How to display multiple timelines vertically?

Question

On my website, I need a format that can handle a timeline of a history of enormous size conveniently. I already split up the entire timeline into separate pages for periods.

Now there's something that never lets me calm down.

Every period depicts events of multiple locations or groups, and I think, it can be transparent only if all are shown altogether.

I dropped the idea of horizontal timeline immediately, as my website is built on an engine and scrolling horizontally within it would be a nightmare.

On the other hand, vertical timeline seems to be extremely crowded, at least the way I implemented it - I created spreadsheets in MS Excel and imported those to the site.

Is it an acceptable solution, or is there something better on the outside? If there is, ho can I improve it?

Answer 1

Presenting a story in a spreadsheet format doesn't create flow. It rather separates content blocks, making it hard to read. And the timeline doesn't look clear, too.

My suggestion is to use more clear timeline, and present content in a linear form. So they read it smoothly, from top to bottom, which is usual flow.

To distinguish event types you can use color coding and/or abbreviations. Adding filtering functionality will add some degree of flexibility and control, please look at the picture below.