Q:

Timeline in Beamer presentation

I'm a student of engineering and I intend to learn more about Beamer/LaTex.
After a long research, I found some interesting images showing the closest style I plan to add in my work. Follow the link: http://tfischernet.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/history11.png
I have already tried to contact the author, but he did not answer me.
Could anyone do me the kindness to explain me how implement this timeline? 

A:

I just cobbled this together, so it could be significantly expanded, but it gives three macros: 
\skipyears[]{}, \showyear[]{}, and \yearwidth{}.
The first specifies a color as the optional argument and a paper distance to represent the skip of years.  The second macro takes a color as an optional argument and a piece of text (the year) to set atop the line mark.  The final macro defines the width of a year mark.
As shown in this example, one can \stackunder the \showyear for added notations.
\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{stackengine}
\renewcommand\useanchorwidth{T}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\def\theyearwidth{1.5pt}
\newlength\yrsfboxrule
\yrsfboxrule .4\fboxrule
\newcommand\yearwidth[1]{\def\theyearwidth{#1}\ignorespaces}
\newcommand\skipyears[2][white]{%
  \fboxrule\yrsfboxrule%
  \fboxsep=-\yrsfboxrule%
  \fcolorbox{gray}{#1}{\strut\hspace{#2}}%
  \ignorespaces%
}
\newcommand\showyear[2][black]{%
  \fboxsep=0pt%
  \stackon{%
    \colorbox{#1}{\strut\hspace{\theyearwidth}}%
  }{\sffamily\small#2}%
  \ignorespaces%
}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
Here is some text about computing hardware
\vspace{0.5in}\par
{\centering
\skipyears[cyan]{.1in}
\showyear[red]{-3000}
\skipyears[cyan]{1in}
\showyear{0}
\skipyears{.7in}
\showyear{1400}
\skipyears[cyan!50]{.3in}
\showyear{1500}
\yearwidth{.8pt}
\skipyears[cyan!50]{.05in}
\showyear{}
\skipyears[cyan!50]{0.7in}
\stackunder{\showyear{1776}}{\scriptsize\itshape American Revolution}%
\yearwidth{1.5pt}
\skipyears[cyan!50]{1.1in}
\showyear{2010}\par}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

For those tasks more oriented to a report, rather than beamer, here is a variation on the above that some might find more appealing:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{stackengine}
\renewcommand\useanchorwidth{T}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\def\theyearwidth{1.5pt}
\def\mystrut{\rule{0ex}{1ex}}
\def\myyrstrut{\rule[-1ex]{0ex}{2ex}}
\newlength\yrsfboxrule
\yrsfboxrule .4\fboxrule
\newcommand\yearwidth[1]{\def\theyearwidth{#1}\ignorespaces}
\newcommand\skipyears[2][black]{%
  \fboxrule\yrsfboxrule%
  \fboxsep=-\yrsfboxrule%
  \fcolorbox{#1}{#1}{\mystrut\hspace{#2}}%
  \ignorespaces%
}
\newcommand\showyear[2][black]{%
  \fboxsep=0pt%
  \stackunder[2pt]{%
    \colorbox{#1}{\myyrstrut\hspace{\theyearwidth}}%
  }{\tiny#2}%
  \ignorespaces%
}
\begin{document}
Here is some text
\vspace{0.5in}\par
{\centering
\yearwidth{0.8pt}
\tclap{\tiny 0}%
\skipyears[gray]{1in}
\showyear{1200}
\skipyears{.7in}
\showyear{1400}
\skipyears[cyan!50]{.3in}
\showyear{1500}
\skipyears[gray]{.05in}
\skipyears[gray]{0.7in}
{\def\stackalignment{r}\showyear{1520}
\bllap[3.7ex]{\tiny Texte A}}%
\skipyears[gray]{0.04in}%
{\def\stackalignment{l}\showyear{1525}
\brlap[3.7ex]{\tiny Texte B}}%
\skipyears{1.1in}
\tllap{\tiny 2010}\par}
\end{document}

