Connected item list with TikZ

Question

I'm trying to draw a list of items, not unline itemize, where the dots are all connected by a vertical line. In other words, what I'm aiming for is a kind of vertical timeline, but without dates. In fact, I have started by -stealing-, I mean, taking inspiration, from the TikZ answer in How can you create a vertical timeline?, but I have to major problems:

1. list items go beyond page limit, while they should remain inside the page, like an actual itemize
2. List items currently do not accept \par and \\, while I would need to support these

Here is what I have so far:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{environ,tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,matrix,backgrounds}
\makeatletter
\let\matamp=&
\catcode`&=13
\def&{%
  \iftikz@is@matrix%
  \pgfmatrixnextcell%
  \else%
  \matamp%
  \fi%
}
\makeatother
\newcounter{lines}
\def\endlr{\stepcounter{lines}\}
\newcounter{vtml}
\setcounter{vtml}{0}
\tikzset{
  description/.style={column 2/.append style={#1}},
  timeline color/.store in=\vtmlcolor,
  timeline color=red!80!black,
  timeline color st/.style={fill=orange,draw=green},
  line offset/.store in=\lineoffset,
  line offset=4pt,
}
\NewEnviron{vtimeline}[1][]{%
  \setcounter{lines}{1}%
  \stepcounter{vtml}%
  \begin{tikzpicture}[%column 1/.style={anchor=east},
    column 1/.style={anchor=west},
    text depth=0pt,text height=1ex,
    row sep=1ex,
    column sep=1em,
    #1
    ]
    \matrix(vtimeline\thevtml)[matrix of nodes]{\BODY};
    \pgfmathtruncatemacro\endmtx{\thelines-1}
\foreach \x in {1,...,\endmtx}{
  \node[circle,timeline color st, inner sep=0pt, minimum size=10pt, line width=.75mm]
  (vtimeline\thevtml-c-\x) at
  ($(vtimeline\thevtml-\x-1.west) + (-1ex, 0)$){};
}

\begin{scope}[on background layer]
  \draw[blue, line width=1mm] (vtimeline\thevtml-c-1.center) -- (vtimeline\thevtml-c-\endmtx.center);
\end{scope}

\end{tikzpicture}
}
\begin{document}
\begin{vtimeline}%[row sep=4ex]
  This is a very long sentence, hopefully it will generate a new line, otherwise I will have to keep writing nonsense on and on and on and on\endlr
  Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\endlr
  Busicom 'Handy-LE' Calculator\endlr
  First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\endlr
  Parker Bros. Merlin Computer Toy\endlr
  Osborne 1 Portable Computer\endlr
  Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\endlr
  TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\endlr
  Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\endlr
  Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\endlr
\end{vtimeline}
\end{document}

Do you have any suggestions on how to proceed? Thanks in advance!

P.S. I know that the colors I chose are ugly, in fact they are temporary and just for testing purposes. Moreover, I would really like to be able to make this work with TikZ because this is the first step of something a bit more complicated that I would not know how to do without TikZ.

Answer 1

I don't know if this idea might suffice. The problem is that the comma is a list separator; you cannot use it in an item as it is, but with curly brackets, i.e. {,} (see the example).

Note that the distance between the items is the same. You can control it through node distance values. Moreover, you can use \\ to break lines inside an item.

The code

\documentclass[11pt, margin=5mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{math, arrows.meta}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\begin{document}
\newcommand{\linedlist}[1]{\noindent%
  \begin{tikzpicture}[every node/.style={node distance = 6ex and 1.5ex}]
    \node[anchor=west] at (0, 0) (S-0) {};
    \tikzmath{ integer \nbPoints; }
    \foreach \s [count=\i from 1, evaluate=\i as \j using {int(\i-1)}]
    in {#1}{%
      \node[below=of S-\j.south west, anchor=west, align=left] (S-\i) {\s};
      \node[left=of S-\i,
      draw=red, circle, shade, ball color=red,
      outer sep=0, inner sep=.65ex] (N-\i) {};
      \pgfextra{\xdef\nbPoints{\i}}
    }
    \foreach \i [parse=true, evaluate=\i as \j using {int(\i+1)}]
    in {1, ..., \nbPoints -1}{%
      \draw[thick] (N-\i) -- (N-\j);
    }
  \end{tikzpicture}
}
\linedlist{
  If you can't explain it to a six year old{,}
  you don't \
  understand it yourself.,
  The important thing is to not stop questioning.,
  Look deep into nature{,} and then you will \
  understand everything better.,
  A happy man is too satisfied with the present \
  to dwell too much on the future.
}
\end{document}