A computer-implemented system that transforms one or more project plans to create a graphical project view. The project view contains a set of markers along a time axis, and one or more time axis rules which define the appearance of discontinuous timespans, non-linear timespans, or both along the time axis. Once created, users may alter its appearance by adding, removing, or changing the time axis rules to modify the set of timespans along the time axis. Timespan adjustment also causes markers to shift horizontally and adjust their widths so that the dates on the time axis always align with the dates of the markers. The system also can create templates containing time axis rules and other settings, but no markers. Templates are used to create new project views from different project plans, while maintaining the same time axis geometry.