by MARK WEST 03/25/10

"Right Clicking"

You can "right click" on a Mac with a single button mouse. To do so, you can do either of the following:

1. Press and hold the Control Key while clicking.
2. (This one only works if you have a Mac with a touchpad - usually a laptop) place two fingers on the touchpad while clicking.

Creating an Interactive Timeline

This tutorial aids a teacher in the following Social Studies grade level expectations:

5.5.spi.1. interpret sectional differences in the North and South in pre-Civil War (i.e., a map of Union, Confederate, and border-states, pictorial representations of crop production, reading timelines, and interpreting bar graphs showing human, natural, and manmade resources).

5.5.spi.3. interpret timelines that depict major historical post-Civil War events.

6.5.spi.1 read a timeline and order events of the past between prehistory and the Renaissance.

6.5.spi.9. recognize and order major historical events on a timeline between the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

8.1.spi.6. interpret a timeline of technological innovations.

8.5.spi.2. Read a timeline and order events of the past.

(note you will need to modify the timeline for the above specific needs, this is a general how-to).

This tutorial also aids a teacher in the following Language Arts grade level expectations:

501.6.2 Recognize the different text features of informational texts (e.g., separate text boxes, diagrams, captions, charts, graphs).

0601.6.10 Comprehend and interpret quantitative, technical, or mathematical information presented in maps, charts, graphs, time lines, tables, and diagrams.

0701.6.10 Comprehend and interpret factual, quantitative, technical, or mathematical information presented in maps, charts, graphs, time lines, tables, and diagrams.

0801.6.12 Comprehend and interpret factual, quantitative, technical, or mathematical information presented in maps, charts, graphs, time lines, tables, and diagrams.

The Topic

We're creating an interactive timeline. That is, a timeline with clickable links that go to other flipchart pages with more information about an event on the timeline.

The focus of this example is Social Studies' 8th grade standard 8.1.spi.6. interpret a timeline of technological innovations. Since I like computers, I'll focus on computing inventions.

While Charles Babbage's ideas were foundational to computing, I'll focus on the 20th Century and my first event will be Vannevar Bush's Differential Analyser. These are my events to be placed in the timeline:

• 1927 Vannevar Bush begins constructing a Differential Analyser, an analog computer that could solve differential equations with as many as 18 independent variables.
• 1941 Konrad Zuse builds the Z3, the world's first functional software-controlled computer.
• 1945 Vannevar Bush proposes hypertext (http as in http://www.web.com stands for HyperText Transport Protocol).
• 1946 ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) the first general-purpose electronic computer, was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory, but its first use was in calculations for the hydrogen bomb.
• 1956 The first computer hard disk used.
• 1968 Douglas Engelbart invents the computer mouse.
• 1981 MS-DOS invented. The first IBM-PC invented.
• 1984 The CD-ROM invented. The Apple Macintosh invented.
• 1985 Windows (operating system) invented by Microsoft.
• 1990 The World Wide Web (HTTP and HTML) created by Tim Berners-Lee.
• 1995 DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) invented.
• 2004 "Web 2.0" is born. This focus on the interactive parts of the web, such as information sharing (blogs, etc.), online software (from web-based mail, to online programs like Google apps, to even cooperative online games such as World of Warcraft, Everquest or the many FaceBook games) and collaboration in general on the World Wide Web.

This lesson uses the browsers quite a bit. Here's a reference in case you're not sure which browser is which:

Remember that if you can't find your browsers, they can be toggled on and off with the View menu and then choose Browsers or press Command-B.

1. A Background Image (optional)

1. I took a picture of a laptop and modified it in The GIMP . You may download it here to use for your background or use a picture of your choice.
2. Click on the picture and drag it into the flipchart.
3. Make sure the Marquee Handles Toolbar is showing on the image. Next, click on the Edit menu, go down to and click on Transform, go down to and click on Best Fit to Page.
4. Use the Object Browser and change the image to the Background layer.

2. Insert A Destination Page

1. I'll duplicate my first page. Using the select tool ("the arrow" on the ToolBox), click once on the background image. Click on the Edit menu, go down to and click on Duplicate.
2. Use the Page Browser to make sure you have a second flipchart page.
3. For the title at the top I used 48 pt Bold Arial. I typed in Differential Analyser.

I can add more information about the Differential Analyser at another time; this is just a place holder until I go back and fill out information.

3. Insert Title and Turn Grid On

1. Use the Page Browser to make go to the first flipchart page (just click on the top-most page).
2. For the title at the top I used 48 pt Bold Arial. I typed in A Timeline Of Computing.
3. Next, so that I can place elements properly, I turned on the grid. Using the select tool ("the arrow" on the ToolBox), click once on the background image. Use the Properties Browser. Click on the Grid section. Set Visible to True. Set On Top to True.

The grid's purpose is to give me a sense of scale in years (this is a timeline), and I want events spaced at intervals that represent the achievements. In other words, I want events that are ten years apart to be twice the distance on the scale as events that are only 5 years apart. This will give the viewers of the timeline a sense of perspective with regards to time.

I have 21 squares on the grid below my title. I have about an 80 year span on my timeline (2004-1927=77). So I'll use 1 square = 4 years.

1. Use the shapes tool to draw a vertical line.

4. Insert A Date and make it change pages

1. Use the shapes tool to draw a horizontal line for a date event.
2. Use the text tool to insert a date and ay information about the date. I used Arial bold 24 point. The text was black and I set the background from transparent to white.

1. Click the select tool (the arrow on the Toolbox) and click on the text you just entered. Use your Action Browser and choose Page Actions, then choose the Another Page option. Under Action Properties set the Page Number to the page with text (our first event links to page 2, our second event will link to page 3 and so on). Click the Apply Changes button

1. (optional) click the link (the text) to make sure it works
2. On the destination page, place some text that links back to the first page (Use the Action Browser, but set the text to First Page rather than Another Page.

Here is an example showing the years (27=1927, 31=1931, etc.):

Please note this red numbering won't be on my final product this is just to give you a visual representation of the years.

5. Continue Adding Pages and Links

Repeat step 2 (adding destination pages) and step 4 (linking to them) until all of your dates are entered. Remember to count a square as 4 years to chart the placement of each event on the timeline.

6. Finishing Touches

Turn off the grid. Using the select tool ("the arrow" on the ToolBox), click once on the background image. Use the Properties Browser. Click on the Grid section. Set Visible to False.

On each destination page, add any detail about the event that you feel is noteworthy that your students may need.

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Vertical Timeline Example

The finished flipchart from this lesson.

A zipped copy of the finished flipchart from this lesson in case when you downloaded the flipchart, all you saw was jibberish.

Horizontal Timeline Example

The following sample horizontal timeline is for you to see an interactive timeline in action. This timeline is of the most recents presidents and is for example purposes only. You can modify the timeline to your own particular needs or create a new one from scratch using the tutorial steps above.

From Nixon to Obama.

A zipped copy of From Nixon to Obama in case when you downloaded the flipchart, all you saw was jibberish.