Do one of the following:

• From the Regions pop-up menu, choose Define Region Layers.
• On the Display menu, choose Define Time Layers>Region Layers.

1. Open the Define Region Layers dialog box.
2. Click New to create a new layer. [New name] is added to the list and the Name box.
   
   To remove the new layer click Delete.
3. In the Name box, enter a name for the layer.
4. If you want to display political periods, select Show political periods at the bottom of the dialog box. You can then define how labels appear for political periods, and define the color applied to those time periods.
5. In the Set region details area, choose the regions to display, and the color to associate with that region.
6. Click OK. The new/edited layer is displayed on the Timeline (if the Timeline tab is the active tab).

Use Duplicate to create another layer with the same settings as the previous layer, and then change some of the settings.

Example: You may want several different layers which all use the same colors for specific regions, but have different regions or political periods displayed.

List of Region Layers (Top Left): Displays any Region layers already defined for use with the Timeline. The layer last used when this dialog box was closed is selected when the dialog box is reopened. Click a layer name to display its current settings in the dialog box. You can then edit the settings for that layer.  

List Buttons: Used to arrange the names in the list and on the Regions pop-up menu.

• New: Adds "new name" to the list and in the Name box.
• Duplicate: Creates a duplicate of the selected Item Layer. The duplicate layer is automatically given the same name, followed by a number (for example XXX.1 and XXX.2 for the same layer duplicated twice). You can rename the layer via the Name box.
• Delete: Removes the selected name from the list and from the Regions pop-up menu.
• Up and Down Buttons: Click to move the selected Region Layer up or down the list.

Name Box: Used to enter or modify the Region Layer name. Adding spaces before the name will indent it on the pop-up menu.

Political label details area: This area is dimmed unless Show political periods is selected from below. Use the pop-up menus here to define the appearance of labels for political periods.

• Font: Choose from fonts available on your system.
• Color: Choose from a range of colors.
• Scale: Sets the sizes of these names relative to the other item names on the Timeline.
• Style: Offers standard font styles. The word Sample is displayed in the style currently selected.

Set region details Area: These items determine the geographical extent and appearance of the Timeline background.

• Set region and color Items with Pop-up Menus: Used to select the geographical regions to be displayed in this layer. When selected, you can also set the background color of the region using the Color pop-up menu.

Hint Choose white backgrounds when printing in black and white.

• Show political periods: When selected, the political periods such as empires and dynasties are displayed.
• Use region colors: When selected, each period is displayed in the same but more intense color associated with the region.
• Color Pop-up menu: Available only if Use region colors is not selected. In this case, you can set a uniform color for all these periods.

The political periods form a special class of items in the Timeline. Display of political periods is defined here, rather than in the Define Item Layer dialog box, because they appear as backgrounds to the other items, and in the colors of the regions. However, in other ways they function like the other classes of items:

• They can be added or found in the Find dialog or by amplifying to the Timeline.
• They appear only within the range set in the Define Item Layer dialog box.
• They can be selected for inclusion in a Custom List.
• They can be defined as User Items.