The BBC website offers a colorful and exciting interactive timeline of British History covering periods 6000 BC to 2000 AD. Key time periods are divided into segments and colored to illustrate distinct points in time. The ability to view immense spans of time in a condensed format is a particularly nice feature that helps users quickly grasp the entire history of Britain or users can zoom in to view time periods in greater detail. On the timeline, hotspots of key events enables pop-overs containing quick facts that can be clicked through to access more information. In addition, the timeline offers “journeys” that highlight subject specific links for further exploration (i.e. “slavery” or “women’s rights”).
This is a truly engaging timeline and Loders should consider utilizing some of these design features when creating their next LO timeline. The applications are endless and could be used to demonstrate the development of any key subject over time, whether that be the evolution of a species, the history of rock-n-roll music, or an animated timeline illustrating the growth of a company. The creative possibilities are endless.
