Creating a timeline by TimelineJS was the first work I built for visualization. It was a pretty good beginning because of its simpleness and excellent delivery. I recommended it to some of my friends who is studying for a Ph.D. degree or working. They could definitely use it for their project report, effectively, logically and outstanding. Also, it is a perfect tool for my online portfolio. I usually use graphics to show my project’s timeline like the graphic below, which is good-looking, but lack of interest. By TimelineJS, it could provide a more immersive and interactive experience for readers.

For this work, we are asked to choose a topic related to technology or design and display 5-10 events about its history. I choose the theme Gestural Interface History, which I have some previous knowledge and curiousness. From the first clickable glass to the wireless armband, it does have some good story to tell. Besides, it has about 40 years of history, which seems perfect for a timeline template. After confirming the topic, I planned to collect some significant events for it. Firstly, I listed some events I knew, like the announcements of Myo, Soli, and Kinect which are close to this year. Then, by searching the keyword “Gesture recognition,” I got some events to add on. I thought it was a great way to show the development of the gestural interface, the first touchable smartphone, glove; then we didn’t need to wear anything to make it happen, just make movement in the air. It gave us more and more space to imagine and create new products, also the confident to believe that we could achieve the ubiquitous computing in the future. My timeline will give the audience a big picture of that. Here is a screenshot of my timeline.

I adore TimelineJS very much because it is smart and self-adaption. When I check it on different devices and browsers, it displays in different ways, but not mess at all. No matter how much words you type in(cannot be too much) or what size your pictures are, the timeline always looks decent.

During building my timeline, many ideas came up to my mind. I guess because that my topic does not perfectly match this timeline template. Most of the gestural interface events I found are only with the invention year information, and to be honest, the specific date of the invention is not that meaningful. Don’t even mention I did not find the events with a period of time. It looks so good and clear when there are events with date and period at the same time. Maybe most of the technology related topic are made up with the announcements. It would easily match the theme of someone’s biography or a description of a project. If I have another chance, I will make a timeline of the technology related life of Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, about his college time, significant events of his life and Facebook.

My Timeline link: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1yG6-70YnVFReJHNoWsl96l13bZBb6hlr5DySLTqtplY&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650h