I am looking for an app to create simple timelines. I realize that I can cobble something together using Keynote or even Pages. However, I’m looking for a dedicated Mac app, preferably one that also has an iPad version, for creating simple timelines. Does anyone have a recommendation?
Thanks in advance for any assistance. 
Aeon Timeline but it might be overkill for what you want to do.
Or use Mermaid’s online editor to create your timeline.
both options are iPad accessible.
I tried Aeon Timeline but it was overkill. I ended up using Numbers. You can merge cells, hide grids, use fonts and clors to help highlight your data.
If you have a Notion account you could use a “Timeline” view on any database you spin up.
Am I right in thinking you have DEVONthink?
If so, then it has Mermaid compatibility built-in, so you can incorporate it into your Markdown notes (once you’ve ticked the setting).
Essentially, you create a block inside your Markdown document, and type a description of your timeline according to the (relatively simple) syntax. This is the example from the Mermaid website ( Timeline Diagram | Mermaid), copied into a DT Markdown document, side by side with the rendered timeline.
You can use Mermaid for flow charts and other diagrams as well. It works in other Markdown editors also, but they either have to have it built-in, like DT, or you have to link to the Mermaid site yourself (which I’ve never done…).
It’s obviously not as sophisticated as many commercial apps, but OTOH, it is a nice option to have for the occasional timeline/flowchart/pie chart etc etc…
Wow, I’ve never heard of Mermaid and had no idea something like that was built into DT. I’m going to explore this, thanks!
If I keep this up, I’ll end up someday being a “power user!” 
The DT help manual (under ‘Markdown Extensions’) gives a very quick overview of the process. You can find some tutorials at Tutorials | Mermaid.
It can get complicated, depending on what sort of chart you want to produce, but for simple charts, it’s not too difficult at all, and the site does have examples to work from.
I’m seeing a lot of stuff about Javascript and HTML. Do I need to know any of that to use the program? If so, I’ll have to surrender my power user title and remain an amateur. 
No, you don’t – that’s because DT hides all that detail from you. For the example I gave above, what you see is the entire document. I’ve never used it any other way than this.
If you read the page Timeline Diagram | Mermaid, you’ll see that it gives an explanation of the syntax, but it also gives examples of how you’d use it.
All I do is copy the examples into a triple backspace code block (as in my document above), and then play with it until I’ve understood – mostly – what’s going on.
You can ignore all the stuff about javascript and html – I do… I think it’s mainly for site administrators and for people who want to extend the syntax somehow. I wouldn’t have a clue how to go about that!
I was unaware that DT had this tool. Thank you.
I went down the Mermaid rabbit hole. Obsidian can render Mermaid as well. The resulting document can also be placed on an Obsidian canvas.
@bmosbacker, I don’t recall if you have a Setapp subscription, but I use SheetPlanner. It does a pretty decent job and is intuitive to use.
Mermaid is amazing as it ensures a well formatted presentation and interoperability across a lot of tools (and the technical effort to integrate it is really not huge if the tool supports Markdown). I use it a lot for sequence diagrams.
The only issue is that if you want to customize the look and feel of the output (nice colors, line width, etc.) then in it becomes similar to CSS. It’s not impossibly difficult, but it’s trickier. What I do is create my Mermaid thing in DEVON and then I copy and paste it in mermaidchart.com which has some nice themes, and download the image to my slide deck.
That sounds like a good idea - I shall try that, thank you.
Thanks for the recommendation. I don’t have a Setapp subscription. I’ve explored it, but I don’t use enough subscription-based apps to justify the cost. In fact, Setapp would cost me more than the few individual app subscriptions I currently maintain.
Timeline 3D is made just for that, but I wouldn’t say it creates a simple timeline. It’s pretty fancy!
I’m going to give Timeline 3D and close look, thanks.
I used to work with Adam, the developer, supporting Timeline 3D. Been a while since I’ve had a look, but his work always had wonderful standards for design, elegance, and beauty. If it’s as gorgeous as it used to be (which I’d imagine it is), it’s a treat!
