Zoomable Wikipedia events timeline
Shares rank 8 of 31 interactive visualizations by recommenders
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.
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.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 65%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Cool project, fun to explore
“Cool project except for the controls, surely scroll should be to scroll up and down?”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” “It feels a little strange on macbook touchpad, otherwise it's a cool project”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” “its cool to look at but might there be a use case?”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” Smooth on Linux and iOS
“Testing this on linux-gnome-firefox is smooth.”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” “Worked like a dream on iOS safari”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Controls and scrolling feel wrong
“Cool project except for the controls, surely scroll should be to scroll up and down?”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” “It feels a little strange on macbook touchpad, otherwise it's a cool project”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” Unclear use case, more tech demo
“its cool to look at but might there be a use case?”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” “Right now it's more of a tech demo.”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” Blank or frozen screen in browsers
“Instantly freezes the moment I try to interact with it on firefox.”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” “I see a blank screen for 30 seconds.”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events” “borked on Chrome Android too”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: A zoomable timeline of 4M Wikipedia events”
Other interactive visualizations people recommend
The four most recommended other interactive visualizations, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ciechanow.ski | 33 | 1 | 97% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Size of Life | 30 | 4 | 88% | 2 | — | — |
| PGSimCity | 27 | 3 | 90% | 1 | — | — |
| Ithihāsas | 18 | 3 | 86% | 1 | — | — |
| Zoomable Wikipedia events timelineThis page | 11 | 6 | 65% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“This needs some serious work/testing.”
“Cool project except for the controls, surely scroll should be to scroll up and down?”
“It feels a little strange on macbook touchpad, otherwise it's a cool project”
“Not sure the page rank style algorithm is that useful from my limited browsing.”
“Worked like a dream on iOS safari”
“Events in the future are labelled in past tense.”
“I see a blank screen for 30 seconds.”
“its cool to look at but might there be a use case?”
“Right now it's more of a tech demo.”
“when not close to zero the UI breaks when years are ~1 pixel in size.”
“Testing this on linux-gnome-firefox is smooth.”
“borked on Chrome Android too”
“Instantly freezes the moment I try to interact with it on firefox.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.