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How to make Visual Timetables

This is how to make a customised timetable using symbols and colours.

These timetables are so useful for organisational purposes and, after you have
made an outline to suit your needs, it is easy to clone the grid to make further copies.

There are 2 templates already in WWS 2000: it might be possible to adapt these to suit you.

This project is about making a timetable from scratch.

Open up the Grids for Printing option

If you want to look at the template grids go to Template Grids and choose timetable 1 or timetable 2

To make a grid from scratch go to New Grid and select 6 cells across and 16 cells down. The measurements for a landscape, A4, timetable would be 260 across and 180 down

Group together the cells. Highlight the cells you wish to group by holding Ctrl and clicking in the first and last cell. Then hold down Ctrl and click G to group them.

The pattern used here in each column is :
a. group first 2 cells
b. group next 3
c. leave next one
d. group next 3
e. leave 1
f. group 3, leave 1
g. then group 2

Colour is added to cells by selecting them (Ctrl and click in the cells), going to the options drop down menu and looking for Background colour. To have even more choice of colours click on the button that says Define Custom Colours and choose from the spectrum offered there. Always go for a shade lighter than you think when choosing a background colour, it always appears brighter when it is applied on the screen

Group the lunch and break cells horizontally, group them (Ctrl and G) colour them in different colours and use the Icon (or F10) to toggle to Text only. Type Lunch and Break in the appropriate cells

Type the times in the first column. A hyphen between the hour and the minutes will result in the clock symbol being displayed

Type in the rest of the information. When you have finished highlight the whole timetable (Ctrl + click in top left and bottom right cells

Go to Set outline thickness icon and increase All Walls to 6. This will frame your timetable. Highlight all the cells again and click on the Bold icon (B) to make the words thicker and blacker

You should have a customised timetable that can be easily adapted to suit different weeks. Make 2 copies and cut out the activities in the second copy to make 'matching' cards to reinforce the structure of the day. Try using photos in the timetable to help users recognise the teacher or support worker

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