Timeline template

Dates, in order, on one line

A timeline template is a horizontal or vertical line with events pinned to dates. Spanish classrooms call it a línea de tiempo, linea de tiempo, or línea del tiempo. The English and Spanish names are the same figure. What matters is that every mark has a date and a noun, and the spacing reflects time. A crowded month should look crowded. An empty year should look empty.

A timeline does not claim that one event caused the next. A plot diagram does. A Gantt chart adds duration and overlap, which a single line of points cannot show. Use a timeline when the question is 'when', and a Gantt chart when the question is 'how long, and what else was happening'.

Example: a club's first year

March: first meeting, 8 people. May: bake sale, the only fundraiser. September: room change to the annex. November: exhibition with 14 projects. Put March and May close together. Leave summer as open line. Put September and November in the autumn third. Alternating labels above and below the line keeps neighboring dates from colliding.

Skip events you cannot date. 'Sometime in the fall' is a note under the line, not a dot. Undated dots teach the wrong habit.

Steps

1. Mark the start and end dates. The line needs a scale before any event is placed.
2. List events in a column first. Date and four-word label. Then transfer them to the line.
3. Space by time. Equal gaps between dots mean equal gaps in time. Do not space by importance.
4. Alternate sides. Above, below, above. Long labels need the room.