Make a controlled timeline in horizontal line

beamertikz-pgftimeline

I would like to use the code in this solution Controlling the highlight of dates and separation in a vertical timeline which plot a vertical timeline, to make a horizontal timeline with the same configuration possibilities such as control distance between labels, show the same date in several slides.

I have tested change the draw and I get a horizontal arrow but the labels and ticks are not well scaled along the line:

\documentclass{beamer}
\setbeamercovered{transparent}
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{} % removes navigation symbols at the bottom left
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{overlay-beamer-styles}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta}
\tikzset{
    highlight on/.style={alt={#1{fill=red!80!black,color=red!80!black}{fill=gray!30!white,color=gray!30!white}}},
}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}[t]{Timeline}
  \begin{columns}[b]
    \begin{column}{0.15\textwidth}
      \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.38,baseline={(0,-5.5)}] % baeline controla la altura del itemize
      % \draw[line width=1mm,-latex,red!20] (0,0.5) -- +(0,-17);
      \draw[line width=1mm,-latex,red!20] (0,0.5) -- +(17,0);
      \foreach \Label/\Offset/\Overlay in {2000/0/1,2001/1/2,2002/2/3,2005/5/4,2008/8/5,2009/9/6,2012/12/6,2015/15/7} {
      % el segundo num es el offset en años desde el primero
      % el tercer num sirve para poner la fecha en el mismo overlay (slide)
        \def\X{\Offset}
        \draw[highlight on=<\Overlay>,-{Latex[length=8]}] (\X,-0.5) -- (\X,-0.1);
        \node[highlight on=<\Overlay>,anchor=west,fill=white,inner sep=0pt] at (\X,0.7) {\Label};
      }
      \end{tikzpicture}
    \end{column}
    \begin{column}{0.8\textwidth}
      \begin{itemize}
      \item<1> November 2000: marmots start hibernating
      \item<2> August 2001: marmots eat
      \item<2> Semptember 2001: marmots eat
      \item<3> July 2002: marmots eat
      \item<4> May 2005: marmots awake from hibernation\
      \item<4> November 2005: marmots start hibernating again
      \item<5> May 2008: marmots drink honey liquor
      \item<6> 2009, 2012: noisy, marmots can't fall asleep
      \item<7> July 2015: marmots eat pineapple cake
      \end{itemize}
    \end{column}
  \end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

I would like the labels to appear above the line with 45 degrees of inclination.

Besides, among the years of the timeline, I would like to start the timeline in 1945 which is far to the second date 1973 and it doesn't look easy to place these dates in the same line with other dates. The rest of the dates are closer and they can appear in the line in several frames.

Best Answer

To make a horizontal timeline we don't need columns.
To get a longer timeline we change the picture scale.
To get a 45° label inclination we use the rotate=45 node option.

\documentclass{beamer}
\setbeamercovered{transparent}
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{} % removes navigation symbols at the bottom left
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{overlay-beamer-styles}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta}
\tikzset{
    highlight on/.style={alt={#1{fill=red!80!black,color=red!80!black}{fill=gray!30!white,color=gray!30!white}}},
}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}[t]{Timeline}
  %\begin{columns}[b]
   % \begin{column}{0.15\textwidth}
      \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.6,
      %baseline={(0,-5.5)}
      ] % baeline controla la altura del itemize
      % \draw[line width=1mm,-latex,red!20] (0,0.5) -- +(0,-17);
      \draw[line width=1mm,-latex,red!20] (-0.5,0.5) -- +(17,0);
      \foreach \Label/\Offset/\Overlay in {2000/0/1,2001/1/2,2002/2/3,2005/5/4,2008/8/5,2009/9/6,2012/12/6,2015/15/7} {
      % el segundo num es el offset en años desde el primero
      % el tercer num sirve para poner la fecha en el mismo overlay (slide)
        \def\X{\Offset}
        \draw[highlight on=<\Overlay>,-{Latex[length=8]}] (\X,-0.5) -- (\X,-0.1);
        \node[highlight on=<\Overlay>,anchor=south,fill=white,inner sep=0pt,rotate=45] at (\X,1.25) {\Label};
      }
      \end{tikzpicture}
      \vfill
    %\end{column}
    %\begin{column}{0.8\textwidth}
      \begin{itemize}
      \item<1> November 2000: marmots start hibernating
      \item<2> August 2001: marmots eat
      \item<2> Semptember 2001: marmots eat
      \item<3> July 2002: marmots eat
      \item<4> May 2005: marmots awake from hibernation\
      \item<4> November 2005: marmots start hibernating again
      \item<5> May 2008: marmots drink honey liquor
      \item<6> 2009, 2012: noisy, marmots can't fall asleep
      \item<7> July 2015: marmots eat pineapple cake
      \end{itemize}
    %\end{column}
  %\end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

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You can use polar coordinates such as (55:100cm). In the code below, I compute the precise number of oblique lines to draw in function of the chosen angle \myAngle and the distance \myDist between two consecutive oblique lines. My code also computes the largest length needed for these lines.

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}

\pagestyle{empty}

\newcommand*{\myDist}{1cm} % distance between consecutive oblique lines
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\pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\horizIntervWidth}{\myDist/sin(\myAngle)}

% Length of the longest oblique lines we'll need. I add 10pt to be 100% safe
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\pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\maxLength}{10pt + \paperheight/sin(\myAngle)}

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\pgfmathtruncatemacro{\maxIndex}{
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\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
% Just to be sure we don't paint outside the page. :-)
\clip (current page.south west) rectangle (current page.north east);

\foreach \i in {1,2,...,30} {
  \draw[black] ($(current page.north west)+(0,-\i)$) --
               ($(current page.north east)+(0,-\i)$);
}

\foreach \i in {0.5,1.5,...,60} {
  \draw[lightgray] ($(current page.north west)+(0,-\i)$) --
                   ($(current page.north east)+(0,-\i)$);
}

\foreach \i in {1,2,...,\maxIndex} {
  \draw[red] ([xshift=-\i*\horizIntervWidth]current page.south east) --
            +(\myAngle:\maxLength);
}
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\end{document}

Timeline styling

I used tikz to create the timeline and created some styles for the nodes and lines.

Result

Code

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}

\begin{document}

\newcommand{\tlstartyear}{1988}
\newcommand{\tlendyear}{1993}
\newcommand{\tlxscale}{1.6}

\begin{tikzpicture}[
        upper node/.style={anchor=north west, align=left},
        lower node/.style={anchor=south west, align=left},
        upper line/.style={blue},
        lower line/.style={red},
    ]
    % years
    \foreach \year in {\tlstartyear, ..., \tlendyear} {
        \node[] (\year) at ({(\year-\tlstartyear)*\tlxscale}, 0) {\year};
    }
    
    % events
    \node (1988a) [above=40mm of 1988, upper node] {%
        Akiko Hada / Holger Holler\\
        (Ohi Ho Bang Bang)\\
        \emph{The Two}
    };
    \draw[upper line] (1988) -- (1988a.north west);
    
    \node (1989a) [above=20mm of 1989, upper node] {%
        Martin Arnold:\\
        \emph{Pi\`ece Touch\'ee}
    };
    \draw[upper line] (1989) -- (1989a.north west);
    
    \node (1989b) [below=40mm of 1989, lower node] {%
        Avid Technology veröffentlicht:\\
        \emph{Avid}
    };
    \node (1989c) [below=40mm of 1989, lower node, anchor=south east] {%
        \includegraphics[width=25mm]{example-image}
    };
    \draw[lower line] (1989) -- (1989b.south west);
    
    \node (1991a) [above=50mm of 1991, upper node] {%
        Steina Vasulka:\\
        \emph{Violin Power (LaserDisc \dots)}
    };
    \node (1991b) [below=2mm of 1991a.south west, upper node] {%
        Granular Synthesis:\\
        \emph{Pyrania}
    };
    \draw[upper line] (1991) -- (1991a.north west);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}