Creating timeline for my thesis with Adobe Spark or?

[asonmez]

Dear forum,

I need an app to prepare a timeline (chronology of events) for my PhD thesis. I need a professional and academic-looking option. I saw Adobe Spark but there are lots of information on the web. Actually too much information;) So I need advice from people who know the Adobe apps well.

My timeline will start from 1700 and will go 1900. I need to add a date, event, short description, and maybe an image. There will be 4 different categories: Historical turning points of 2 countries and major developments in performing arts/entertainment in these countries.

I need to use it digitally as well as I need to export it as PDF (or else) to add it as an Annex to my thesis. Is there anybody who knows the application well? Is there any other Adobe app for such kind of purpose?

ps. I have a Creative Cloud subscription. 

Have a lovely evening,

asonmez

[John T Smith]

Spark help is here https://community.adobe.com/t5/creative-cloud-services/definitive-guide-to-using-spark-content/m-p/1...

[asonmez]

Hi John, thank you for your reply. 

I visited this page but there is no button for asking questions, there is also a Reply option. 

I have a specific question to ask people. 

How can I post my question on this page?

All the best,

asonmez

[Nancy OShea]

Spark does not have a community forum for asking questions, sorry. 

The closest thing they have is a UserVoice for posting feedback and feature requests.

https://adobespark.uservoice.com/forums/329007-spark-post-feature-suggestion

[Nancy OShea]

A PhD dissertation is way beyond what Spark is used for.  Spark is for 1 page online story telling like a press release or announcement about a new product or event. It's also sometimes used for quick social media graphics.

For what you want, you need to use real desktop software like Illustrator or InDesign to create the timeline/infographic and then export it to PDF.  Another possible option would be to use Powerpoint or Keynote. But I can't be more specific without understanding how the final output will be used -- print, digital, video, etc...

[asonmez]

Hi Nancy,

thank you for all this information, actually, it helped me to understand Spark. 

What I need is to input certain historical data and get a beautiful design automatically. 

Currently, I'm doing this with MS Office programs but wanted to go a little bit beyond and to get more automated and visual results using the technology. That's why I started to search about the options.

Have a lovely day,

Ayşan

[Nancy OShea]

Best advice, meet with and ask your PhD advisor which software they recommend you use. 

[asonmez]

Thank you for the advice

[Ko.Maruyama]

It would be relatively easy to design something elegant with InDesign or Dreamweaver.

For me, the beauty of SparkPage for simple (or even elaborate) pages, is that they are automatically hosted and easy to update.

The formatting does not export easily to PDF. (some elements may become reformatted, changing the layout of the page).

For a PhD thesis, Adobe Spark could stand in as a simple presentation of a timeline.

Recommendation as a teacher:

If you are creating printed materials in support of your thesis, I would recommend something like InDesign, which would allow you to make finer editorial decisions on your images and text. You can also make certain parts of the document interactive (nice way to show time / timeline).

AND - with InDesign, you can publish an eBook (with active links to supporting evidence and research).

If you create the InDesign document, it won't be too difficult to make a "simplified" version in SparkPage, but the InDesign workflow will provide more options for layout.

*And InDesign isn't even my favorite of my Adobe applications! 😜😳😳 (it's that good)

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/get-started.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/how-to.html/aem_id~'playlist/indesign/graphic-design/quick-start'

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/bd-p/indesign?page=1&sort=latest_replies&filter=all

[Nancy OShea]

I think Excel or a Google Doc spreadsheet would work for charting a dissertation research timeline. 

However, a Gantt Chart might more useful for project management.

https://www.projectmanager.com/gantt-chart

Again, it all comes down to how this will be used which we do not know enough about. That's why I said, talk to your advisor.

[asonmez]

Many thanks, Nancy, I will look at this Gantt Chart.

Ayşan

[asonmez]

Thank you very much, for all these useful explanations. I like this forum to get proper advice. Actually, I was lost in the information bulb on the web. I will look ad InDesign to see if it works for me. 

Have a nice day ahead,

Ayşan