Timeline
Timelines group entries under date headers instead of listing them flat. Lychee has three of them: photos inside an album, albums inside an album, and a standalone Timeline page covering your whole library.
The three timelines
Section titled “The three timelines”- Photo timeline - inside an album, photos are grouped under date headers. Enabled globally by
timeline_photos_enabledand overridable per album. - Album timeline - inside an album, its subalbums are grouped the same way. Enabled globally by
timeline_albums_enabled, also overridable per album, and separately toggled for the gallery root bytimeline_albums_root_enabled. - Timeline page - a standalone chronological view of every photo you can see, reachable from the left menu when
timeline_page_enabledis on.
Granularity
Section titled “Granularity”Each timeline groups entries by year, month, day, or, for photos, hour. The global defaults are timeline_photos_granularity (day) and timeline_albums_granularity (year).
Every album can override both from its settings, choosing between:
| Mode | Effect |
|---|---|
default | Follow the global setting |
disabled | No grouping in this album |
year, month, day, hour | Force that granularity (hour for photos only) |
On the free edition an album can only be set to default or disabled: choosing an explicit granularity, per album or globally, requires the Supporter Edition. Without it the timelines stay at their default grouping, day for photos and year for albums.
The Timeline page
Section titled “The Timeline page”- Photos are ordered by capture date or by upload date, depending on
timeline_photos_order. - Quick access entries let you jump straight to a year, month, day, or hour rather than scrolling to it, and the page URL carries the date, so a given point in the timeline can be bookmarked or shared.
- Loading works in both directions: the page fetches
timeline_photos_pagination_limitphotos at a time and a Load previous control walks back up the timeline. - Opening a photo from the timeline keeps you in it, so the arrow keys move through the chronological order rather than through an album.
- Uploads, search, and the usual photo actions are available from the page, exactly as in an album.
Access and visibility
Section titled “Access and visibility”Timelines respect album permissions: a user only ever sees the entries they are allowed to see, whatever the grouping. Anonymous visitors get the photo timeline only when timeline_photos_public is on, and the album timeline only when timeline_albums_public is on; both are off by default.
Photos in sensitive albums are excluded when hide_nsfw_in_timeline is on. See Sensitive Albums.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
timeline_page_enabled | Master toggle for the standalone Timeline page. | on |
timeline_photos_enabled | Enable photo timelines inside albums. | on |
timeline_photos_public | Allow anonymous visitors to access the photo timeline. | off |
timeline_photos_granularity | Global grouping for photos: year, month, day, hour. | day |
timeline_photos_order | Order photos by taken_at or created_at. | taken_at |
timeline_photos_layout | Photo layout on the Timeline page. | square |
timeline_photos_pagination_limit | Photos loaded per page. | 200 |
timeline_albums_enabled | Enable album timelines inside albums. | on |
timeline_albums_public | Show the album timeline to anonymous visitors. | off |
timeline_albums_granularity | Global grouping for albums: year, month, day. | year |
timeline_albums_root_enabled | Enable the album timeline at the gallery root. | on |
timeline_left_border_enabled | Draw the vertical line along the timeline (Supporter Edition). | on |
The date shown in each group header is rendered with a PHP date format string, one per granularity, both for the headers and for the quick-access labels. They are expert, Supporter Edition settings; the full list and their defaults are in the Timeline settings reference.
hide_nsfw_in_timeline, under Sensitive Albums, additionally excludes sensitive photos.