How to Use the Timeline
The Timeline maps Christian authors and their writings from the early church to the present day. Use it to explore who wrote what, when they lived, how their work connects to others, and where you can read or buy what they left behind. No account needed — everything works right in your browser.
On this page:
A Quick Tour of the Screen
The timeline has three parts, arranged top to bottom:
The controls bar — zoom, filters, a collections menu, search, view-size buttons, and your reading list. Everything you need to navigate lives here.
The timeline itself — a scrollable canvas with two lanes: Authors on top and Works below, plotted left to right through history. A colour key runs along the bottom edge.
The cards area — click anything on the timeline and a detail card appears here, in the Authors or Works column. Biographies, work descriptions, and reading options all live in the cards.
Dates run left to right, earliest to latest. Dates before Christ are shown as BCE.
Moving Around the Timeline
Zoom in / out — use the + and − buttons, or scroll your mouse wheel over the timeline. It zooms in on wherever your cursor is.
Pan — click and drag in any direction. Left and right to travel through time, up and down to see more in a crowded period.
Reset — the ↺ button returns to the default zoom and position.
On a touchscreen, drag with your finger to pan.
Making It Bigger
On a larger screen, the timeline can use more of it:
↔ Wide — expands the timeline to the full width of your browser window, breaking out of the page’s normal reading column. Click again to return to standard width.
⛶ Full — full screen. The page text, header, and footer disappear and the timeline fills your entire display. Press Esc or click Exit to return.
Full screen is worth trying in any crowded century — the extra room makes a real difference.
Finding Someone
Search — type a name or title in the search box. The timeline jumps to the first match and highlights what fits. Alternate spellings and Latin/English title variants are included, so “Augustine” and “Augustinus” both work.
Both / Authors / Works — these buttons control what’s displayed. Choose Authors to focus on people, Works for writings only, or Both (the default).
Collections — the dropdown menu lets you narrow to a curated grouping by tradition or theme, when collections are available.
Reading the Colours
The colour key at the bottom of the timeline explains the four bar styles. The short version: solid bars have more to explore — click them. Outlined bars are on record but not yet fully catalogued.
A living author’s bar runs to the present day and ends with a dashed, open edge — a visual cue that their story is still being written.
Hover over any bar for a quick tooltip: an author’s name and dates, or a work’s title, author, and year.
Exploring an Author or a Work
Click any bar to select it. A detail card appears in the cards area below.
Click an author — their card appears under Authors, and all their works appear under Works at the same time. Click the same author again to remove them and their works together.
Click a work — its card appears under Works, along with its author.
Each column has its own Clear button — clearing Authors removes only author cards, clearing Works removes only work cards. Switching filters or collections doesn’t clear your selections.
What’s on a work’s card
Each work card shows how you can get it:
Free — read it free on exchanged.store.
Buy — purchase it on exchanged.store.
Free ↗ — read it free on another trusted site, opens in a new tab.
Buy ↗ — buy it from another seller, opens in a new tab.
If a work shows “No versions yet available” it’s in the catalog but no reading or purchase link exists yet.
Your Reading List
The 📚 List button keeps a personal shortlist as you browse — the number beside it is your current count. Open it to:
Copy — copy the list as text.
CSV — download it as a spreadsheet file.
Share link — get a link that reopens the timeline with your list.
Clear — empty the list.
Your reading list stays with you in this browser as you explore. It’s saved locally on your device in your browsers local storage, not as a cookie or file. This information is never sent anywhere, read, or stored by us.
Sharing What You’ve Found
Use Share link in the reading list menu to capture your current view — position, zoom, and selections — and send it to someone. Opening that link brings them back to exactly the same spot.
You can also copy your browser’s address while a collection is selected to share that filtered view directly.
A Few Tips
Crowded area? Zoom in — bars that overlap at a distance separate as you get closer. For a dense century, Full screen gives the most room.
Looking for free reading? Switch to Works and watch for the Free badges on the cards.
Lost? Hit ↺ to reset, or clear your selections and start fresh.
Links not opening? Free ↗ and Buy ↗ links open in new tabs. If nothing happens, allow pop-ups for this site.
That’s everything. The rest is exploring.