How do I create a timeline chart which shows multiple events? Eg. Metallica Band members timeline on wiki

Question

How do I create a timeline chart which shows multiple events? Eg. Metallica Band members timeline on wiki ? where it shows the multiple band members and their durations.

Technologies to be used : Microsoft Office primarily. Any exotic technology where the learning curve isn't too much to do this stuff, should also be fine?

Answer 1

A Stacked bar chart should suffice:

Setup data as follows

Name    Start       End         Duration (End - Start)
Fred    1/01/1981   1/06/1985    1612   
Bill    1/07/1985   1/11/2000    5602  
Joe     1/01/1980   1/12/2001    8005  
Jim     1/03/1999   1/01/2000    306  

1. Plot Start and Duration as a stacked bar chart
2. Set the X-Axis minimum to the desired start date
3. Set the Fill Colour of thestart range to no fill
4. Set the Fill of individual bars to suit

(example prepared in Excel 2010)