How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve no doubt heard the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you’re trying to present and explain data.
Graphs and charts can help to make statistical data and information much easier to digest.
You can use tables to present data, but if you want people to try and interpret complex information with figures, trends and comparisons quickly, then graphs and charts let you present the information in a meaningful and intelligent way that can be easily understood.
Graphs and charts help you present complex information so your audience can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts and graphs to WordPress? This tutorial shows you how to use WordPress Visualizer – a simple, easy to use and powerful plugin that allows you to create, manage and insert mobile-responsive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with a few simple steps that:
- Your web visitors can engage with
- Lets you upload data from your hard drive or a web-based data source
- Will dynamically resize for mobile browsing
If you are displaying visual data like pie charts, comparison bars or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), an easier way to display your data is to create the charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply insert your files and an image into your posts or pages.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to add interactive bar charts and pie charts to WordPress pages with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a great free WordPress plugin that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create appealing and mobile-responsive charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable content.
Visualizer – WP Plugin
Visualizer URL
You can install the plugin inside your WP dashboard (explained a little further down the page), or access and download WordPress Visualizer here:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Description
WP Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and insert dynamic charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in a few mouse clicks.
Visualizer uses Google Visualization API to render charts, which support cross-browser compatibility (adopting VML for older IE versions) and cross-platform portability to iOS and new Android releases, and are based on pure HTML5/SVG technology (adopting VML for old IE versions), so no additional components are required.
Visualizer also contains a variety of charts optimized for your data visualization needs, including:
- Line chart
- Area chart
- Bar chart
- Column chart
- Pie chart
- Geo chart
- Gauge chart
- Candlestick chart
- Scatter chart
Visualizer is a flexible and customizable plugin, allowing you to use Google Chart Tools with their default setting, or configure an extensive set of options to match your site’s design. Various options are available for each chart that let you fully customize their look and feel.
Additionally, charts are rendered using HTML5/SVG technology to provide cross-browser compatibility (including VML for older IE versions) and cross platform portability to iPhones, iPads and Android devices. Your web visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile devices without having to install additional plugins.
Plugin Installation
From your WP admin area, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in “visualizer” into the search field and click enter …
Locate the item in the search results section and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to continue …
Activate the plugin after successfully installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …
After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library from your admin menu …
This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings …
When you first install the plugin, the library will contain no charts.
Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to your library.
Visualizer Configuration
To add a graph or chart to the library, click on the Add New button …
A page will load in your screen with all of the different kinds of charts and graphs available.
Select the type of graph or chart you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your selected graph/chart type will open up in a new window.
The next step is to upload a CSV file with all the data you would like your chart or graph to be populated with …
When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:
- Your first row includes the column headings.
- The second row includes the series type (e.g. string, timeofday, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as per the above requirements …
If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, simply refer to the sample that comes with the plugin.
Once you have completed this step, select the data source (‘From Computer’ or ‘From Web’) in the ‘Upload CSV File’ section.
Upload CSV File From Computer
To upload the CSV file from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your file and click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will import the data and display it using the graph/chart type selected …
Upload CSV File From The Web
For a step-by-step tutorial that shows you how to create, save and publish data to a Visualizer chart or graph using Google Spreadsheet, go here:
After importing the data, check that all of your information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a data file containing the right data), and click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you have picked, the plugin displays a range of customization options and settings …
The plugin gives you full control of your chart or graph, and updates your display in real time …
For example, the pie chart offers many configurable options, such as:
- General Settings – Configure settings for the chart’s title, font styles, tooltip, and legend.
- Pie Settings – Create 3D pie charts, draw slices counterclockwise, set the text content displayed on the slice, create a “donut” pie chart, rotate the chart’s “start” angle and set the slice border color.
- Residue Settings – Set the ‘Visibility Threshold’ (the slice relative part, below which a slice will not show individually.), ‘Residual Slice Label’ (the label for the combination slice that holds all slices below slice visibility threshold, e.g. “Other”), and ‘Residue Slice Color’.
- Slice Settings – Customize the ‘Slice Offset’ (how far to separate the slice from the rest of the pie), and ‘Slice Color’.
- Layout & Chart Area – Configure the layout (total size of chart) including the width and height of the chart as a number of percentage, background color for the main area of the chart and the chart border width and color, and the placement and size of the chart area (where the chart itself is drawn, excluding axis and legends).
Once you are satisfied with the look of your chart or graph, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
The new graph or chart will now be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that every element is given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see shortly, this allows you to add charts and graphs to your WordPress pages quickly …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by their type …
After a new item has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, clone it, or delete it …
Plugin Usage
After you’ve created a graph or chart and added it to the Visualizer Library, it’s simple to add it to a page.
First, create a new post or page (or open an existing one) …
Next, place your mouse cursor where you want to insert your visual element into your content and click on Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the element you want to insert into your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This will place a shortcode for the element into your content …
Once you have added your item, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After the post/page has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see the results …
You will see your graph in the location where you have inserted the shortcode …
As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive visual elements for viewing on mobile devices …
As you can see, Visualizer allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and your changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your site. This is a real time-saving benefit of the plugin if you’re managing interactive graph data in WordPress.
The plugin developers have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can refer to to learn how to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin.
For tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, go to the site below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create attractive and mobile-responsive pie charts and graphs in WordPress with WP Visualizer plugin.
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