this is my first time ever trying to use complex templates that other people have made and this is giving me a problem.
So what I'm trying to do is to add a timeline (https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/197140) to a poster template (http://www.nathanieljohnston.com/2009/08/latex-poster-template/).
Unfortunately, what I get it is something like this:
This is the latex code:
\documentclass[final]{beamer}
\usepackage[scale=1.24]{beamerposter}
\usepackage{graphicx} % allows us to import images
\usepackage{tikz}
%-----------------------------------------------------------
% Define the column width and poster size
% To set effective sepwid, onecolwid and twocolwid values, first choose how many columns you want and how much separation you want between columns
% The separation I chose is 0.024 and I want 4 columns
% Then set onecolwid to be (1-(4+1)0.024)/4 = 0.22
% Set twocolwid to be 2onecolwid + sepwid = 0.464
%-----------------------------------------------------------
\newlength{\sepwid}
\newlength{\onecolwid}
\newlength{\twocolwid}
\newlength{\threecolwid}
\setlength{\paperwidth}{48in}
\setlength{\paperheight}{36in}
\setlength{\sepwid}{0.024\paperwidth}
\setlength{\onecolwid}{0.22\paperwidth}
\setlength{\twocolwid}{0.464\paperwidth}
\setlength{\threecolwid}{0.708\paperwidth}
\setlength{\topmargin}{-0.5in}
\usepackage{exscale}
%==============================================================================
% build the poster timeline
%==============================================================================
\makeatletter
\newenvironment{timeline}[6]{
\newcommand{\startyear}{#1}
\newcommand{\tlendyear}{#2}
\newcommand{\yearcolumnwidth}{#3}
\newcommand{\rulecolumnwidth}{#4}
\newcommand{\entrycolumnwidth}{#5}
\newcommand{\timelineheight}{#6}
\newcommand{\templength}{}
\newcommand{\entrycounter}{0}
% https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/85528/checking-whether-or-not-a-node-has-been-previously-defined
% https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/37709/how-can-i-know-if-a-node-is-already-defined
\long\def\ifnodedefined##1##2##3{%
\@ifundefined{pgf@sh@ns@##1}{##3}{##2}%
}
\newcommand{\ifnodeundefined}[2]{%
\ifnodedefined{##1}{}{##2}
}
\newcommand{\drawtimeline}{%
\draw[timelinerule] (\yearcolumnwidth+5pt, 0pt) -- (\yearcolumnwidth+5pt, -\timelineheight);
\draw (\yearcolumnwidth+0pt, -10pt) -- (\yearcolumnwidth+10pt, -10pt);
\draw (\yearcolumnwidth+0pt, -\timelineheight+15pt) -- (\yearcolumnwidth+10pt, -\timelineheight+15pt);
\pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\templength}{neg(add(multiply(subtract(\startyear, \startyear), divide(subtract(\timelineheight, 25), subtract(\tlendyear, \startyear))), 10))}
\node[year] (year-\startyear) at (\yearcolumnwidth, \templength) {\startyear};
\pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\templength}{neg(add(multiply(subtract(\tlendyear, \startyear), divide(subtract(\timelineheight, 25), subtract(\tlendyear, \startyear))), 10))}
\node[year] (year-\tlendyear) at (\yearcolumnwidth, \templength) {\tlendyear};
}
\newcommand{\entry}[2]{%
% #1 is the year
% #2 is the entry text
\pgfmathtruncatemacro{\lastentrycount}{\entrycounter}
\pgfmathtruncatemacro{\entrycounter}{\entrycounter + 1}
\ifdim \lastentrycount pt > 0 pt%
\node[entry] (entry-\entrycounter) [below of=entry-\lastentrycount] {##2};
\else%
\pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\templength}{neg(add(multiply(subtract(\startyear, \startyear), divide(subtract(\timelineheight, 25), subtract(\tlendyear, \startyear))), 10))}
\node[entry] (entry-\entrycounter) at (\yearcolumnwidth+\rulecolumnwidth+10pt, \templength) {##2};
\fi
\ifnodeundefined{year-##1}{%
\pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\templength}{neg(add(multiply(subtract(##1, \startyear), divide(subtract(\timelineheight, 25), subtract(\tlendyear, \startyear))), 10))}
\draw (\yearcolumnwidth+2.5pt, \templength) -- (\yearcolumnwidth+7.5pt, \templength);
\node[year] (year-##1) at (\yearcolumnwidth, \templength) {##1};
}
\draw ($(year-##1.east)+(2.5pt, 0pt)$) -- ($(year-##1.east)+(7.5pt, 0pt)$) -- ($(entry-\entrycounter.west)-(5pt,0)$) -- (entry-\entrycounter.west);
}
\newcommand{\plainentry}[2]{% plainentry won't print date in the timeline
% #1 is the year
% #2 is the entry text
\pgfmathtruncatemacro{\lastentrycount}{\entrycounter}
\pgfmathtruncatemacro{\entrycounter}{\entrycounter + 1}
\ifdim \lastentrycount pt > 0 pt%
\node[entry] (entry-\entrycounter) [below of=entry-\lastentrycount] {##2};
\else%
\pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\templength}{neg(add(multiply(subtract(\startyear, \startyear), divide(subtract(\timelineheight, 25), subtract(\tlendyear, \startyear))), 10))}
\node[entry] (entry-\entrycounter) at (\yearcolumnwidth+\rulecolumnwidth+10pt, \templength) {##2};
\fi
\ifnodeundefined{invisible-year-##1}{%
\pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\templength}{neg(add(multiply(subtract(##1, \startyear), divide(subtract(\timelineheight, 25), subtract(\tlendyear, \startyear))), 10))}
\draw (\yearcolumnwidth+2.5pt, \templength) -- (\yearcolumnwidth+7.5pt, \templength);
\node[year] (invisible-year-##1) at (\yearcolumnwidth, \templength) {};
}
\draw ($(invisible-year-##1.east)+(2.5pt, 0pt)$) -- ($(invisible-year-##1.east)+(7.5pt, 0pt)$) -- ($(entry-\entrycounter.west)-(5pt,0)$) -- (entry-\entrycounter.west);
}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\tikzstyle{entry} = [%
align=left,%
text width=\entrycolumnwidth,%
node distance=10mm,%
anchor=west]
\tikzstyle{year} = [anchor=east]
\tikzstyle{timelinerule} = [%
draw,%
decoration={markings, mark=at position 1 with {\arrow[scale=1.5]{latex'}}},%
postaction={decorate},%
shorten >=0.4pt]
\drawtimeline
}
{
\end{tikzpicture}
\let\startyear@undefined
\let\tlendyear@undefined
\let\yearcolumnwidth@undefined
\let\rulecolumnwidth@undefined
\let\entrycolumnwidth@undefined
\let\timelineheight@undefined
\let\entrycounter@undefined
\let\ifnodedefined@undefined
\let\ifnodeundefined@undefined
\let\drawtimeline@undefined
\let\entry@undefined
}
\makeatother
%-----------------------------------------------------------
% Start the poster itself
%-----------------------------------------------------------
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}[t]
\begin{columns}[t] % the [t] option aligns the column's content at the top
\begin{column}{\sepwid}\end{column} % empty spacer column
\begin{column}{\twocolwid}
\begin{block}{Timeline}
\begin{timeline}{1900}{1990}{2cm}{2.5cm}{5cm}{12cm}
\entry{1903}{Wilbur and Orville Wright fly the first powered airplane}
\entry{1914}{Assassination of Franz Ferdinand}
\plainentry{1917}{The October Revolution}
\entry{1928}{Discovery of Penicillin}
\plainentry{1929}{Stock Market Crash of 1929}
\entry{1941}{Attack on Pearl Harbor}
\plainentry{1944}{D-Day}
\entry{1945}{The Bombing of Hiroshima}
\plainentry{1947}{Creation of Israel as a Jewish State}
\entry{1963}{US president John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas}
\entry{1969}{The Moon Landing}
\plainentry{1989}{Fall of the Berlin Wall}
\end{timeline}
\end{block}
\end{column}
\begin{column}{\sepwid}\end{column} % empty spacer column
\begin{column}{\twocolwid}\end{column} % create a two-column-wide column and then
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
Why does the line all start from the same initial point? Does it have to do with the document size difference?
I would really appreciate it if you could help. Thanks a lot!
Edited:
Added \usetikzlibrary{arrows, calc, decorations.markings, positioning, backgrounds} and the initial points for each year is correct but the content attached to years are overlapping each other
