diff --git a/docs/timeline/index.html b/docs/timeline/index.html
index c7051a57..231654c4 100644
--- a/docs/timeline/index.html
+++ b/docs/timeline/index.html
@@ -916,7 +916,7 @@ function (option, path) {
       <td>rtl</td>
       <td>boolean</td>
       <td><code>false</code></td>
-      <td>If true, the timeline will be right-to-left.</td>
+      <td>If true, the timeline will be right-to-left. Note: you can achieve rtl timeline by defining a parent node with <code>dir="rtl"</code>. The timeline knows to take the nearest parent node direction and apply it. Notice that the timeline will prefer the <code>option.rtl</code> over any parent <code>dir="rtl"</code></td>
     </tr>
 
     <tr>
diff --git a/examples/timeline/other/rtl.html b/examples/timeline/other/rtl.html
index fd7405d5..f53b1802 100644
--- a/examples/timeline/other/rtl.html
+++ b/examples/timeline/other/rtl.html
@@ -3,32 +3,23 @@
 <head>
   <title>Timeline | RTL example</title>
 
-  <style>
-    body, html {
-      font-family: arial, sans-serif;
-      font-size: 11pt;
-    }
-  </style>
-
   <script src="../../../dist/vis.js"></script>
   <link href="../../../dist/vis-timeline-graph2d.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
   <script src="../../googleAnalytics.js"></script>
 </head>
 <body>
 
-<p>An editable timeline allows to drag items around, create new items, and remove items. Changes are logged in the browser console.</p>
+<h1>Timeline RTL support</h1>
+
+<h2>Using <code>dir = "rtl"</code> in any parent node</h2>
+<div id="timeline1" dir="rtl"></div>
 
-<div id="visualization"></div>
+<h2>Using <code>options.rtl = true</code></h2>
+<div id="timeline2"></div>
 
 <script>
-  // create a dataset with items
-  // we specify the type of the fields `start` and `end` here to be strings
-  // containing an ISO date. The fields will be outputted as ISO dates
-  // automatically getting data from the DataSet via items.get().
-  var items = new vis.DataSet({
-    type: { start: 'ISODate', end: 'ISODate' }
-  });
 
+  var items =  new vis.DataSet();
   // add items to the DataSet
   items.add([
     {id: 1, content: '2014-01-23 <br>start', start: '2014-01-23'},
@@ -39,38 +30,20 @@
     {id: 6, content: '2014-01-26', start: '2014-01-26'}
   ]);
 
-  // log changes to the console
-  items.on('*', function (event, properties) {
-    console.log(event, properties.items);
-  });
+  var container1 = document.getElementById('timeline1');
+  var container2 = document.getElementById('timeline2');
 
-  var container = document.getElementById('visualization');
   var options = {
     start: '2014-01-10',
     end: '2014-02-10',
     height: '300px',
-    rtl: true,
-    // allow selecting multiple items using ctrl+click, shift+click, or hold.
-    multiselect: true,
-
-    // allow manipulation of items
-    editable: true,
-
-    /* alternatively, enable/disable individual actions:
-
-    editable: {
-      add: true,
-      updateTime: true,
-      updateGroup: true,
-      remove: true
-    },
-
-    */
-
-    showCurrentTime: true
   };
 
-  var timeline = new vis.Timeline(container, items, options);
+  var options1 = Object.assign({}, options)
+  var timeline1 = new vis.Timeline(container1, items, options1);
+
+  var options2 = Object.assign({rtl: true}, options)
+  var timeline2 = new vis.Timeline(container2, items, options2);
 
 </script>
 </body>
diff --git a/examples/timeline/other/verticalScroll.html b/examples/timeline/other/verticalScroll.html
index 07a68ad4..ddf946f0 100644
--- a/examples/timeline/other/verticalScroll.html
+++ b/examples/timeline/other/verticalScroll.html
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 verticalScroll: true,
 zoomKey: 'ctrlKey'</code>
 </h2>
+
 <div id="mytimeline1"></div>
 
 <h2>With <code>
diff --git a/lib/timeline/Timeline.js b/lib/timeline/Timeline.js
index a2d528df..97eafd24 100644
--- a/lib/timeline/Timeline.js
+++ b/lib/timeline/Timeline.js
@@ -58,19 +58,16 @@ function Timeline (container, items, groups, options) {
   };
   this.options = util.deepExtend({}, this.defaultOptions);
 
+
+  // Create the DOM, props, and emitter
+  this._create(container);
+
   if (!options || (options && typeof options.rtl == "undefined")) {
-    if (container.dir) {
-      this.options.rtl = container.dir == "rtl";
-    } else if (document.dir) {
-      this.options.rtl = document.dir == "rtl";
-    }
+    this.options.rtl = window.getComputedStyle(this.dom.root, null).direction == "rtl";
   } else {
     this.options.rtl = options.rtl;
   } 
 
-  // Create the DOM, props, and emitter
-  this._create(container);
-
   // all components listed here will be repainted automatically
   this.components = [];
 
