Go go gadget insomnia!

[letterblade]

So I just got a briiiiilliant idea for a web widget!

A timeline and date tracker, specifically geared towards writers. As in, you can go and enter all your main characters' birthdays, and the dates and times (if applicable) of events in your story. It will then tell you how old so-and-so was at such-and-such a time, as well as generating some sort of nifty timeline. Days of the week provided when necessary. Probably also a random date generator, for "well, this took place sometime in the spring of '42, but beyond that I don't friggin' care." Further fun steps would be generating Wikipedia links to lists of events on particular dates, or, if I can figure out how, planetary data and so forth for the astrologically inclined.

Sproing! This could be fun. And useful. And save us all from those headdesky JKR errors.

Does this already exist? If not, want it? Assuming it is within my PHP/MySQL capacity and I have the time and energy to go through with it?

Obviously it would be limited, at least to start with, to the modern western earth human calendar, C.E. If there was sufficient interest, I could probably, with sufficient work, make it support B.C.E.; more work to support other known dating calendar (Chinese? Jewish? Stardates?); massive work to support user-defined calendars. But.

Yes, this post brought to you by crazy ideas generated at five in the morning when I woke up with a torn toenail thinking there was somebody in the house, then clipped the toenail and confirmed there wasn't, then couldn't get back to sleep.

Comments

[mattador.livejournal.com]

DO WANT. ♥

[kadrin.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking recently that something like this would be awesome! I was considering plugging away at it myself, but my MySQL capacity is something along the lines of "buhhhhhhhhhh, it are a field, everything is varchar".

For my case a user-defined calendar would pretty much double its usefulness, but, um, I can also see how it might quintuple the complexity, so...

But, to be briefer? Thumbs so up.

[jmtorres.livejournal.com]

I'm all for this. *cheers you on*

[hopechan.livejournal.com]

I would STAB A HOBO for this.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Yes, *please*! I need this for Shayara!

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Ooo! Oo oo oo! *bouncebounce* Wantwantwant....

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Ooh, nice.

It'd be lovely for my project, but would require custom calendar, alas.

[lucky-otter.livejournal.com]

I think that elfs may have written something like this. He's mentioned some time-lining software he uses for The Journal Entries, his SF porn serial.

[lucky-otter.livejournal.com]

Oh, except not a web app. But still, fiction time-lining.

[unfeathered]

That is a fantastic idea. I always do calendars, but I hate trying to do the maths and work out how old people are.

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

I think this would be useful in both writing and in real life. I know it would be useful in real life.

[cahalith.livejournal.com]

That would be an amazing tool!

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

I NEED ONE. *covets*

[tenshikurai9.livejournal.com]

Sounds neat to me.