http:\/\/www.tiki-toki.com\/timeline\/entry\/623027\/The-Grab-Slamin-Family\/<\/a><\/p>\nInputting data into this timeline wasn’t too bad, but the subsequent visuals just weren’t doing what I was aiming for.<\/p>\n
First of all, the data input isn’t into a spreadsheet.\u00a0 Instead you’re creating entries based on a type: span or story.\u00a0 Though consistency is harder to maintain due to the lack of database (and input takes far longer), the instructions provided by the interface a helpful and clear, so you can personalize each entry as you prefer.\u00a0 Spans are a new function, so perhaps that’s why they don’t work as well.\u00a0 I tried creating spans for lifespan of some Grabs.\u00a0 As far as I can tell, there’s no way to better clarify where on ends if multiple are overlapping.\u00a0 The stories are easy enough though.\u00a0 Stories are marked by little lighting bug-looking things on the slider bar and appear like chat boxes on the timeline itself.\u00a0 These lightning bug indicators, as charming as they are, would be problematic if you’re looking for something with more textual clues as to what’s going on from the slider bar.\u00a0 N.B. You have to actually click “More” at the bottom of a chat box if you want to read an entire entry\u2014you can’t just click anywhere in the chat box, which is what my intuition called for.<\/p>\n
Secondly, the photos from Flickr just would not work, so I ended up linking to the copies on Facebook (linking is meant to save you and them storage space, so there’s no download option).\u00a0 Then once (if) the links work, the span images aren’t adjustable, so you have to hope that your photo is composed with the primary area of interest concentrating in the exact center.\u00a0 Mine were not, so you’re getting a lot of midsection and no face on people.\u00a0 The linking goes for all media, as well.\u00a0 I wanted to include an mp3 from my desktop, but needed to upload it to SoundCloud in order for Tiki-Toki to acknowledge it.<\/p>\n
The really cool feature of Tiki-Toki is in the visualization.\u00a0 It has a 3D option.\u00a0 Instead of scrolling right to follow the timeline, your traveling down a road and the events slide past you.\u00a0 It reminds me of a cheesy ’80s time travel movie.\u00a0 So, not great for for academic settings, but a cool toy for at-home use.\u00a0 Also handy:\u00a0 Once you’ve input your data, you can print it, or it can be downloaded as a PDF, CSV or JSON file.\u00a0 There’s a super handy little embed tab, too, but that’s only accessible if you have a paid account rather than a free one, which is why I’ve only linked to this timeline, not embedded it.\u00a0 Tiki-Toki also has a group edit function, so other can contribute if you’d like.<\/p>\n
Timeline JS3<\/h5>\n