The Timeline (Gantt) View
Summary: 
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What is Its Purpose?
Use a gantt chart to:
• Estimate and plan projects - particularly contracts:
To determine resources(people) needed if the date is fixed and the resources(people) are variable. -or- To determine the date you'll be finished if the resources(people) are fixed and the date is variable.
• Forecast(reserve by appointment) a NEED for people in the future.
• Schedule(reserve by appointment) time for people to do work.
• Reschedule or Re-forecast people to do work.
How is it Different from Outline View?
The gantt chart adds a panel to the right of the outline that displays colored blocks on a timeline.
How is it Different from Timeline View?
We use gantt charts to manage dependencies.
The Timeline and Board view work well together for managing work flow with limited staff.
The Outline (Tree) view and the Gantt view work well together for managing scope and resources, needed to deliver on a date.
When should I use the Timeline and When the Gantt Chart? (Scale)
Timelines help you schedule production with finite resources, when the dependencies between the units of work are comprehensible.
Gantt charts help you meet the terms of contracts for specific deliverables with third parties - particularly multiple third parties - when you can increase or decrease resources, and when scheduling the work is incomprehensible without the use of dependencies to help you.
How is Runcible's Gantt Chart Different from Most Other Gantt Charts? (Forecasting/Appointments)
Most Gantt charts show Tasks. Runcible shows Tasks and Appointments.
You make changes in real time. The chart is updated with actual data in real time.
Assuming you break up tasks into small enough pieces, you don't have to ask people for progress or maintain estimates to complete.
With most gantt charts the full scope of the project is included on the client side (in your browser). When you make changes, the client determines all the changes, then sends a set of updates to the server. Runcible works with a subset of tasks and sends each change to the server, which then updates the browser. Why? Well, that's for your database guy to explain to you maybe. But lets just say that for Runcible to handle very big projects, that it's necessary.
What Do I See?
Two More Panels!
The Tasks panel is divided into two sides. On the left, a hierarchical list of tasks, on the right, the timeline.
The Outline (Tree) of Tasks
A hierarchical list of tasks, and just the minimum fields: Name, Assignees, Status and Progress Bar.
Note: As of this writing, some of the usual gantt chart fields are not visible view. We wanted to keep it as simple as possible and for the user to edit from the Task Detail Panel or from a Sliding Page. After working with it in practice we feel the need to satisfy professionals with experience by making them visible. We expect that some people will work exclusively in the Gantt view, rather than enter and estimate on the outline, and use the gantt for scheduling and resourcing.
The Time Scale
Use the time scale to display the time line by Day, Week, Month, or Year.
Note: Love your browser: don't try to display a five year project by day. It will sacrifice itself in an attempt to serve you. But seriously, we haven't implemented the viewport feature yet, which is a way of horizontally paginating the timeline. Once we do it won't matter how much you demand of your browser because it will only show a portion of the timeline at a time - with 'right now' as the center of the viewport.
Horizontal Bars
The bars show the duration in time necessary to get the work done - the time between the start and end dates.
Note: What they do not show you is effort (work hours). You can do 8 hours of work in one day, or 8 hours, on hour at a time over 8 days (duration), or use two people and do 8 hours of work in only four hours. Duration just determines start and end date given the various calendars and work days. Runcible will calculate the minimum duration and prevent you from scheduling less time than necessary, but you can always give more time than necessary. More... See the topic on Points, Hours, Work, Duration, Progress for for more information.
Progress Bars
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[Appointments]
Appointments show you the time reserved for each task.
The color represents the state of the appointment:
Status Color Color
Pending Orange
Accepted Green
Cancelled Grey
Rejected Red
What can I do with Appointments?
A lot really.
See Appointments, Forecasting, Scheduling and Rescheduling below
[Work Logs]
Work log blocks show you the time recorded on each task.
What can I do with work logs?
Nothing really. You can open the task, and read the detail on it. You can create an adjustment. You can choose not to bill it. But if it's there it's a financial record.
Milestones
A milestone is an event representing a significant change - usually:
• An obligation to a third party. • An event that we must be prepare for • A contract date that must be met (or cannot be missed) • The achievement of a goal. • The point where you will run out of budget.
A milestone is usually represented by a diamond shape (arrow heads in opposite directions with zero time between them.)
Dependencies
( ... )
Vertical Line
The red vertical line represents 'today'.
What Actions Can I Take?
Scrolling: An Additional Layer of Scrolling
When you're working with either the Gantt View or the Timeline View, horizontal scrolling in the Timeline Panel affects the Timeline area and not the workspace. Likewise, scrolling in the workspace area, does not affect the timeline panel.
Note: It will become intuitive after you're familiar with it. It's far more intuitive with multi-touch touchpad. But we have noticed first time users take a few tries to catch on.
Expand the Gantt Chart View
Use 
to expand the panel to fill the workspace. And use 
to close the Main Menu Panel.
Why? Gantt charts are better when you have more room to work with.
Resize the Panels
Grab the Handle and drag the divider left and right to expand and contract the Task and Timeline Panels.
Link
You can link using either the left task panel by selecting and pressing the link button, or the right timeline panel by using drag and drop.
To link using Drag and Drop:
• Hover over the task to display the handle for the link
• Drag the handle to the handle for another link.
• Drop it there, to create the link. Runcible will update the workspace and the server with the change.
To link using the tasks panel and the Link Button:
• Select a task
• Use Ctrl-click to select others, or Shift-click to select a sequence of tasks.
• Press the link Button.
• Runcible will link the tasks, move the tasks to their new positions on the time line and update the server.
Note: The Link button will use Finish-to-Start links. To add other dependencies please use drag and drop.
Unlink
You can unlink by: • Using the cursor to select the dependency, and pressing the delete key. • Hilighting both tasks and pressing the Unlink Button. • Deleting the dependency on the Task Page ->Dependencies Tab
To use the cursor
• Select the dependency
• Press the Delete key.
• Confirm the delete in the dialog.
Issue: We plan to eliminate the confirmation dialog because we feel it's unnecessary. Issue: Once a dependency has been deleted, the task should 'fall' back to the start date of its parent. This is an open issue. Why? We've been using these charts since they were invented, managed thousands of people who use them, taught generations of project managers, and have written a number of products that use them. And, we find that it has always confused users that when they delete a dependency, the task 'disappears' off the screen. Our thinking was that we should fix this rather problem by leaving the task in place and providing the option to: • Leave it in place • Move to today • Move to the date created if it's after the start of the parent. • Move to the Start of the parent if it's later than the date created. Our plan is to add these choices to the Right-Click/Context Menu.
To Use the Unlink Button
• Select a task
• Use Ctrl-click to select others, or Shift-click to select a sequence of tasks.
• Press the Unlink Button
To Unlink from the Task Page -> Dependencies Tab
• Double Click to open the Tasks Page
• Select the Dependencies Tab
• Scroll until you see the dependency.
• Select [x] to delete it.
• Close the page.
Shorten or Lengthen a Task
Use the cursor to grab the handle on either end of the bar to change the start and end time by shortening or lengthening the duration of a task.
Note: Changing duration does not change effort. changing effort does change duration.
Move A Task
Use the cursor to grab the bar and drag it left (earlier in the project) or right (later in the project).
Right Click to display the context menu, and select Move to Top or Move to bottom.
Indent / Outdent
Use can indent to make a task a subtask of the one above. Or outdent, to make it a peer of the one above.
Add Tasks
You can add tasks by using the Context Menu or +Task
To Add a Task with the Context Menu
• Right click on a task to display the context menu.
• Select one of the options:
• Insert Child of the current task
• Insert Above the current task
• Insert Below the current task
A new row will appear.
• Select the Task type, enter the task name, and press "enter" to save it.
As you start typing a new row will appear below the one you're entering.
Note: Selecting any other Task will remove any unused new Task slots.
To Add a Task with +Task
• In the task list, select a task, deliverable, or project to add the task to.
• Select +Task. The New Task form will open, with the Parent property set to the selected Task .
• Fill out the +Task form , and press save.
The new Task will appear as a child of the selected Task, Deliverable or Project.
Remove Tasks
To remove a Task:
• Either:
Open the task detail panel and select the task. It will appear in the Task Detail Panel. -or- Double-Click on the Task to open the Task's Profile Page.
• Press Trash to remove it.
Note: Trashing a task has no impact on it's financial records. In most cases Runcible will ask you to close rather than trash any task with financial impact. Note: In some cases you will need to change the state of the item in order to trash it. Note: The ability to trash an item is included in the workflow. So if the trash option isn't there, it's because someone removed it, chose not to add it, or forgot to add it.