# Zoomable Wikipedia events timeline

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Zoomable Wikipedia events timeline and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a cool, smooth interactive timeline of about 4 million Wikipedia events that works well on several browsers. Critics say the controls feel odd and it is more a tech demo than a useful tool.

## Why people recommend it

- Cool project, fun to explore (3 comments): "Cool project except for the controls, surely scroll should be to scroll up and down?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48957063)) "It feels a little strange on macbook touchpad, otherwise it's a cool project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48956807)) "its cool to look at but might there be a use case?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48952649))
- Smooth on Linux and iOS (2 comments): "Testing this on linux-gnome-firefox is smooth." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48952000)) "Worked like a dream on iOS safari" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48954583))

## What people warn about

- Controls and scrolling feel wrong (2 comments): "Cool project except for the controls, surely scroll should be to scroll up and down?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48957063)) "It feels a little strange on macbook touchpad, otherwise it's a cool project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48956807))
- Unclear use case, more tech demo (2 comments): "its cool to look at but might there be a use case?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48952649)) "Right now it's more of a tech demo." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48952191))
- Blank or frozen screen in browsers (3 comments): "Instantly freezes the moment I try to interact with it on firefox." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48951525)) "I see a blank screen for 30 seconds." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48952825)) "borked on Chrome Android too" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48951571))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Real-time Solar System](https://hackerapproved.com/p/real-time-solar-system.md): 16 recommend
- [HumansMap](https://hackerapproved.com/p/humansmap.md): 6 recommend
- [Spin Lab](https://hackerapproved.com/p/spin-lab.md): 5 recommend
- [Explore 6048 YC companies as an interactive galaxy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/explore-6048-yc-companies-as-an-interactive-galaxy.md): 5 recommend
- [Anna's Archive ISBN Visualization](https://hackerapproved.com/p/isbn-visualization.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Zoomable Wikipedia events timeline", https://hackerapproved.com/p/zoomable-timeline-of-4m-wikipedia-events/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).