How to use the Timeline Block in GoSkills

The Timeline block in the GoSkills Course Builder lets you present events, milestones, or stages in a sequence. Learners can explore each point on the timeline to reveal more information, making it easier to follow how something unfolds over time.

It’s particularly useful for explaining processes, illustrating historical events, or showing how a project progresses from start to finish.

How to add a Timeline block to a lesson

Open your course in the Course Builder and go to the lesson where you want to add a timeline.
Click Add a block, then select Timeline under Interactive.
Your Timeline block will appear with sample events that you can customize.

GoSkills Course Builder showing the Timeline option under Interactive in the Add a block menu.

Each event has a label (such as a date or phase), a title, and space for supporting content.

Timeline block in GoSkills showing three expandable milestones: The beginning, Growth, and Where we are now.

Add and edit events on your timeline

Select your Timeline block and click Edit to open the editor.

From the Content tab, you can:

Add events using the + icon next to Events.
Edit each event by adding a label (such as a date or phase), a title, and supporting content.
Reorder events by dragging them into your preferred sequence.

Timeline labels don’t have to be actual dates. You can also use labels such as “Phase 1,” “Day 3,” or “Week 2.”

GoSkills Timeline editor showing the event list, content fields, and controls for adding and reordering events.

Create a timeline with Genie

You can use Genie, GoSkills’ AI course creator, to generate a timeline for your lesson.

Select your Timeline block, click Use Genie, and describe the sequence you’d like to create. For example, you could ask Genie to show how a phishing attack unfolds, from the scammer’s initial research to the damage caused by a compromised account.

Genie may also add a Timeline automatically when it identifies a suitable sequence in your lesson. You can review and edit the generated events afterward.

GoSkills Course Builder showing a six-event phishing attack timeline generated with Genie, alongside the Genie AI assistant panel.

Add and customize content inside a timeline event

Each timeline event can include different types of content to provide additional context, examples, or supporting materials.

Expand an event and click Add content to insert text, images, videos, files, tables, code, and more.

Expanded Timeline event in GoSkills showing the content block menu with options for images, videos, files, tables, code, and more.

You can also customize individual text blocks within an event. Select the text, then click the pencil icon to edit it or adjust its settings, including background color and padding.

GoSkills Timeline event showing text block settings for background color and padding, with a highlighted text section and supporting illustration.

Adjust your Timeline settings

Select your Timeline block, click Edit, and open the Settings tab to customize how your timeline is displayed and how learners interact with it.

You’ll find the following options:

Layout: Choose between three layouts:
- Single column: Displays events vertically along one side of the timeline. This is the default layout.
- Alternating sides: Displays events on alternating sides of a vertical timeline.
- Horizontal: Displays events along a horizontal timeline, with their content appearing below.
Require block: Require learners to open every event before they can proceed in the lesson.

GoSkills Timeline settings showing Single column, Alternating sides, and Horizontal layout options, plus the Require block toggle.

Here’s an example of how the same timeline looks using the Horizontal layout:

Horizontal Timeline block in GoSkills showing six stages of a phishing attack, with the first event expanded to reveal an explanation and illustration.

What does a Timeline block look like to learners?

Learners explore the timeline by selecting individual events to reveal their content. Depending on the layout you’ve chosen, events appear vertically or horizontally.

As they explore, a progress indicator shows how many events they’ve opened. Once they’ve opened every event, they’ll see an All events opened confirmation.

GoSkills learner preview showing the final event in a six-stage phishing attack timeline, with a 6/6 progress indicator and All events opened confirmation.

When should you use a Timeline block?

Timeline blocks work best when learners need to understand the order of events, how something develops over time, or the stages of a larger process. Here are a few ways to use them in your courses:

Employee onboarding: Map out a new hire’s first 90 days, from their first day to their first performance review.
Incident response training: Walk learners through the stages of an incident, from initial detection to investigation, resolution, and follow-up.
Project management training: Illustrate the key phases of a project, from planning and execution to delivery.
Product training: Show how a product evolves, highlighting important milestones, feature releases, and improvements.

Tip: Give each event a short, descriptive title and keep the sequence focused on a clear story or process. Include enough detail to explain each stage without overwhelming learners.