking access to a wider gallery of templates and plans, unlimited number of timelines, saving and printing offline features and more. A license for 6 educators reaches 500/year, whereas a school-wide license with LTI integration costs $2000/year. For business users, there is also a free plan available, whereas the starting price for a Pro plan is $399/year (costs established depending on the level of added customization requested by customer).
- State of development (0.75 p): A steady pace of development, with updates on new features and enhancements published on the website’s blog page.
Final rating: 5.55/7
iSpring Suite
iSpring Suite is a full-featured authoring toolkit that allows you to create eLearning courses. You can build slide-based courses, quizzes, dialog simulations, screencasts, video lectures, and other interactive learning materials.
Creating interactions is made simple with 14 ready-made templates for making glossaries, catalogs, references, and timelines. You can create a timeline in just a few steps and upload it to a website or an LMS. The resulting timelines come out clean and pretty, and can be viewed on mobile devices.
Pros
- Creates timelines in HTML5.
- Creates mobile-ready timelines.
- It’s possible to add unlimited events and group them in periods.
- Users can add images, audio, video, and hyperlinks.
- Built-in audio recorder.
- The timelines support SCORM format and can be used in your LMS.
- Content protection options.
Cons
- Compatible with Windows only.
- Can’t create vertical timelines, however you can use another interaction instead.
Preceden
Preceden is an easy-to-use timeline maker and roadmapping tool that helps you quickly create great looking timelines. With its intuitive web-based interface, numerous export options, and more, you’ll be able to build and share your timeline in no time at all.
Sure, this may be a bit biased, but we believe Preceden is the best timeline software on the net.
Since it’s completely web-based, Preceden is compatible with both Mac and PC computers – moreover, no download is required to use this tool.
Thanks to its simple and easy-to-use interface, it’s a great timeline software tool for students, but it can also be used for professionals who need a good project management tool.
Preceden is free to try, but is limited to 1 timeline with 10 events until you upgrade to a paid plan ranging from $99-$199/year.
- Website: https://www.preceden.com
- Preceden is for professional, personal, and educational use
- It was launched in 2009 by Matt Mazur
- It is a web app
- It supports showing images on the timeline
- It supports date ranges
- It allows drag and drop
- You can download your timeline as a PNG, CSV, Excel or PDF
Conclusion
Timelines are great for telling the story of the history of something. They also help keep your information organized. It’s pretty amazing how far word processing and presentation software has come. There are tons of programs you can use to create timelines these days. I’m going to break down my favorites based on different needs.