How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’re probably familiar with the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are trying to present and explain data.

Using graphs and charts is great for making statistical data and information simpler to grasp.

You can use tables to present information, but if you want people to try and interpret complex data with numbers, percentages or comparisons easily, then charts and graphs let you present information in an intelligent and meaningful manner that can be quickly understood.

Charts and graphs help you present complex data so people can more easily interpret it!

Need to add charts or graphs to your WordPress posts and pages? This tutorial shows you how to use the WP Visualizer plugin – a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed appealing and mobile-responsive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages that:

• Your visitors can engage with
• Allows you to upload data from your computer or an online data source
• Is dynamically responsive for mobile browsing

If you plan to display visual data like bar charts, comparison charts or trending graphs containing information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), an easier way to display the data is to create your charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into .jpg and .png files and then simply insert the files and an image into your page or post.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to easily insert interactive bar charts and pie charts into WordPress content with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.

Fortunately, there is a free plugin for WordPress that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create eye-catching and mobile-responsive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable content.

Visualizer – WordPress Plugin

Visualizer URL

You can install the plugin inside your WP dashboard (explained a little further down the page), or access and download Visualizer the WordPress plugin repository using the link below:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Plugin Description

WP Visualizer is an easy-to-use and powerful WP plugin that allows you to create, manage and insert stunning and mobile-responsive charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with just a few simple steps.

The plugin 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 plugins are needed.

The plugin also contains a variety of built-in that are optimized to address all your data visualization needs, including:

• Line chart
• Area chart
• Bar chart
• Column chart
• Pie chart
• Geo chart
• Gauge chart
• Candlestick chart
• Scatter chart

WordPress Visualizer is also flexible and customizable, allowing you to use Google Chart Tools with their default setting, or configure an extensive set of options to match your web design. Several options are available for each chart that let you 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 site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile device browsers without requiring the installation of any additional software.

Plugin Installation

From your WordPress administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the main admin menu …

In the Add Plugins page type search for “visualizer” and hit enter …

Locate the entry in the search results screen 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 page …

Once the plugin has been activated, click on Library …

You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library in the main menu …

This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings …

After installing the plugin, the library contains no charts.

Your next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you will want to display in your pages and posts.

Visualizer Configuration

To add a new graph or chart to the plugin’s library, click on Add New …

A page will appear in your browser with all of the different types of graphs and charts available.

Select the graph or chart type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …

Your graph/chart type will pop up in a new window.

The next step is to upload a CSV file that contains all the data you would like to populate your chart or graph with …

When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:

• Your first row includes your column headings.
• The second row contains the series type (e.g. string, timeofday, etc.)

The screenshot below shows how to format your data as required …

If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, simply use the sample file provided with the plugin.

Once you have done this, 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 and data from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …

Use the browser to locate and select your file and click on ‘Open‘ …

The plugin will import your data and display it using the graph/chart type selected …

Upload CSV File From The Web

For a tutorial that shows you how to create, save and publish data to a Visualizer chart or graph using Google Spreadsheet, see the article below:

• How To Populate Data Using Google Spreadsheet

After importing your data, check that all of your information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a data file with the correct data), and click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type you have picked, the plugin will display various customization options …

Visualizer gives you complete control of your information, and updates your display in real time …

For example, the pie chart offers various configurable options, such as:

• General Settings – Configure chart title settings, 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 a 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’re happy with the look of your chart or graph, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …

Your new graph or chart will be added to your ‘Visualizer Library’ section …

Note that new visual elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see shortly, this allows you to add graphs and charts to your WordPress posts quickly …

Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …

After adding a new element to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or trash it …

Visualizer Plugin Usage

After creating a graph or chart and adding it to the Library, adding it to posts and pages is very simple.

First, create a new post or page (or open an existing one) …

Next, place your mouse cursor where you would like to insert your visual element into your content and click on the ‘Add Media‘ button …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

Find the element you want to insert into your content and click on the “insert” icon …

This will place a shortcode into your content …

After you have added your shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your page or post …

After publishing your post, click ‘View post’ to see it …

You will see your graph or chart in the location you specified …

As mentioned previously, the plugin also displays responsive charts and graphs for mobile screens …

As you can see, WordPress Visualizer allows you to insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can update your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your website. This is one of the great benefits of using the Visualizer plugin if you’re adding dynamic graph data in WordPress.

The developers of this plugin have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin for WordPress.

For tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to add attractive and interactive pie charts and graphs to WordPress.

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