6 Tips for Creating Timelines with Preceden

By following a few simple guidelines, you'll create a great looking timeline that's sure to impress everyone who sees it.

1. Use Layers to Organize Events

Layers group similar events together on your timeline, which makes it much easier for viewers to understand how it's organized.

For example, a project planning timeline might have events for the business, for manufacturing, and for marketing and advertising. Rather than lump them all together, create 3 layers (Business, Manufacturing, and Marketing) and assign each event to one of them.

✅ Use layers to organize related events.

❌ Don't add all events to a single layer.

2. Create Events with both Start and End Dates When Possible

Say your project includes a period of time for shipping samples. You can represent that in one of two ways:

1. One event: "Shipping Samples" with a start date of January 3, 2019 and an end date of February 2, 2019.
2. Two events: "Start Shipping Samples" with a start date like January 3, 2019 and "End Shipping Samples" with an end date like February 2, 2019.

Usually the first option is better: a single event keeps the event count down and makes it clear that the event spans a range of time rather than a single point.

✅ Specify a start and end date when possible.

❌ Don't create 2 events to represent the start/end of a single event.

3. Limit the Use of Milestones

Marking an event as a milestone makes it stand out by extending a vertical line through it, spanning the full height of the timeline. Used sparingly, milestones are a good way to draw attention to the few dates that matter most. Turn too many events into milestones, though, and the vertical lines clutter the timeline. Timelines look best with 3-4 milestones max.

✅ Only add a few milestones max to your timeline.

❌ Don't turn a lot of events into milestones.

4. Choose Meaningful Icons

Events without an end date always display an icon beside the name, and events that span a range of time display one whenever there's room for it.

By default, Preceden picks the icon for you based on the name you give the event. If the icon it picks isn't the one you want, click the Icon field in the event dialog and choose a different one.

Either way, a relevant icon helps convey the event's purpose. For an investor meeting you might use the icon with three people, the rocket ship for a product launch, and the dollar sign or handshake for closing a funding round.

You can control how new events get their icons under Appearance > Events > Default Icon for New Events: Smart icons (the default) picks one based on the event name, Solid circle uses a plain circle every time, and Use last icon repeats the icon from the last event you added or edited.

✅ Choose meaningful icons for events.

❌ Don't leave every event with the same generic circle.

5. Keep Event Names Short

It's tempting to pack as much detail as possible into an event's name, but timelines usually look better with short names and the details in the event notes.

Long names may not fit either: depending on the length of the name and the position of other events, Preceden might not be able to display all of it.

✅ Keep event names short and add additional details to the notes.

❌ Don't use really long event names.

6. Explore the Timeline Appearance Settings

Preceden offers a variety of ways to customize the appearance of your timeline, such as:

• Switching the theme from a white background to one of many other colors.
• Specifying whether to display the dates and duration on the timeline, and where to place them in relation to the event.
• Changing the style of the events, adding gradients, and more.