System and method for non-linear and discontinuous project timelines

A computer-implemented method for representing events in a project as a project view, the method comprising:

• providing a computer system including a display, non-transient data storage, a processor;
• and an input device;
• storing event data containing data attributes pertaining to one or more events in the non-transient data storage, the data attributes having data types of at least one of strings, numbers, and dates;
• providing a set of time axis rules that create one or more timespans along a time axis on the display, each time axis rule comprising a pair of conditions consisting of both a start time and a finish time, the start time and finish time both defined manually on the display by a user manipulating the input device;
• each time axis rule also comprising a result consisting of a zoom factor, the zoom factor defined manually on the display by the user manipulating the input devices;
• and
• the processor rendering the time axis in the project view on the display, each timespan on the time axis having a horizontal width determined by a sampled time-space function that evaluates the conditions of each time axis rule and when both conditions of the time axis rule are met, applies the zoom factor of the rule to the timespan on the time axis;
• and
• for each of the one or more events, rendering a marker in the project view along the time axis on the display, the width and horizontal position of each displayed marker being determined based on the width and horizontal position of at least one timespan having times which intersect with the times specified in the data attributes of the corresponding event.