An official timeline was always going to be a mistake, but I'm honestly surprised people still care so much. The moment a fallen timeline was created out of nowhere and a majority of the series was unceremoniously dumped on it was probably the moment people should've realized there's no grand interconnected plan here and shifted expectations accordingly.
The thing is, though, there has always been a chronology built game after game.
Zelda 2 is a direct sequel to Zelda 1, taking place years after Link defeated Ganon and took back the Triforces of Power and Wisdom. This is confirmed both ingame and in the manual. This game introduced the Triforce of Courage and the concept of multiple Zeldas to the lore.
ALttP is a prequel to the NES games, made clear by the back of the box confirming Link and Zelda in this game as being the ancestors of their NES counterparts, and the Japanese manual stating that it sets the stage for ''The Legend of Zelda''. The manual reveals quite alot about Ganon's backstory, revealing that the name ''Ganon'' was merely a nickname for the angry blue piggy all this time and that his actual full first name is Ganondorf, and that he wasn't always an angry blue piggy, but was once a mortal man who was the King of Thieves who found his way into the Sacred Realm and accessed the Triforce. This game introduced these details about Ganon's backstory, the Master Sword, multiple Links, and the Goddesses(although they wouldn't get names until OoT) to the lore.
LA is said to take place after ALttP in the official timeline with the same Link, and even though LA itself doesn't outright CONFIRM it(the only hard fact at its release is that it takes place after an incarnation of Link has destroyed Ganon, according to the manual), it makes the most sense considering that dream world contains many places and enemies from ALttP such as Turtle Rock and Agahnim. It was also confirmed to feature ALttP Link on the old 1998 official JP site for the DX version, so this connection was officially confirmed before HH, if it wasn't already apparent by the constant bits and bits of evidence, but due to how obscure it is and how ****ty the internet was back then, not many people knew about it.
OoT is said to deal with the backstory of ALttP in multiple interviews around its release, which makes sense as we finally see Ganondorf in his human form for the first time, and he enters the SR and touches the Triforce, just like in the backstory of ALttP.
MM is obviously a very short time after OoT, after the ending where Link has been sent back to live out his childhood, in a branch of time where Ganon never rules Hyrule. He has the OoT(the actual instrument I mean), the intro is an obvious reference to OoT, etc. do I really have to explain THIS one?
Four Swords was said to be the earliest tale by Aonuma at its release. This places it before even OoT. The only two games to seemingly contradict this fact by being before it(SS and TMC) are games that came out after it.
The Wind Waker is a sequel to OoT, in the future where Ganon was sealed by Link as an adult. This was not only confirmed by Aonuma in an interview, but the game itself makes this explicitly clear in of itself by talking about the Hero of Time and how he sealed Ganon, there's references to the events of OoT throughout the game, and there's stained paintings of the OoT sages and a statue of the Hero of Time in Hyrule Castle.
The Minish Cap deals with the origins of Vaati and the Four Sword, placing it before FS at the (current) start of the timeline.
Twilight Princess is a sequel to Majora's Mask, as it is confirmed to take place in the branch of time at the end of OoT where Ganon is prevented from ruling Hyrule for seven years by Aonuma, the same branch that MM is in. While the events of OoT themselves aren't really mentioned due to most of them being prevented in this branch, the game cleverly references the era in certain ways that would be possible if the actual events of OoT never happened in that era. Examples include making it clear that the OoT fisherman is a legend in the fishing culture of this era, making Link go back in time to the OoT Temple of Time, not to mention the strong implication that the Hero's Shade is OoT Link (which would be confirmed to be the case by HH and HE) due to him being a previous hero who you summon by howling ocarina songs from both OoT and MM.
Phantom Hourglass is an obvious sequel to TWW, the intro recaps the game and it has Tetra in it.
Spirit Tracks is a century after TWW/PH. Niko is still alive as an old man, and Tetra is mentioned.
Skyward Sword takes place before Hyrule Kingdom exists, and features the orgin of the Master Sword, making it first by default.
HH is released, giving us the official timeline. All the connections I made up to this point are still true to this day.
A Link Between Worlds is after ALttP, as confirmed in interviews and implied by a nearly identical game world.
Tri Force Heroes is after ALBW with the same Link, confirmed in an interview, although to be fair, you wouldn;t be able to tell if it weren't for it. It doesn't really contradict anything, though, and it is official, so what's the problem here?
Breath of the Wild was confirmed in an interview with Aonuma to take place after OoT(also confirmed ingame due to Nabooru being mentioned as an ancient sage by Urbosa, and Ruto being mentioned in a monument and having the events of OoT being retold through her perspective) AND taking place at the end of a branch where there's been many battles with Ganon. Tears of the Kingdom is an obvious direct sequel to BotW with the same Link and Zelda, due to the game mentioning the events of BotW through dialogue, discoverable lore, and character profiles.
Every game except for the Oracles and FSA(and to a lesser extent, BotW and TotK), everything was fairly clear upon release or close to it.
