With a timeline diagram, you can arrange events in chronological order along a straight line, thus
creating the sequence and timing of occurrences over a specified period. Timelines are often used in
storytelling, project management, and history to convey temporal relationships and milestones clearly.
On this page, you’ll find a timeline diagram template built with DHTMLX Diagram, key features, and
integration guides with React, Angular, and Vue.js.
Open a demo on desktop
This timeline diagram is built with the DHTMLX Diagram library.
Get a 30-day trial to test this demo and 20+ others in your projects free of charge.
What Are Timeline Diagrams Used for and How To Create Them Using DHTMLX JavaScript Diagram Widget
Timeline diagrams provide a clear and straightforward visual representation of events,
making it easy to understand the sequence and timing at a glance. They display events
at specific intervals arranged chronologically along a line. These events can be
historical, related to business development and marketing, or significant project
stages.
A timeline chart features a vertical line representing the progression of time from
top to bottom (or from left to right if the line is drawn horizontally), with marked
events indicating when they should occur or have occurred. In project management,
timelines are particularly useful for highlighting important milestones, deadlines,
and other significant events over the project’s lifecycle.
DHTMLX Diagram library allows users to build clear and comprehensive timelines to get
every project on the right foot. With DHTMLX, developers can create JavaScript timeline
charts with a few lines of code and customize them using a robust API and CSS.
They can also integrate a customizable Diagram Editor to provide end-users with the
full freedom of drawing timelines and export them to PNG/PDF. As a pure JavaScript
library, DHTMLX Diagram is simple to integrate and use with any technical stack,
including React, Angular, and Vue.js.
Key Features of DHTMLX Timeline Diagram
Flexible configuration of the Diagram editor
You can integrate the Diagram editor into your web app to significantly
speed up the process of creating interactive JavaScript charts. The
Diagram editor API
is developer-friendly and allows you to adjust its look and feel with ease.
The editor's interface elements,
including Toolbar, Shapebar, Editbar, and Grid area, are fully configurable.
For example, you can tailor the Editbar controls for each timeline diagram
element separately, thus allowing end-users to work with events, time
interval shapes, and labels with greater flexibility.
The DHTMLX Diagram library provides you with a set of default shapes you can
use to build your timeline diagram. However, you can configure the appearance
of timeline chart shapes with the help of the
Diagram API.
You also have the option to enhance the visual appeal of your JavaScript
timeline by setting up its elements via CSS. You can specify colors for the
event backgrounds and borders, align event items and textual data, and much
more.
Adding shape templates
By using the addShape()
method of the diagram object, you can add new types of shapes and
define templates for them. It’s also possible to track user
interaction with custom shapes and add event handlers to HTML elements
of the shape template.
Configurable shape toolbar
The JavaScript timeline widget allows adding a toolbar to edit diagram
shapes by clicking on it. This element can display various controls so
end-users can manipulate timeline events and time interval shapes with just
a few clicks. Thus, for example, users can duplicate the selected event,
delete it, or set connections between different events.
Styling lines and labels
Typically, users add lines and arrows to pinpoint special timeline events
and details. With DHTMLX Diagram, you can change the look of connector lines
by specifying their color and width, making them solid or dashed, etc.
It’s also a good practice to add connector text to your JavaScript timeline
chart and allow end-users to edit it. Having clicked on a text, users can
change the content, modify the text style, and select text alignment via the
right Editbar panel.
Scrolling and zooming
By default, the timeline chart size is set automatically to fit the content.
However, you can scale your diagram to fit your application. By implementing
scrolling and zooming features,
end-users can seamlessly zoom in or out of the timeline or move across the
chart using horizontal and vertical inner scrolls.
Export to PDF/PNG
By default, the DHTMLX Diagram library supports an online export to JSON, PDF,
and PNG formats. However, you can
get a local export module
and install it on your server.
Touch support
DHTMLX Diagram library provides built-in
touch support
so end-users can interact with their timeline charts intuitively on mobile
devices. The support allows recognizing such touch gestures as Double Tap to
edit the shape content, Drag to drag a shape, and a combination of Press, Hold,
and Drag to select several diagram elements.
Localization
The Diagram editor interface is initially built for English-speaking users and
can be adapted to different locales. Using the Diagram API, you can provide the
appropriate labels to translate the interface of the JavaScript timeline chart
builder according to your needs.
JavaScript Timeline Diagram Integrations
To integrate the DHTMLX JavaScript timeline widget into any web app, you can use code
snippets and ready-made demos on GitHub. Here you can find information about using the
DHTMLX Diagram library with Angular, Vue.js, and React, as well as TypeScript.