ChronoFlo Timeline Maker is a web service for creating interactive timelines that can be shared online. It can be used to create everything from a timeline of a famous person's life to a timeline showcasing a company's history to legal and project management timelines.
Timelines created with ChronoFlo Timeline can be shared on the web. Our premium accounts also allow users to embed their timelines on their websites or blog.
Unlike many timeline apps, which come with one design and color scheme, ChronoFlo Timeline Maker has been designed from the ground up to be highly-customisable. There are numerous timeline templates to choose from, including 3d, horizontal and vertical timeline templates.
Each of these can in turn be given a dramatically different look using ChronoFlo's hand-designed themes and panel designs. Users can also create their own themes to ensure their timelines match their own unique branding.
ChronoFlo Timeline Maker has been designed to be easy to use, so it can be used by anyone who is reasonably tech savvy. We expect history buffs, teachers and students, marketeers and legal/project management professionals to be the product's core users. But anyone who likes creating interactive web content will benefit from ChronoFlo Timeline Maker.
Please note that ChronoFlo's hosted accounts cannot be used commercially to create timelines for clients without permission from us. If you want to create a timeline for a client, you will need to get a Single Timeline License. Email us at hello@chronoflotimeline.com for info about the Single Timeline License.
The good news is, no, you don't have to pay. ChronoFlo Timeline Maker offers a free account that allows users to publish a single fully-functional timeline. ChronoFlo's free account has the following limitations: You can only create one timeline.
You cannot embed the timeline on your website. You can use images from the web or your own website but you can't upload images to our servers from your computers. Feed content does not appear on shared timelines. Timelines also feature ChronoFlo branding.
Our free account is a quick and easy way of creating a timeline and sharing it on line. However, it lacks some of the features more serious timeline creators might need.
This is easy. Firstly, navigate to our home page - www.chronoflotimeline.com. Then click on 'Free sign-up' in the menu at the top and enter your username, email address and password in the drop-down panel.
Finally, please agree to our terms and conditions by clicking the checkbox and click on the 'Sign up' button. Congratulations, you are now signed up and can start creating your first timeline.
Assuming you have already created a ChronoFlo Timeline Maker account, you should click the 'Login' menu option at the top right of our home page. If you can't see the Login button, then you are likely already logged in. The next step is to enter your username and password in the drop down panel that appears and click the login button. If you have entered your details correctly, you will now be logged in and can start editing and creating timelines.
Don't fret. We all do this from time to time. Start off by selecting the 'Forgotten login details' link at the bottom of the login panel (which you can open by clicking on the 'Login' menu option at the top right of the screen). You will then be asked to enter the email that you used to sign up to ChronoFlo Timeline Maker. Enter this email and click the 'Submit' button.
You shouldn't shortly afterwards receive an email from us with your username and a new password. You can then login with this password and then change the password by going to the 'Account Settings' panel on your account page.
If you don't receive an email from us or can't remember the email address you used to sign up with, then drop us an email at help@chronoflotimeline.com and we'll do our best to recover your details for you.
Firstly, you should follow the instructions in the above two FAQs (How do I log in to ChronoFlo Timeline Maker? and I've forgotten my login details. What should I do?). If you still can't login then drop us an email at help@chronoflotimeline.com and we'll do our best to help you.
Our free account is great. It allows you to create a fully-functional and customisable timeline that you can share with clients and colleagues. But it does come with some limits. You can't create more than one timeline. You can't embed a timeline on your website. You can't upload images to our servers.
To create multiple timelines or embed the timeline on your website, you will need to upgrade to our Bronze or Silver accounts.
Please note that ChronoFlo's hosted accounts cannot be used commercially to create timelines for clients without permission from us. If you want to create a timeline for a client, you will need to get a Single Timeline License. Email us at hello@chronoflotimeline.com for info about the Single Timeline License.
1Firstly - if you haven't already done so - you will need to sign up for a free account with ChronoFlo Timeline Maker. Click here for instructions on how to sign up.
2Now ensure that you are logged in to your account. You should now be on a page that lists your timelines and has a form to create a new timeline. Scroll down to the bottom of this page and you will find a list of account options.
3Click the 'Buy now' button against the account you are interested in and you will be taken to the PayPal site where you will be asked to sign in to your PayPal account or enter your credit card details.
4Once you have finished the payment process, make sure you click the link to bring you back to www.chronoflotimeline.com where a 'Thanks for signing up' message should be shown to you. Your account is now upgraded and you can immediately take advantage of your new premium features.
If you are not taken back to the ChronoFlo Timeline website, get an error message or can't access the premium features, please drop us an email at help@chronoflotimeline.com and we'll upgrade your account manually as soon as possible.
Please note that ChronoFlo's hosted accounts cannot be used commercially to create timelines for clients without permission from us. If you want to create a timeline for a client, you will need to get a Single Timeline License. Email us at hello@chronoflotimeline.com for info about the Single Timeline License.
We currently offer two paid accounts: Bronze ($10.00 a month) and Silver ($29.50 a month) which allow you to create five and 25 timelines respectively. You can find out more about our accounts below.
Our Bronze account ($10.00 a month) allows you to create up to five timelines, embed timelines on your website (up to 10,000 monthly views) and share your timeline with friends or colleagues. The Bronze account is aimed at individuals, non-profit organisations and community groups.
The Bronze account offers the following features:
1Create up to five fully functional timelines, each including up to 500 events.
2Upload images to our servers. The Bronze account comes with 250MB of image storage
3Create your own themes to perfectly match your brand (or choose from our hand-designed themes). The color of virtually everything can be changed. The Bronze account allows you to create up to 5 themes.
4Embed your timeline on your website. You get 10,000 monthly embeddable views.
5Share you timeline with colleages and clients. Password protect it for extra security.
6Access to the new features we are regularly rolling out for the software.
Our Silver account ($29.50 a month) allows you to create up to 25 timelines, embed timelines on your website (up to 30,000 monthly views) and share your timelines with clients and colleagues. The Silver account is aimed at small to medium sized businesses and public organisations.
The Silver account offers the following features:
1Create up to 25 fully functional timelines, each including up to 1,000 events.
2Upload images to our servers. The Silver account comes with 1,000MB of image storage
3Create your own theme to perfectly match your brand (or choose from our hand-designed themes). The color of virtually everything can be changed. The Silver account allows you to create up to 25 themes.
4Embed your timeline on your website. You get 30,000 monthly embeddable views.
5Share you timeline with colleages and clients. Password protect it for extra security.
6Access to the new features we are regularly rolling out for the software.
Sorry. Something must have gone wrong with the upgrade process. Please drop us an email at help@chronoflotimeline.com and we'll manually upgrade your account.
There are two ways you can do this. You can either cancel your subscription via your PayPal account. Or you can email us and we'll cancel your subscription ourselves. Either way, we do not give refunds for periods already paid. New charges will however stop immediately. You can upgrade and downgrade to and from the premium options whenever you want to, with the above proviso that we won't refund you for periods you have already paid for.
If you haven't yet created an account with ChronoFlo Timeline Maker, do so now - see here for how. If you have, then please ensure you are logged in.
1Now navigate to your account page. Here you will find a list of timelines you have already created and also a form for creating a new timeline.
2Enter the required information into the form. The timeline's title is the only field that is mandatory. If you are not sure what to enter into any of the fields, then hover over them with you mouse and a popup help panel will appear with instructions.
3Once you have filled in all the information, click the "Create new timeline" button at the bottom. Your timeline will now be created and you will be taken to the timelines page where you can start adding to and editing it. You will now likely want to add your first event to the timeline - see 'Creating an event...' below.
1Navigate to the account page. Here (if you are logged in) you will find a list of timelines you have already created and also a form for creating a new timeline.
2Click on the 'edit' button and you will be taken to your timeline's page where you can started editing and adding to it. On this page, you can add new events, images and text to your timeline. You can also change all the timeline's settings, such as theme, about text, and so on.
There are four ways you can do this.
1Use your mouses scroll wheel of trackpad to scroll through the timeline.
2Drag the timeline's stage to navigate through the timeline.
3Click in the navigation bar (usually found at the bottom of the timeline) to animate to that date on the main timeline.
4Use the dragger in the navigation bar to drag the timeline to the date you want.
It is advisable to type in the date in a format similar to the following: DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS. You can miss off the hours, minutes and seconds if you don't need them.
For example: 10/09/1972 (10th Sept 1972) or 20/10/2010 05:30:10 (Five thirty and ten seconds in the morning of 20th October 2010).
You can also enter dates as 1 Jan 2019 or February 30 2010 or many other formats. Our software will do its best to work out what you want. We also have a date picker component you can use to select a date.
To create a BC date, simply append BC at the end. For example: 15/08/0550 BC is 15th August 0550 BC.
Please note that all years must be at least four digits, so to create an entry for 1st Jan 0010 AD, you would enter the following: 01/01/0010.
For dates before 99999 BC or after 99999 AD, simply enter the year, for example: 5 000 000 000 BC for five billion BC.
Once you have created your first timeline (see here for instructions on creating a timeline), you will probably want to create your first event. There are three ways to add an event to your timeline.
1The simplest way to create a new event is to click on the circular + button that appears at the bottom left of the timeline. Click on this to create an event at the timeline's current center date. The Quick Edit event panel will open up at the right of the screen where you can enter basic info about the event.
2The second method requires you to open the 'options' panel. You can do this by clicking on the little white tab at the right of the screen. When the panel is open, find the 'Create or edit an event' button. Click on the 'Create' link within the button.
3The final way of creating an event is to use the 'event manager panel'. You can open this from the 'Create or edit an event' button in the 'options' panel. Click on the button (avoiding the create link) to open up the 'events manager panel'. Then select the 'Create new event' option at the bottom left of the panel.
You have a couple of options here.
1Firstly, hover over an event on the timeline to reveal the admin options. Click on the 'edit' option to open the Quick Edit panel at the right of the screen. Here, you can enter basic information about the event. For more advanced options, or to add media to your event, open the full event panel by clicking on the 'full panel' option. Make sure you click save after making changes.
2Alternatively, you can edit events from the 'event manager panel'. This requires you to open the 'options' panel. You can do this by clicking on the little white tab at the right of the screen. When the panel is open, find the 'Create or edit an event' button. Click on the button (avoiding the create link) to open up the 'events manager panel', from where you can select an event for editing.
You can change the date of your event via the 'quick edit' or 'edit event' panel. See the 'How do I edit my events?' FAQs here. Then change the event start and end dates to meet your needs.
There are two ways of doing this.
1Firstly, hover over an event on the timeline to reveal the admin options. Click on the dustbin icon. You will then be asked to confirm you want to delete the event.
2Alternatively, you can delete events from the 'event manager panel'. This requires you to open the 'options' panel. You can do this by clicking on the little white tab at the right of the screen. When the panel is open, find the 'Create or edit an event' button. Click on the button (avoiding the create link) to open up the 'events manager panel', from where you can select an event for deletion.
There are two ways you can do this.
1If you want all your events to be displayed as durarion bars, then select the '...appearance...' button in the options panel, which can be opened by clicking on the 'options' button at the right of the screen. Next, under the 'Timeline Appearance' options, select one of the duration options from the 'Panel' menu. There are a few options to choose from. Now all events on your timeline - and any new ones you create - will be displayed as durations.
2If you just want a particular event to be displayed as a duration, and all your other events left as they are, then find your event on the timeline, hover over it (or touch it on a touchscreen) and select the edit option. In the admin panel that opens, choose one of the duration options from the 'Panel' menu.
To share your timeline, choose the 'Share and embed' option from the 'options panel' (which can be opened by clicking on the white tab to the right of the screen). Then, set the 'Shareable' option to 'Yes' or 'Password Protected'. Next copy the url in the 'Share link' field and email it to people you want to share the timeline with, or publicise the link on the web.
By default, your timelines are public. They can be viewed by anyone who knows the timeline's unique url. We don't publicise the timeline's url so it is very unlikely anyone would accidentally stumble across the url. However, if you want to make sure no-one else sees your timeline, you can set your timeline to be private or password protected.
You can make a timeline private by clicking on the 'Share or embed' option in the 'options panel'. You can open the 'options panel' by clicking on the little white tab at the right of the screen. On the 'Share or embed' panel, set the 'Shareable' option to 'No', and click save. Now, only the owner of the account when logged in can view the timeline.
Embedding is only available with our premium accounts. See above for instructions on how to sign up for a premium account. If you already have a premium account, follow these instructions:
1Open the 'options panel' by clicking on the little white tab at the right of the screen. Then select the 'Share or embed' option. Make sure that the 'Shareable' option is set to yes. You can only embed public timelines.
2Finally, copy the content of the 'Embed' field to your website. You can change the width and height attributes of the iFrame to change the size at which the timeline will appear on your website.
This will depend on what type of account you have. Our free account does not support embedding. The Bronze account offers 10,000 monthly views. Our Silver account gives you 30,000 monthly views.
The good news is that we do nothing if you go over by a bit (up to 10%). If you go above that, the timeline will not appear on your website until the start of the next month. We can add extra monthly views to our Silver account for a modest additional monthly or annual fee. Contact us for details.
Contact us at hello@chronoflotimeline.com and we'll outline the different options available, from our single timeline licenses (which allow you to host a single timeline on your servers from $2,000) to more advanced options.
ChronoFlo Timeline Maker allows you to display multiple graphs on a timeline, including both line graphs and histograms (bar charts). Here, we explain how you can add a graph to your timeline.
1Login to your ChronoFlo Timeline Maker account and select the timeline you want to add the graph to.
2Open the options panel
3Click on 'more options...'
4Choose the 'Create or edit a graph' option to open up the Graph manager panel
5Click on 'Create new graph'
6For a bar chart, choose one of the histogram options from the 'style' drop down menu
7Add data by clicking on the 'add/edit' data option
8The contextual help explains what format you need to use to add the data
If you are using our sectional timeline design, you can also choose to place a graph in a particular section, via the Section drop down menu.
ChronoFlo allows users to populate timelines with content using feeds. We currently support RSS, iCal and JSON feeds. You can use feeds with a free account but only for your own use when logged into your ChronoFlo account. If you want to share or embed feed-populated timelines, you would need a premium account. In addition, our JSON feed functionality is only available with a Silver account. Find below instructions on how to add a feed to your timeline.
1Login to your ChronoFlo Timeline Maker account and select the timeline you want to add the feed to.
2Now click on the 'Create or edit feed' option in the Options panel. And then click 'Create new feed' at the bottom of the panel that pops up.
3You now will be presented with the New Feed panel. Fill in all the fields, ensuring that you select the correct type. The source field is where you need to enter web address of your feed.
When you add a feed to a ChronoFlo Timeline Maker, any changes you make to the feed will be reflected in the timeline. So to make changes to feed events, you will need to modify the feed on your own servers. Any changes will then appear on the ChronoFlo timeline. Please note that we cache feeds (from minutes to multiple hours, depending on different factors) so it might take sometime for the changes to appear.
If you need the changes to appear immediately, you would need to use a different web address for your feed. Having an incrementor variable in the feed url - for example: www.mysite.com/myfeed?version=x where you increment x whenever you have made changes - can make this a fairly quick and easy thing to do.
Try reloading your timeline in your browser. If that does not solve the issue, please contact us.
This is likely because you have a free account. You would need to have a premium account in order for feed content to appear on shared or embedded timelines. If that does not solve the issue, please contact us.
Here's a list of things we're aiming to add in the future.
Image/PDF export
Recurring events
New timeline templates
New themes
Keyboard controls
Here's some new features we've recently added to the software.
Event categories, allowing you to color code different types of event
Timeline themes, allowing you customise the look of the timeline to match your brand.
Timeline feeds - iCal, RSS and JSON
Embedding and sharing timelines
Email us at hello@chronoflotimeline.com and we'll consider adding the suggested feature to our roadmap.
A list of known bugs.
No known bugs at the moment
Please email us the details at hello@chronoflotimeline.com and we'll try to get it fixed as soon as possible.