Most Gantt charts show bars, dates, and maybe a few link lines. Maverick Project Scheduler goes further — ten interactive innovations are built directly into the chart to help you read the schedule faster, spot problems sooner, and make changes with less effort.
1. Hover Highlighting on Task Bars
Hover over any task bar and every dependency arrow connected to that task lights up instantly — along with the predecessor and successor bars at both ends of each arrow. You can trace the full dependency chain for any task without reading the task grid, switching to a report, or clicking anything. Move the mouse away and the chart returns to its normal state.
2. Hover Tooltips on Link Line Arrows
Hover directly over a link line arrow and a tooltip names both tasks and the relationship type — for example, "Foundation Work → Concrete Pour (FS)". On dense schedules where arrows overlap, this tells you exactly which tasks are connected without needing to trace the line back to its origin bar.
3. Ghost Baseline Bars
When a project baseline has been saved, a translucent ghost bar appears below any task whose dates have moved since the snapshot. The ghost sits at the original planned position. A ghost to the left of the live bar means the task finished early; a ghost to the right means it has slipped. Tasks still on schedule show no ghost, keeping the chart clean for tasks that are running on time.
4. Today Line with Label
A vertical line marks today's date across the full height of the Gantt chart. The first task row shows a small "Today" label at the top of the line so the marker is always identifiable when the chart is scrolled. The line recalculates its pixel position on every zoom and scroll operation, keeping it locked to the correct calendar date at any zoom level.
5. Weekend Shading in Days Scale
At the Days zoom level — one column per calendar day — Saturday and Sunday columns receive a subtle background tint that distinguishes non-working days from the weekday columns. The shading phase is computed from the actual day-of-week of the scale start date so it always aligns correctly regardless of which day the visible window starts on. It disappears automatically at Weekly, Monthly, and coarser zoom levels.
6. Navigation Overlay Buttons
Five navigation buttons appear over the Gantt scale header when the mouse hovers it, and vanish when the mouse moves away. The left group provides Scroll Left (one interval unit), Page Left (one full screen width), and Scroll to Selected (a circle button that jumps the Gantt to the earliest date of the currently selected task). The right group provides Page Right and Scroll Right. Hold any scroll button for continuous auto-repeat scrolling at 80-millisecond intervals.
7. Wheel Zoom
Rolling the mouse wheel over the Gantt scale header zooms in or out by adjusting the pixels-per-day value. Scroll up to zoom in and see more detail per day; scroll down to zoom out and fit more of the timeline on screen. The zoom range runs from 2 pixels per day (multi-year overview) to 100 pixels per day (comfortable daily detail). The zoom level is saved to localStorage and the server session so it persists across page reloads.
8. Child Milestones in Summary Bars
When child tasks have milestone dates, small white diamond markers are rendered directly on the parent summary bar at each child milestone's calendar position. A collapsed project view — showing only the summary bar — still communicates all key milestone dates inside that phase. Stakeholders can see when major deliverables are due without expanding the task hierarchy.
9. Critical Path Color Coding
When the critical path has been calculated, every task bar and every dependency arrow is individually colored: red for critical path items, blue for non-critical. The coloring is applied per task — a mixed schedule where some tasks are critical and others are not renders clearly, with the critical chain standing out against the non-critical work at any zoom level.
10. Float Bars
Every non-critical task with positive total float displays a translucent bar extending from the right edge of its task bar. The bar width represents the number of days the task can slip before it falls onto the critical path. A label inside shows the float amount in days ("18d float") or weeks ("2.6 wk float") for longer floats. Float bars share the same drag group as their task bar, so moving a task also repositions the float indicator.