Relationship View
What is Relationship View?
A Vertical View
For the Relationship View, we have optimised our use of space by turning our usual horizontal timeline on its side, creating a table-like view with events are listed in rows down the left side of the view, and entities are represented as columns along the top.
Relationships between entities and events are represented with icons drawn at the intersection between these rows and columns. Click on any intersection to set or remove the role for that relationship.
This layout allows us to fit more events and entities on the screen with minimal visual clutter.
Users are able to control which entities are displayed and their order, and of course apply filters to events, so that only information of interest is displayed.
Incorporating date/time elements
To clean up the Relationship View, we have tossed out the usual linear time representation of our standard Timeline View, opting instead for a sorted list approach.
Although the linear mapping of time has gone, that date and time information is still visible on the relationship view in several locations:
The date and time range is listed underneath each event
The offset between successive events is marked on the left-hand side of the view
Both of these options can be turned off if you have no interest in the date/time information, or want to fit the maximum number of events and entities on the screen.
View All or Group by Type
As with our standard Timeline View, the Relationship View still allows you to choose whether to group events by type (e.g. group by character, place, project, employee, etc.) or to show all events in a single list.
When displayed as a single list, the events will be listed chronologically from the earliest event at the very top of the view to the latest event at the very bottom
When grouping events by type, each individual group will be sorted instead. As with the Timeline View, you can collapse and expand groups so that you can concentrate on only the views you want.
How to use Relationship View
You can switch between Timeline View and Relationship View by choosing “Timeline View” or “Relationship View” from the
View menu, or by using the View Mode toolbar icons (Mac version shown):
Choosing which entities to display as columns
The settings icon
in the top-left corner of the Relationship View allows you to select which entities are shown as columns in the Relationship View.
in the top-left corner of the Relationship View allows you to select which entities are shown as columns in the Relationship View.
Changing column order
You can re-order entities within their groups by dragging them into a different order in the Relationship View itself. You can also drag the group names at the top to re-order the groups themselves.
Choosing icons for types and roles
You can now choose your own custom icons for Entity Types and Roles via
Timeline Settings. The chosen role icon will be used to mark relationships at intersections in the Relationship View.
Changing relationships between Events and Entities
Click on the intersection between any event and entity to configure the relationship between those items.
When you click on an intersection, a dropdown menu will allow you to choose which
Role you want the
Entity to perform for the given
Event. Available roles, and the icons used for those roles, are configured via
Timeline Settings.
You can of course continue to edit relationships via the
Inspector also.
Display Settings
The same
Display Settings that control the Timeline View also apply to the Relationship View, including the chosen skin, text size, and the information that is displayed when events are expanded.
Of particular relevance for relationship view, you are still able to turn the display of Event Dates on or off in Relationship View.
When event dates are displayed, the Relationship View will also show the age of an entity for each relationship (provided such ages can be calculated).
To conserve space, ages are not shown when event dates are turned off, but you can still find out a character’s age by hovering your mouse over the relationship icon.
Parent/Child Events
Relationship View provides two options when showing parent/child events:
- Tree View: Child events are nested under parents in an expandable tree structure, allowing you to see more or less information as required. As child events are shown underneath their parent, they are internally sorted, but cannot be sorted relative to other events.
- Flattened List: All events are shown in a single flattened list, allowing you to view all events in chronological order, including events that belong under different parents.
You can use the button group shown on the Relationship View to toggle between these two options:
Toggle Offsets
If you are working on a smaller screen, you can remove the offsets from the left-hand side of the view by clicking on the Show/hide offsets button:
